The Columbus Crew made a return to international action on Wednesday, facing Mexican giants Club America in the Campeones Cup. It was a rough first half for Columbus, with America enjoying the bulk of posession and seemingly imposing their will. Near the end of the first half though, the Black & Gold began to grow into the game. After the halftime intermission, the Crew were a completely different team. Columbus was getting more attacking chances, but America drew first blood on a counter breakaway that goalkeeper Patrick Schulte could not keep out.
Columbus answered though, with Malte Amundsen equalizing off a corner. Regular time would end all square, with penalty kicks on the other side. Both teams made it into sudden death when Amundsen’s penalty rocketed off the crossbar, opening the door for America to win it. After a controversial no-call on America goalkeeper Luis Malagon stepping off his line during Amundsen’s penalty, the visitors would net their last PK to claim the title.
It was a game of tactical responses from Wilfried Nancy that unfortunately fell short. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that went into this Campeones Cup Final.
America’s first half dominance
Crew fans are not used to seeing their team struggle as much as Columbus did on Wednesday. Club America is a very good team, but the Black & Gold got manhandled for much of the first half due to brilliant coaching on the visitor’s side.
First, we need to talk about America’s defense. Throughout the first half the Crew struggled to be on the ball and generate any attacking chances. The visitors seemed to always be one step ahead, picking off passes and making instant tackles when players got the ball.
The pressure from America was well thought out and tailored to attack how Columbus liked to possess. The Mexican side would begin pressuring with five players, trying to force the Black & Gold toward a sideline or backward. If the Crew started playing the ball backward, the two defensive midfielders would join the pressure and go all-out with seven pressers.
The number of pressuring players was the first problem though, the second was America’s spacing. Columbus has the ability in possession to overload one side to play out of pressure on that same side or get a defensive over-shift and switch the ball. America took the switch away by having their wingback stay wide and high on the opposite side, marking the Black & Gold’s switch outlet.
This forced the Crew to play long, which was problematic because they did not have numbers to fight for second knockdown balls. The pressure led to a lot of direct passes into Cucho Hernandez, Diego Rossi, and Christian Ramirez that were not able to be corralled. America did this time after time, suffocating Columbus for well over half an hour.
If the Black & Gold attackers tried to drop into the midfield to receive the ball to feet, America would simply follow them or communicate to the press so they could cut off passing lanes. There was not a lot of time for the Crew on the ball, so they could not wait for open passes to develop.
There were opportunities for Columbus to break the press by simply turning up the field into space, but the Black & Gold were so hardwired to combine they did not utilize that option enough. America’s pressure was intense, but if a Crew play would have taken a good touch into space some of the time, the press could have broken.
The whole key of this defensive pressure was to force Columbus back towards their own goal at all costs. The Black & Gold could not figure it out for a large part of the first half which made for a rough start to the game.
On the offensive side, America was doing just as well except for the final finishing touch. The Mexican side stifled the Crew with possession, spraying the ball back and forth across the backline to tire out the attackers. The visitors were in no hurry to get up the field, so they took their time and picked their moments.
The major pitfall for Columbus was their wingbacks during America’s long spells of possession. In the first half, Mo Farsi and Max Arfsten dropped off during the Black & Gold’s press, leaving the front three with the sole responsibility of applying pressure.
This meant that America was able to shift the Crew very easily by switching it from side to side. The visitors would simply switch the field, see if they got the look they wanted, and decide whether to switch it again or go attack.
Columbus tried to remedy this by widening the front three pressers. This opened a hole in the middle for America’s two defensive midfielders to get the ball. Yet again, the Black & Gold adjusted when they moved Darlington Nagbe and Sean Zawadzki up to mark the defensive midfielders. This worked in theory, but now if America’s no. 6’s received the ball to feet, they could play it back to the defender or down the line to a streaking wingback running behind one of the Crew’s attacking three.
These tactics by America made life very difficult for Nancy and his men in the first half, but true to form, the Frenchman made changes in the second half that favored his team.
Columbus’ second-half resurgence
Columbus came out of the locker room and instantly looked better than they did before halftime. Nancy made the appropriate adjustments and threw in a gamble to be bold, brave, and go for the win.
Let’s start with the easy adjustments. The Black & Gold fixed their press by bringing up the wingbacks and telling the centerbacks to man-mark their attackers. Now America could not escape down the sides of the pitch, the middle was plugged by Nagbe and Zawadzki and the backline was cleaning up any long balls into the attackers’ feet.
On the offensive side, the Crew solved the America press as well. They did two quick things that both aided in buildup sequences and helped on winning second knockdown balls.
First, they switched Hernandez with Ramirez positionally so Hernandez could drop in the channel and be a conduit for the attack. The Colombian’s ability to spray out accurate passes has grown off the charts in recent months, so his playmaking ability helped Columbus get out from their own defensive half.
Second, they had Ramirez or Hernandez as the target man up top during the times they wanted to go direct, and then Rossi and the other attacker would drop underneath. This gave two knockdown options to the target attacker to find if they were able to win the aerial ball.
Now the gamble Nancy opted to go with ended up being a doubled edged sword. In the first half, the Black & Gold kept all three centerbacks deep to combat America’s attack. In the second half, Nancy threw Steven Moreira and sometimes Amundsen forward to join the attack.
Both outside centerbacks had different roles in the attack. Moreira would primarily go high and wide in the channel between Farsi and the attacking three. If the Canadian wingback decided to cut inside to have a more central attacking role, Moreira would take his place as a wide option. Amundsen stayed more central next to Nagbe so Zawadzki could go high on the left like Moreira was doing.
This left Camacho back alone at the halfway line for periods of time, but his ability to win the 50/50 challenges is what gave Nancy full confidence to try this.
Granted, this did backfire on the Crew to result in America’s first goal. Columbus had a couple of challenges go in where they did not get the ball, and that dragged Camacho out of position to try and win the ball. This left an America attacker wide open at the half line, who was given the ball and a clear path to Schulte’s net. The attacker converted and torched the Black & Gold’s ultra-attacking approach.
On the other side, the Crew’s newfound attacking tactics gifted them the corner that Amundsen would eventually score on. In the end, America’s planning coming into the game was formidable, but Nancy and Columbus showed they could adapt.
A controversial penalty shootout would not secure the result for the Black & Gold, but they will shift their focus to DC United on Saturday. There is still a lot to play for in MLS, and an angry Crew team reeling off this loss is exactly what the league does not want to encounter.
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