The Columbus Crew returned to CONCACAF Champions Cup action Tuesday night, battling Tigres UANL at home. It was an odd night for the Black & Gold, with star striker Cucho Hernandez still barred from the squad in a pivotal game. The match itself was not much better when Tigres opened the scoring in the first 20 minutes. Columbus answered though, courtesy of a Diego Rossi shot that found the far corner. Beyond that, the game was littered with one-sided refereeing decisions going against the Crew. The game flipped when Aidan Morris received a red card for a tackle on a Tigres attacker, leaving the Black & Gold undermanned for the remaining 13 minutes. The Black & Gold rallied though, ending the game in a 1-1 draw.
The Crew stayed with their familiar setup but had to adjust to combat Tigres and make up for the absent Hernandez. Let’s dive into all those adjustments.
Pinching center backs to overload the midfield
Early in the first half, the Black & Gold’s game plan for the centerbacks was clear. Both Steven Moreira and Malte Amundsen had vital roles to play, but not only on defense.
With five Tigres players clogging the midfield, Wilfried Nancy shifted Moreira and Amundsen into the midfield on offense. This led the Crew to play in a 1-4-5 formation when they had the ball.
It is known that Columbus’ outside center backs are not shy to make runs up into the attack, but this was different. In prior games, both outside backs would aid the attack by overlapping and getting high as additional strikers. In this game though, they were additional help deeper in support.
Morris and Darlington Nagbe still played in their usual spots in the middle of the pitch, but they were now flanked by Moreira and Amundsen. One of the attackers, usually Rossi or Jacen Russell-Rowe, would often drop into the midfield to even up the numbers.
Not only did this show Nancy’s brashness to send his defenders high, but it also showed his trust in Yevhen Cheberko. With Rudy Camacho out due to injury, Cheberko has become the main man in the middle of the defense. He was sometimes the only one in a deep position to stop a counterattack.
When the Crew advanced into the attacking third, the center backs could keep moving higher. Typically, if one center back went to attack the other would stay back with Cheberko. This always gave Columbus two defenders back on defense.
It was a small tactical tweak, but it seemed to pay off. The Black & Gold controlled the game for large portions of the match, they just could not find the finishing touch to send Tigres home with a loss
Differing wingback positions
The Black & Gold lined up in the same formation that has become commonplace under Nancy, a 5-2-3. What shapes that formation takes is a mystery until the whistle is blown to start the game.
In the matchup against Tigres, it was the wing backs positioning that changed. The interesting thing is it was different on both sides of the pitch.
On the left side, Yaw Yeboah pinched to the inside of the pitch more often than he usually does. At times he would occupy a left attacking midfielder position, or even move into the midfield. The reason for this switch was dependent on who his attacking partner was. In this game, it was Marino Hinestroza.
Hinestroza is now well known as a lethal dribbler who can break down defenders with a few flicks of his feet. His abilities in one-on-one situations are mesmerizing, which is why Nancy told Yeboah to cheat towards the inside of the field.
Giving Hinestroza as much space to operate as possible will only favor the Crew. If Yeboah were to overlap, he would draw a second defender to Hinestroza and make it harder to get past. So, the Ghanian cheated towards the center of the pitch and acted as a release valve and support for Hinestroza.
On the other side it was the opposite case, at least for the first half. The pairing of Rossi and Mo Farsi teamed up in the normal way that Black & Gold fans have grown accustomed to seeing.
Rossi came inside and acted as a second striker alongside Russell-Rowe. He had free reign around the pitch, dropping into the midfield or making darting runs in behind the defense.
Farsi however, stayed outside of Rossi for much of the first half. He took the winger position and tried to do what Hinestroza was doing on the other side, go one-on-one or link up inside with the other attackers.
In the second half, Farsi’s role was tweaked again to give the Black & Gold a more attacking approach. He pinched inside as an extra late-arriving striker while Moreira overlapped on the outside. Again, two centerbacks always stayed back, but Moreira had free reign to fly up the field in pursuit of the second goal.
This shift in Columbus’ philosophy showed the team was not afraid to go for the win, even without Hernandez. They will need to bring that energy into the second leg, especially now that Morris will miss out due to suspension.
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