The Columbus Crew showed no signs of slowing down despite a congested schedule, besting Orlando City SC 4-3 on Saturday evening. Columbus struck first, with Diego Rossi finding the back of the net with a little help from a deflection. From there, the Black & Gold slammed home two goals in the second half to extend their lead. Both Christian Ramirez and super-sub Cucho Hernandez got on the scoresheet to no one’s surprise. Orlando would get two goals back, but AZ Jackson would secure his first goal for the Crew to stretch their lead back to two with only five minutes remaining. Orlando would find a third goal deep into stoppage time, but the final whistle blew soon after that. This is Columbus’ second straight win heading into a Campeones Cup showdown with Club America on Wednesday.
It was a back-and-forth game for the Black & Gold, featuring unique tactics on both sides. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that went into this roller coaster of a game.
The positioning of AZ Jackson
After the Crew’s midweek matchup with Toronto that featured a slightly rotated lineup, Wilfried Nancy threw out another lineup that consisted of rotation players and starters. One of those depth pieces who got a chance to start was AZ Jackson.
Patrick Schutle remained in goal with Yevhen Cheberko, Malte Amundsen, and Steven Moreira in front of him. Max Arfsten and Mo Farsi played on the wings with Darlington Nagbe and Alexandru Matan inside. The front three was rounded out by Jackson, Rossi and Ramirez.
Out of all the players on the pitch Saturday, no one had more responsibility put on them than Jackson. Slated to start in that daunting front three, it was up to the young American midfielder to link up with Ramirez and Rossi.
Despite being inserted into the attack, Jackson floated across the pitch all night. He occupied several different positions and was vital in helping the team perform.
Of course, the position that he was in most of the time was in that fluid front three. When Columbus moved the ball into the final third, he was up like an extra striker to poach in the box. Occasionally he would switch and drop a bit deeper to help build around the box, and then make late-arriving runs inside.
When the Black & Gold were building out of the back, Jackson had the freedom to go where he was needed depending on their formation. For much of the contest, the Crew’s building formation was a 2-4-4. Amundsen stayed back with Cheberko while Moreira moved into a wide midfield spot. Matan and Nagbe stayed central, with Jackson to their left. The wingbacks were up high with Rossi and Ramirez as dueling strikers.
In these moments of playing out of the back, Jackson would drop into the wide channel to be the half-pivot between Amundsen and Arfsten. Orlando was playing very narrow during their press, which opened the space for Jackson to get the ball.
If the ball went to the other side of the field, the formation would shift. Arfsten had to make the decision to stay high for a ball over the top or drop back closer to Amundsen. His decision affected Jackson’s positioning as well. If Arfsten decided to stay in his winger position, Jackson would pinch a little bit but remain on the left side to be the bridge to the wingback. If Arfsten dropped, Jackson would go inside to a more central position and combine with whoever was in possession.
These decisions and moments dictated how Columbus built their attack and went at Orlando’s backline. It shows a lot about Nancy’s trust when he is willing to throw in a backup to make these huge in-game calls. It worked for the Black & Gold and showed the class player that Jackson is becoming.
An open game and attacking Orlando with width
This matchup was entirely different to what we saw a week ago down in Cincinnati. When the Crew traveled to TQL Stadium, it was a tense affair. Both teams kept feeling each other out, generating a few chances but mostly relying on the midfield battle.
This game was the complete opposite. Both teams combined to hit the post three times in the first 15 minutes, and the counter chances were prevalent. Running and countering was the name of this game, which led to the seven-goal thriller.
There are reasons on both sides for this being an extremely open game. On Columbus’ defensive side, the Black & Gold were at risk of being countered when they turned the ball over or committed too many men forward. Everyone knows Nancy prefers to attack with eight or nine players, so those transition moments are going to happen. Orlando bet on it, and it netted them three goals.
On Orlando’s defensive side, once the Crew broke their press the floodgates sprang open. The Lions tried to press with five narrow attackers and pushed their two defensive midfielders up to clean up any loose balls. Unlucky for Orlando, Columbus did not give them many loose balls to collect.
This led to time after time when the Black & Gold broke the press and suddenly had a numbers mismatch staring down Orlando’s backline. Add in that the visitors’ backline was in retreat, and it became a recipe for disaster for them.
Beating the press was just the first of the Crew’s objectives, but they also had to take their chances once they did so. This is where Orlando’s width comes into play. The visitors came into this game and seemingly thought that they were going to plug up the middle of the pitch and force Columbus to win the game from out wide.
Typically, teams may struggle when they are reduced to one kind of offensive avenue. The Black & Gold are not your typical team, and they can score in every way possible.
Orlando pulled in their outside backs and let the Crew have all the width they wanted. This led to overloads out wide, and a plethora of times where streaking wingbacks got good crosses in. These balls from out wide would find the feet, or head, of a Columbus attacker and the goals kept coming.
The sentiment from Orlando is commendable. They wanted to try to shut off one of the avenues the Black & Gold could exploit and force the Crew’s wingbacks to beat them. When you have pinpoint crossing wide players like Arfsten though, you may want to rethink your defensive strategy.
If Columbus had an off night, we may be talking about Orlando’s tactical masterclass and how they forced the Black & Gold’s “other guys” to beat them. Unfortunately for them, they found out this team is not accustomed to having off days, and the “other guys” are pretty darn good too.
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