Gloomy season forecast for Crew fans
Thunderstorms brought torrential rain and marble-sized hail through Central Ohio Saturday. If you, say, were having an outdoor party with tents, you received a refresher course in hydrology, not to mention global warming.
If you were at the new Crew stadium for the game against LAFC – and 19,469 people bought tickets for that one – then you experienced two delays and, if you were among the hardcore, you saw a match that took nearly seven hours to complete.
You also saw what has come to be a signature performance for the Crew in 2022: LAFC, which has grand designs for the playoffs, played reserves at key positions in the first half, got outplayed and took advantage of a Crew mistake to take a 1-0 lead. LAFC brought out its heavy hitters in the second half, took advantage of another Crew mistake and came away with a 2-0 victory.
In one long afternoon that dribbled well into the night, the Crew presented an apotheosis of their season to date: They were error-prone on defense; and their offense, which can look very good in its buildup, does not finish.
And they lose. And coach Caleb Porter mentions that his team handled the rain delay much better than the LAFC did. As if that mattered.
The Crew (3-5-4) have fallen to 12th place in the Eastern Conference. They've yet to win a road game.
Their three victories have come against some of the weakest teams in the league. The Crew beat Vancouver (4-0) in the season opener Feb. 26, Toronto (2-1) on March 12 and D.C. United on April 30.
In these three victories, the Crew scored nine goals, which represents 60% of their entire offensive output.
Against everyone else, they're 0-5-4
with six goals for and 14 against.
Over the past six weeks, they've come up against some of the league's iron: Nashville (a conference semifinalist in 2021), Philadelphia (conference finalist), Orlando (a playoff team), New England (defending Supporters' Shield holders), NYCFC (defending MLS Cup champions) and LAFC (which has the best record in the league thus far in 2022).
Against this stiffer competition, the Crew are 0-5-1 with two goals for and 10 against. That stretch includes three home losses, all by shutout.
They've been shut out a total of six times already.
They've scored five goals (against two leaky teams, D.C. and New England) in five games and been shut out thrice since they traded striker Gyasi Zardes on April 23. Zardes was only one of the greatest goal scorers in team history (but not this year).
Porter said of the Zardes trade, “We just feel like right now is the time. “He's not on the up. I'd say he's not falling off the cliff like some players do, but slowly he's going to start going down because of his age, and again, we just need a little bit more.”
Porter later apologized for his choice of words.
Zardes, 30, was struggling right along with the rest of the offense. He was traded to the Colorado Rapids for allocation money and to open up salary-cap space and a Designated Player slot.
Crew president/general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said what the team gained in the trade would be applied to signing an impactful scorer when the next international transfer window opens July 7.
Let's think on this for a minute. The Crew will play at least five more games, and perhaps as many as seven, before their big-time scorer is imported sometime in July. It depends on the paperwork.
At the Crew's current pace, they will be in last place in the East before this savior arrives. And if you think this savior can carry this particular team from 14th place in the East into the top seven over a half-season, well, you are entitled to that opinion. But that is no way to bet.
Presently, the Crew is averaging one victory a month. They have the 10thhighest payroll in the league.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The Crew won the 2020 MLS Cup, and management said they were a year ahead of schedule. Their aim was to build a polished contender by the time they threw open the doors to their new stadium in July, 2021. They opened the stadium and, within a month, they were on a 1-8 jag that included a six-game losing streak.
The Crew are 10-7-2 at home in their new stadium (and they're 12-15-6 overall since it opened). They've been shut out three times in their last four home games, for which they sold an average of 19,363 tickets. Marketing!
After the 2-0 loss to LAFC Saturday, some fans found their Arena District parking had expired amid the delays, and they had to pay extra to get out of the garages. It was a symphonic crescendo of frustration and woe. It rained in D minor.
This year, the stated goal of management is to host at least one playoff game. It's nice to talk about ambition. Ambition, ambition, ambition. The fans have certainly bought into it. Presently, they have to be wondering about their investment.
marace@dispatch.com