Players pulled together despite off-field turmoil
Hours after Crew SC ownership announced the team’s potential move to Austin, Texas, after the 2018 season, a reporter asked midfielder Justin Meram if he was frustrated by the timing of the Precourt Sports Ventures news.
Leading up to the Oct. 17 announcement, the Crew won three straight and went nine matches unbeaten. The team was just days away from a game at New York City FC to finish the regular season and a few more days more from the start of the playoffs.
Meram paused for a moment before firing back with a question of his own.
“Is there ever a great time for something like this?” he asked. “I think for us it’s sticking to the gameplan of what we want to do and what we want to achieve on the field, and discuss later down the road what the options are.”
There have been many twists and turns in the relocation saga over the last two months, with new stakeholders, opinions and proposed stadium sites popping up. For the players, there were two options in processing the news: Let it become a distraction and have the season end nine days later in the knockout round or rally around it and push ahead. They chose the latter.
For 42 days — a stretch that spanned one regular-season game and five playoff games — the Crew defied expectations while navigating a distraction, a balance players spoke more candidly about following a 1-0 loss to Toronto FC in the second leg of the Eastern Conference finals.
“It was funny, all the outside stuff, it could’ve went either way,” defender Josh Williams said moments after the loss. “We could’ve taken that as a negative and we could’ve let that distract us and all of that, but I thought that brought us closer together.”
Williams said he had talked about the potential news every day since the announcement and defender Hector Jimenez, too, said it was something players discussed. Players have access to social media and were able to hear chants from Crew fans during games. Suffice it to say many of them remained aware of discussions involving Columbus.
“With what’s going on outside of the soccer field and the city, with saving the Crew and all that going on, I think this year this group came closer together,” Jimenez said on Dec. 1. “It’s like a brotherhood inside the locker room and outside the locker room as well.”
Only five players on the 2017 roster grew up in Ohio, and just three — Alex Crognale, Wil Trapp and Ben Swanson — grew up in central Ohio, but several Columbus transplants, too, said they felt a sense of pride as the Crew’s run unfolded.
“We wanted to do it for the city, especially for the guys here in Columbus,” Jimenez said. “It was kind of a nice ride and we wanted it to end with a trophy.”
The Crew fell one game plus a few inches short of its first MLS Cup title since 2008. Players dealt with the disappointment of the moment, knowing they had chances to extend their season, before reflecting in the following days on a season that took a few unexpected turns.
“It was a great year, especially after not making the playoffs last year,” goalkeeper Zack Steffen said. “We were a young team and we faced adversity and we brought a city even closer. It was a lot of fun.”