Crew tactical review: LAFC blitzes Columbus to open Champions Cup play

The Columbus Crew kicked off their 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup campaign in disappointing style, falling to LAFC 3-0 away from home. After controlling the opening few minutes of the game, Columbus quickly was on the back foot due to LAFC’s press and ability to hit on the counter. After only 20 minutes, Denis Bouanga opened the scoring courtesy of Steven Moreira getting pickpocketed. Bouanga would double the advantage just after halftime, and LAFC would put the cherry on top with a third goal in the final 10 minutes.

It wasn’t exactly the best performance the Black & Gold have every put out, but LAFC and Steve Cherundolo did their due diligence as well. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this backbreaking loss in the first leg of this CONCACAF Champions Cup tie.

First half tactics

Anyone who watched the first five minutes of this game would have thought it was going to be a long night for LAFC. The Crew were controlling possession, turning the hosts over high up the pitch and coming out of the gate strong. That all would change around the 10-minute mark when LAFC finally decided to show their hand.

First, we need to talk about the base setup of both teams. LAFC came out of the locker room in a 4-3-3 with Bouanga out on the left wing. This formation is fairly simply with not a lot of nuance or fluidity to it, but it is effective. Columbus came out in Wilfried Nancy’s patented 5-2-3 formation that can also change into a number of different shapes.

We’ll start with the Black & Gold. From kickoff the Crew changed their shape into a 2-3-5 on offense with Malte Amundsen stepping up into the midfield alongside Darlington Nagbe and Sean Zawadzki. Both wingbacks moved up as wingers and AZ Jackson, Dylan Chambost and Diego Rossi sat inside.

In the buildup, Jackson and Chambost would sometimes drop into the half pivot spaces to be the bridge to the wingbacks, but other than that there was a lack of creative movement by the attackers. Some of the attacking struggles can be attributed to the Black & Gold’s stagnant nature, but LAFC also had a few tricks up their sleeve to keep the Crew at bay.

The hosts came out in a low block that resembled a 4-5-1 and allowed Columbus to control possession for a majority of the first few minutes. There was limited pressure from LAFC, almost as if they were trying to feel out the first few minutes to give the Black & Gold a sense of comfort.

LAFC’s offensive strategy was simple: suck the Crew in and then hit on the counter with their speedy attackers. Cherundolo knows Nancy wants nine players at least in the attacking zone and he banked on his attackers being faster than a recovering Amundsen or Moreira.

The first goal was an absolute gift by Moreira and should be ruled out as an outlier from a consistently great player having an off night. Most of (if not all) of LAFC’s attacking chances from then on came on the counter against some form of a recovering defense by Columbus.

LAFC relied on the Black & Gold to get out of shape against their low block and then turn the ball over. If the hosts could win that second ball, it was off to the he races against a backpedaling Yevhen Cheberko and company.

The Crew not only had issues unlocking the low block but also struggled to get out of LAFC’s pressure. Columbus routinely found themselves under attack by the opposing attackers and could not combine to get out of it. LAFC succeeded by sending five attackers to pressure the backline and midfielders and then reserved two more defenders to follow the Black & Gold dropping attackers. This left only two avenues of breaking the press: combining quickly through pressured droppers or going long.

This is where the lineup decisions come in. The Crew did not have a true striker on the field with the absence of Jacen Russell-Rowe from the starting XI. Diego Rossi can play as a striker, but not one that is a big body and can hold up play.

So, now the only option was to combine quickly through the dropping attackers. Columbus has done this plenty of times against LAFC in the past, but on Tuesday their touches and passes were woefully poor. Rossi was dribbling into the feet of defenders, DeJuan Jones’ touches shot off his foot and Chambost seemed to play more inaccurate passes than completed ones.

There’s a word to be said about the absences of Cucho Hernandez and Christian Ramirez, but it’s also true that if the Black & Gold played their best they could have competed against LAFC and made this a good game. Sure, the team is going to miss arguably the best player in club history and one of the best poachers in the league but losing two players does not cause a catastrophic failure like Tuesday night. You can argue this is on Issa Tall, but it also rests firmly on the shoulders of Nancy and the team who frankly did not show up.

Credit to LAFC for coming out with a smart gameplan to play to their strengths while taking away the Crew’s, but two things can be true. Columbus misses Hernandez and Ramirez, but they are better than this performance on the west coast.

Columbus’ adjustments

One of the supposed shocks of the game came after halftime, when Moreira made way for former Crew 2 standout Taha Habroune. Why substitute the Black & Gold’s best defender – and reigning MLS Defender of the Year – for a midfielder who has not seen much action at this level? Fans were seriously doubting this call from Nancy, but there was a vision to it.

Going into halftime the Crew were down 1-0 and had been outplayed for a majority of the half. Columbus already committed to sending one of the outside centerbacks (almost always Amundsen) up into the midfield and Moreira was not having a good game. Taking off a player who was not in form for a midfielder who has creative ability and could possibly change the game was a risk Nancy was willing to take.

Now hindsight is 20-20, and the substitution did not pan out. It took Bouanga only a matter of seconds out of the locker room to double LAFC’s advantage and for all the Black & Gold fans on social media to lash out at the substitution.

With Habroune on the field and Zawadzki back in Moreira’s right centerback spot, the Crew now had a true midfield trio to help with the buildup. Another slight tweak to the formation when Columbus was in possession was a triangle midfield of Nagbe and Zawadzki as defensive midfielders, with Habroune moving into the No. 10 spot.

Habroune and Chambost both occupied that attacking midfield space and often dropped into the half-pivot area, but LAFC still shut down any whiff of an attack.

Once Bouanga’s second goal hit the back of the net, Cherundolo switched things up again. LAFC still defended in a 4-5-1 but sometimes it would change into a 5-4-1. Igor Jesus for the hosts would occasionally drop into the backline to plug up any semblance of a hole on defense. Jeremy Ebobisse stayed high as the lone attacker, holding up play for the wingers to provide counter-attacking support.

From there, the Black & Gold had to deal with the almost impossible task of unlocking LAFC’s Fort Knox-like low block. With nine players committed to defending and a serious counter threat looming, it was a lose-lose situation for the Crew that eventually resulted in a third goal for LAFC.

This loss will be part of the growing pains this Columbus squad will go through this year, but it’s important to remember the season is a mere three games old. The Black & Gold still have 32 more MLS matches and a number of clashes in other competitions, so there is no reason to throw in the towel just yet. One may recall the start to the 2022 season when Miguel Berry was starting up top for a Crew side that was awaiting a DP No. 9… sound familiar?

While fans may moan about Tall and the front office not replacing players, a reminder of patience and a trust in the process is due. If after the summer there are no replacements, I will join with the pitchfork gang… but until then sit back, relax and let Nancy and his staff figure things out. This loss to LAFC is a blow, but this Columbus side will hopefully prove it was just another early-season learning opportunity.