LONGRUNNING HIT
Tireless Mensah set to lead Crew’s title defense
Once he wiped away tears after winning MLS Cup in front of the fans who kept the Crew in Columbus, the first thing on Jonathan Mensah's mind was rest.
The Crew's captain fell to his knees on the field after the final whistle concluded a season in which he was one of two non-goalkeepers in Major League Soccer to play every minute of the 23game season. He also spent 11 months away from his wife, Kafui, who was in Ghana and unable to get a visa during the pandemic to come to the U.S.
If anyone needed an offseason, it was Mensah.
“Playing every minute, yeah, I needed that (rest),” Mensah said.
Now with his second year as captain, Mensah doesn't expect more success just because there's more talent on the roster. He knows that as reigning champions the team has to manage the expectations.
“We need to prepare for the best but expect the worst because teams will come at us really, really strong because people didn’t really know what we could do.” Jonathan Mensah Crew defender
“I think teams will come at us really, really strong,” Mensah said. “We need to prepare for the best but expect the worst because teams will come at us really, really strong because people didn’t really know what we could do. We need to be strong mentally, physically and tactically.”
Including four playoff games and two extra-time periods, Mensah played more minutes than any other player in the league in 2020. Though about twothirds of them were in the Crew’s half of the field, Mensah led MLS in completed passes and attempted passes and had one of the highest passing percentages in the league.
As he became recognized as an elite defender in MLS — finishing third for the defender of the year award — Mensah also quickly endeared himself to the fanbase.
Mensah acknowledged the fans’ efforts to save the team any time he spoke about the success of the club in the postseason, and he always insisted leadership on this team was a group effort. He’s just the one who wears the armband.
Being captain wasn’t something he ever thought of as a goal or a role for himself, he said. Josh Williams, Darlington Nagbe, reserve goalkeeper Matt Lampson, Artur and Lucas Zelarayan were some of the players who helped
Mensah in leadership roles last season.
“When such an honor and responsibility arises, I think you don’t need to hesitate. You just need to take the challenge and lead the team,” Mensah said. “It was a responsibility that I needed a lot of support, and I actually got it from my teammates and my coaches and everyone around the team because I didn’t
do it alone.”
The Crew is one of the rare clubs in which three of its top players — Mensah, Nagbe and Gyasi Zardes — would rather lead through their play than feel the need to be a constant main voice. New players to the roster this season quickly noticed that.
“Between Darlington, Gyasi and Jonah,”
goalkeeper Evan Bush said, “those are three really humble guys. (They) are always three very good players that lead the locker room that lead with their personality. That can’t be understated at all.”
As important as Nagbe and Zardes are, the Crew prided itself last season on keeping shutouts with Mensah being the focal point of the back line. The center back kept the defense organized in the opening match last Thursday in Nicaragua and secured a clean sheet.
The shutouts weren’t there for the Crew when Mensah became fatigued, before returning to form in the playoffs. The Crew will have more depth at center back once Vito Wormgoor makes a full recovery from last year’s season-ending ankle injury, but a compacted schedule with more competitions and potentially some games with the Ghana national team will challenge Mensah on staying sharp throughout the year.
Another season in which the Crew finishes near the top of the MLS standings could mean Mensah wins the defender of the year award. But he’s not concerned about individual achievements.
He just wants to win for the club, he said, and he hopes to secure an appointment for a visa for his wife.
“I don’t know how I did that last year,” Mensah said. “It was one of the toughest years of my playing career, and I’ll thank my wife also for holding it down back in Ghana because it wasn’t easy.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers