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The Columbus Crew enjoyed a typical trip to Cincinnati on Saturday evening, coming from behind a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2 in Ohio’s southern city. After two goals in the opening five minutes by Pavel Bucha and Evander gave Cincinnati a lead, the Black & Gold responded by rattling off four unanswered goals to seal all three points and claim the state. Diego Rossi, Max Arfsten, and Taha Habroune all got onto the scoresheet, with Miles Robinson contributing to the score as well with an own goal. Cincinnati controlled the pace of the game at the beginning of both halves, but other than those times the Crew were threatening. Wilfried Nancy gets the best of Pat Noonan yet again on Cincinnati’s home patch, pulling Columbus within two points of the top of the Eastern Conference. Let’s dive into all the tactics that helped the Black & Gold land a Hell is Real victory in Cincinnati. A nightmare beginning For any Crew fan watching this game, the first five minutes had a feeling of dread attached to it. Bucha laced a first-time shot into the back of the net in the opening minute of the contest, followed by Evander finding the far corner on a half-volley outside the box. Both goals were gut punches to Columbus early in the match, but it is not uncommon to see the Black & Gold concede these goals. The first goal for example. Ibrahim Aliyu, who started at right wing-back in place of Mo Farsi, was caught waiting for a pass and had his pocket quickly picked by the Cincinnati defense. Aliyu’s complacent behavior left Steven Moreira in no-man’s land with a quick decision to make. The reigning MLS Defender of the Year was in between dropping off and committing to challenge the streaking Cincinnati ballcarrier. Moreira jumped up to try and halt the attack right there, but the opposing player got a touch before him, skipping down the sideline relatively unmarked. These two mistakes forced the Crew into a situation that no manager likes to see: overextension. Now the entire defense had to shift over to that right side with Aliyu too high up the pitch to defend and Moreira trailing the play. Columbus shifted over and were not correctly marked, leaving Bucha open at the top of the box on a late-arriving run. While the first two mistakes by Aliyu and Moreira gave Cincinnati an attacking chance, the marking for Bucha actually falls on the Black & Gold’s recovering midfielders. Looking at the Crew defense, many of the defenders and recovering midfielders were marking pockets of space rather than players. Dylan Chambost drops too deep, allowing Bucha to run into that open space and dispatch the goal. While this goal may look bad due to the immediacy of it in the match, it does tend to happen. With Columbus’ tendency to commit numbers forward comes times when pockets of space will be open and exploited. The first goal is a prime example of a turnover leading to a negative chain reaction. Cincinnati’s second goal is more on the raw attacking skill of Evander than anything the Black & Gold did wrong. The home side does well to switch the point of attack to the far side, giving Robinson a long-range look at goal which was blocked by Yevhen Cheberko. The follow-up shot by Evander is world-class. Bouncing across his body to the far corner is a ridiculous strike that would be difficult for any team to counter. If there were any points to learn about from this goal, it would be how the Crew’s midfield is caught standing. Chambost moves over to put pressure on Robinson, but Daniel Gazdag jogs behind the play, seemingly ready to sprint into the attack when Columbus wins the ball back. Again, not an egregious goal to concede due to the absurd strike from Evander, but there are small things the Black & Gold can work on to make sure it does not happen again. The opening five minutes might have been hell for the Crew, but Columbus was about to inflict some fire and brimstone on Cincinnati throughout the course of the next 85 minutes. Columbus’ response If there is one thing the Black & Gold love doing, it is coming back from 2-0 deficits in Cincinnati. The prospect of a comeback looked bleak in the opening minutes, but never count out Nancy’s men. After the first two goals went in, the Crew showed a direct intent to put pressure on Cincinnati on both sides of the ball. Let’s start defensively. True to form, Columbus pressed the home side constantly to try and turn the ball over. The Black & Gold defenders often pressed on Cincinnati’s first touch, looking to dislodge the ball the moment an attacker received it. The interesting tweak Nancy made was to have the Crew backline man-mark Cincinnati’s front three. Evander, Kevin Denkey, and former Columbus striker Kei Kamara were all man-marked constantly by Sean Zawadzki, Moreira, and Cheberko. Oddly enough, this did not mean that the Black & Gold were pulled out of position. The Crew backline did an amazing job at filling in and passing off marks, making it hard for Denkey and Kamara to get touches on the ball. Evander often dropped into the midfield deeper, allowing the defensive line to pass of his mark to the midfielders. This was key when Cincinnati opted to possess the ball rather than play on the counter. After going up two goals, the home side often decided to slow play down and possess around the Columbus repress. The pressure did not stop, but it was evident that Cincinnati was trying to take the sting out of the game and eliminate any foothold the Black & Gold might find. When Cincinnati possessed, they controlled the game. After a while though, the home team decided to play more on the counter as the Crew had more of the ball. Instead of trying to possess against Columbus when they gave away the ball, Cincinnati changed game plans to see if they could strike fast much like they did in the opening five minutes. That is where the game changed. Cincinnati started turning the ball over and could not hold play up – much due to the Black & Gold man-marking their attackers – allowing the Crew to have more of the ball going forward. As Cincinnati tried to counter and press, they also threw numbers forward and left the midfield wide open. This mistake gave Columbus acres of space to exploit and run into at a recovering Cincinnati backline. We saw this firsthand on the Black & Gold’s first goal. Darlington Nagbe breaks the initial line of pressure and runs for 50 yards into open space before offloading the ball to Aliyu. Much of this openness in the middle was due to Cincinnati’s pressure. Noonan’s side pressed with five, leaving only five players on a deep backline. The Crew took this space and used it to their advantage, bagging three goals until the Cincinnati coaching staff made a change. As soon as the home team began clogging up the middle, Columbus had to change their attacking focus yet again. Arfsten and Aliyu became more valuable on the flanks as Cincinnati contributed numbers to the middle, showcasing the Black & Gold’s multifaceted attack plan. In the end, Cincinnati may have inspired their own downfall with the reckless combination of a deep line and a high press. The Crew will not mind though, as they worked for every single goal they scored. It was another fairytale night in Cincinnati for the Black & Gold, but the home side was yet again haunted by the flames.

The Columbus Crew grabbed another three points on Sunday, this time against Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union. It was a tale of two halves for the Black & Gold, spending much of the first half in Philadelphia’s territory but absorbing more pressure in the second half. Mo Farsi found the breakthrough near the end of the first half, when a cross from fellow wingback Lassi Lappalainan skipped into his path at the back post. From there, the Crew had a few more chances but were unable to convert any to double the lead. In the end, Columbus secured another big three points at home against one of MLS’ toughest teams. Wilfried Nancy and his coaching staff had some adjustments to make when Philadelphia attempted to flip the game on its head in the second half. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that went into the Black & Gold’s victory. First half This match was like playing two different games in one. In the first half, the Crew were the aggressors for much of the period. Much of that was due to how Philadelphia decided to defend. In the first half the Union opted to sit in a low block and defend with 10 players until there was an opportunity to counter Columbus. Philadelphia knew that the Black & Gold enjoyed having the ball and preying on opponents’ mistakes, so they allowed the Crew to keep the ball and try to get them to overextend themselves. When that overextension came, the Union tried to attack with pace at a recovering Columbus backline. Although Philadelphia at this point preferred to sit in a low block, they also had some pressure cooked up to keep the Black & Gold on their toes. The Union employed a compartmental press, going after the Crew when the ball was played backwards or to the sides. First off, when Columbus passed the ball backwards it gave Philadelphia to jump up the field on marks and try to force a high turnover. If this initial flurry did not yield a giveaway, the Union would retreat back into a low block until there was another opportunity to press. When the ball was with Sean Zawadzki, Philadelphia looked content to sit in their gaps and play prevent defense. However, as soon as a pass was played out wide to an outside centerback, midfielder or wingback, the Union would begin pressuring the Black & Gold. Philadelphia’s defense attempted to cut off passes to the inside and pushed the Crew towards the sideline, so they had limited passing options. Again, when the initial press did not yield a turnover, Philadelphia dropped back into the low defensive shape to wait for another opportunity to bring pressure. On the other side, Columbus had a few tactics of their own. Nancy knew that the Union likely wanted to sit back and then counter, so the French manager used that against them. While the Black & Gold enjoy building out of the back, when Philadelphia pressed the backline the Crew wingbacks would run in behind the defense. If timed right, the advancing Union backline could cause a streaking wingback to be played into space with a ball over the top. In the same vein, the wingbacks often checked back to the ball for a second before turning and streaking behind the defense. These dummy checks and runs gave Columbus verticality and a dangerous option in behind. In the buildup, the Black & Gold went with a 2-3-5 or 1-3-1-5 look. Steven Moreira often moved into the midfield alongside Darlington Nagbe and Amar Sejdic in the 2-3-5. As the Crew got higher up the field they transitioned into a 1-3-1-5, with both outside centerbacks in the midfield and Sejdic as a roaming no. 8 between the midfield and attacking line. These formational changes and decision to build out of a two- or one-man backline showed Columbus’ intent to get forward and score in the first half, which eventually they did. Second half The second half was a different story than the prior period. After a nearly hour-long weather delay, both teams returned to the pitch with differing strategies yet again. This time, Philadelphia became more aggressive while the Black & Gold struggled to deal with the Union’s newfound boldness. The biggest change was Philadelphia ditching the compartmental pressure and deciding to go with mostly constant pressure. Instead of only pressing in spurts, the Union engaged a press and kept applying it until the Crew broke it or turned the ball over. This gave Columbus some serious problems. The change of pace of the press caught them off guard and they struggled to break it. Philadelphia closed down passing lanes, players and the ball quicker than they did in the first half. This more direct approach from the Union certainly gave the Black & Gold issues. The other big change for the Union was that they did not employ a low block as much as they did in the first half, if at all. Philadelphia’s press warranted them to push their backline higher as well. If they had not moved up their defensive line, there would have been a massive gap for substitute Jacen Russell-Rowe to utilize and break the press. This change left spaces in behind to be exploited by substitute Ibrahim Aliyu and Farsi, but the Crew struggled to have time enough to play those balls over the top. Columbus’ best chances came when they broke the press through the inside channels that Diego Rossi and Daniel Gazdag dropped into. The Black & Gold made some changes of their own at halftime as well. Nancy brought on Russell-Rowe, Aliyu and Andres Herrera and changed the possession shape to build out of the back. Instead of possessing in a 2-3-5 or 1-3-1-5, the Crew reverted to a three-back buildup shape. Morphing into a 3-2-5 gave Columbus increased stability at the back and more passing options on that defense to break Philadelphia’s ramped-up press. Again, there were problems concerning the Union’s direct pressure and how to break it. The Black & Gold did well a few times to find the dropper in the inside channel to turn and break the pressure, but it did not happen often enough to put Philadelphia’s defense under constant pressure. In the end, the Crew’s defense held a shutout and limited the Union attack to claim a clean sheet and the win. Nancy may not be happy with the performance in total, but the three points is all that will matter in the long run.

The Columbus Crew grabbed a second consecutive win on Wednesday, downing Atlanta United 3-1. Columbus’ offense exploded in the first half, netting three goals courtesy of Andres Herrera and Jacen Russell-Rowe. Atlanta’s defense was lacking in the first 45, allowing the Black & Gold to run rampant and pepper Brad Guzan’s goalmouth with shots. In the second half though, the Five Stripes fought back. Brooks Lennon netted a goal that was nearly cleared off the line by Yevhen Cheberko in the first 15 minutes of the second half, allowing Atlanta back into the contest. Luckily for the home fans, the Crew eventually prevailed and came away with all three points. This was one of the best performances of Columbus’ season to date. Let’s dive into all the tactics that saw Wilfried Nancy’s men claim a victory. Offensive dominance and Atlanta’s leaky defense The first half of this matchup was nothing short of a dream for the Black & Gold. The Crew produced three goals and could have bagged more if not for the heroics of Guzan. Herrera opened up the scoring with a ball over the top from Dylan Chambost that he brought down under pressure and calmly dispatched into the back of the net. Russell-Rowe doubled the lead a short time later, sneaking a low shot past Guzan’s foot at the front post. The Canadian striker would then grab his brace off a sublime Diego Rossi dish just minutes before halftime to put the Crew up 3-0 heading into the break. There have been many criticisms of Columbus in recent weeks when the Black & Gold struggled to generate a victory. One of those blights was the fact that the Crew’s offense has looked stagnant and unimaginative at times, but that was not the case in this game. For starters, Columbus utilized a host of formations in this match that put immense pressure on Atlanta’s backline. In buildups coming out of their own half, the Black & Gold morphed into a 2-3-5 with Steven Moreira joining the midfield alongside Darlington Nagbe and Chambost. When the Crew advanced into Atlanta’s half, Cheberko moved up to aid in the buildup on a shortened pitch, changing Columbus’ shape into a 1-4-5. In that 1-4-5, Rossi and Daniel Gazdag often dropped into the midfield to exploit a gap in between Atlanta’s defense and midfielders, essentially shifting the Black & Gold into a 1-4-2-3. Finally, at the end of the first half, the Crew changed yet again. This time, Moreira joined Herrera up high as a double winger tandem, giving Columbus a 2-2-6 look. All these formation shifts are nothing new, but it did put an insane amount of pressure on Atlanta’s inexperienced defense. The Black & Gold’s main plan of attack was to overload the right side with Moreira, Herrera and Chambost. Often those three would be able to combine and unlock the defense, sending the Five Stripes scrambling to cover all the Crew attackers running into the box. From that standpoint, Columbus’ offense looked more dynamic than they had been this season. It was a welcome sight for fans that were craving wins at home after a horrid stretch in May and early June. On the other side of the ball, Atlanta also contributed to this dominance by putting forth one of the worst defensive performances they possibly could muster. Teams have bad games, but there were a few specific things that the Five Stripes got horribly wrong which led to the Black & Gold capitalizing. The first issue was Atlanta’s spacing. After the first flurry of Crew attacks came, the visitors’ backline began to drop further and further back towards their goal. Miguel Almiron and Emmanuel Latte Lath did not want to drop deeper, so they stayed high up the pitch. This meant that Atlanta’s midfielders had to cover a massive amount of ground, which was not feasible. This mistake gave Rossi and Gazdag room to drop in behind the midfielders and run at the defense, or Nagbe and Chambost space to drive the ball forward towards a deep midfield. The second big issue rests squarely on the shoulders of Atlanta’s attacking duo. When the Five Stripes won the ball, Almiron and Latte Lath were not in a position to retrieve a pass from their teammates. This allowed Columbus to regain possession on a turnover or by winning a long ball. The last and possibly most glaring issue for Atlanta was the turnovers. The visitors were extremely slopping in possession and gifted the Black & Gold a lot of great chances. Guzan bailed them out of a few, but the most glaring turnover gave the Crew their third goal of the night. The combination of Columbus finding their offensive footing and Atlanta self-destructing in the first half decided the outcome of this game. Fans of the Black & Gold will want to see more of the same at the weekend. Daniel Gazdag’s best game in the Black & Gold kit Critics have been extremely loud about the play of Gazdag since he came over from the Philadelphia Union earlier in the summer. Gazdag – Philadelphia’s club record goal scorer – has managed zero goals in 11 appearances with the Crew this season. Touted as the, or one of, the solutions to the departure of Cucho Hernandez, Gazdag has not hit the ground running. He has often looked lost and has not been able to get the goal to start off his account in Columbus. That being said, although he did not score on Wednesday against Atlanta, the Hungarian was much improved. Gazdag challenged Guzan to make a couple world-class saves throughout the first half, with great attacking play that could have netted him a brace. Outside of the shots though, Gazdag was extremely involved in the buildup and got into the right spaces. On Herrera’s goal, Gazdag was there in the middle of the box as an option for the wingback to pass to if he opted to. In the buildup, Gazdag was crafty and found good spaces to facilitate attacking play. Now, an attacker of Gazdag’s quality will always be measured in statistics. How many goals and assists can he provide the Black & Gold will be the question going forward. That being said, he has come a long way from what he looked like in his first few games with the Crew. We have seen this type of struggle before out of high-profile DP’s coming to the club. Fans do not need to think back too far to remember Rossi first coming to the club as Lucas Zelarayan’s replacement. Those first few games during that 2023 season that Rossi was put into were tough for him to fit in, but eventually he found his form and has been an invaluable player for the Black & Gold ever since. So, what is the point of saying all this? There is a proven track record that players who are brought into Nancy’s system have an adjustment period. Only Cucho Hernandez – regarded as one of the best players in club history – was able to hit the ground relatively running. Chambost, Rossi and even Christian Ramirez too time to settle into Nancy’s system. Gazdag has had time to do so, and you can see him beginning to mesh with the squad and understand more of the tactical system Nancy wants to play. Do not be surprised if he bags a goal or two on Sunday against Philadelphia. Once he gets one, the floodgates will be open and the rest of MLS will need to be on watch.

The Columbus Crew returned to its winning ways on Saturday, taking down the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1. After a break, the Black & Gold returned home to face the team at the top of the Western Conference. Although Vancouver was missing a host of typical contributors, they posed a sizable threat. Columbus took the lead moments into the match when Ibrahim Aliyu got on the end of a cross by Lassi Lappalainen, stunning the Whitecaps from the jump. However, the lead lasted mere minutes after a deflected shot careened past an already-diving Evan Bush to even the game. Later, a careless giveaway by the Vancouver defense and an incisive pass from Daniel Gazdag saw Diego Rossi score the Crew’s second of the night. For the rest of the game, it was Columbus dominance. The Black & Gold scored three more goals, but all three were called back for offside. When the final whistle blew, the Crew gained another three points for the first time in what feels like forever. With a rotated squad, Wilfried Nancy had to make some tactical tweaks in this game. Let’s dive into all the tactics that influenced the outcome. Aliyu at wingback One of the biggest surprises of the night was the inclusion of Aliyu in the starting lineup when there already seemed to be three attacking players in the XI. At kickoff, it was apparent that Aliyu would play a different role than usual for Columbus: wingback. With Max Arfsten on and Mo Farsi returning from international duty, Aliyu and Lappalainen started on the flanks. From the opening kick, this decision seemed to reap dividends after the two connected for the first goal. After coming in from the Houston Dynamo, Aliyu has primarily played in the fluid front three at the spearhead of Nancy’s team. In that role he did well, bagging a goal or two and often looking dangerous around the goalmouth. Like so many other players though, you have to be adaptable to play in Nancy’s system. Moving to the wingback spot for this game, Aliyu fit in decently well. A tenet of playing wingback in Columbus’ system is that you must be able be a dangerous attacker along with a competent defender. Aliyu fit the bill of being dangerous on the attack instantly. On offense, Aliyu stayed high and wide until he saw an opportunity to cut inside behind the outside shoulder of the defender. With most of the defense focused on the fluid front three in the middle, this gave Aliyu a number of chances to cut inside and get behind the defense unmarked. Unfortunately for him, many of these runs were called offside. Vancouver did a good job of keeping a high line and baiting the Black & Gold into those offsides calls. Many of the decisions were close, but it kept the Crew from getting a third, fourth, or fifth goal of the night. Although he offered a different dynamic in attack on the outside, there is still room for improvement. Aliyu currently lacks the touch to play wingback consistently, losing the ball off his foot due to a bad trap or not even getting a touch on the ball. One of the things that makes Farsi so valuable is his ability to bring the ball down instantly and then drive at the defender. On the outside, there is not typically a ton of time to get control with a few touches, so you need to bring the ball under control with as few as possible. Other than the issue of ball control, this game was a really good showing for Aliyu. Now, Columbus knows that if injury or international duty strikes the Black & Gold again, they have a reserve wingback in Aliyu. Columbus’ offensive formational overload Throughout this match the Crew attacked Vancouver by overloading the different phases of the Whitecaps’ formation. From back to front, Columbus altered their formation to have a numerical advantage no matter what area of the pitch they were in. Beginning in Nancy’s classic 3-2-5 offensive formation, the Black & Gold could change whatever they wanted about their shape. The Whitecaps’ offensive line included only one striker, so Andres Herrera moved more forward into the midfield alongside Darlington Nagbe and Amar Sejdic. It does not take three defenders to overload a single striker, so Herrera moved forward on offense. From there, Sean Zawadzki and Yevhen Cheberko played a two-man game along with the midfield to pass around and isolate the single attacker. Once play bypassed the attacking line, the Crew began to overload the midfield. Vancouver defended in a 5-4-1, meaning Columbus needed a minimum of five players to overload the midfield. With Herrera alongside Nagbe and Sejdic, AZ Jackson also dropped into the left midfield pocket to be the fourth option. From there, Rossi, Gazdag, or even Cheberko could move into the midfield to yet again have a numbers advantage over Vancouver’s midfield group. From that moment forward the offensive overload was easy. The Crew committed players forward in the attack and condensed the Vancouver formation. With all the attacking options Columbus had, overloading the defense is the most common formational overload the Black & Gold do. In one movement, the Crew can go from a 2-3-5, to a 1-5-4, and then to a 1-3-6 or 2-2-6. These formational changes are not just indicative of Columbus wanting to attack; it is committing players to a certain area of the pitch so they can win the numbers battle. This creates confusion on Vancouver’s part to mark all these newly arriving players, but it also gives the Black & Gold enough manpower to combine and pass through the defense at any given moment. These changes not only got the Crew three points, but it put this Columbus team back on the right track after a rough month. The Black & Gold played true Nancy-ball on Saturday, a welcome sight for weary eyes.

The Columbus Crew’s winless streak continued as they fell to Inter Miami 5-1 on May 31st. The hosts struck early and often, thanks to defensive mistakes by the Columbus backline and goalkeeper Nico Hagen. Miami netted three goals in the first 25 minutes of the match, heading into the intermission with a 3-0 lead. A header from substitute Cesar Ruvalcaba brought the deficit back to two, but more poor defending and goalkeeping allowed Miami to continue the onslaught. Ultimately, Miami walked away with a comfortable 5-1 victory and the season sweep over the Black & Gold. The Crew has not won a game since May 3, nearly a month ago. In victory as well as defeats, there are tactics at play by both sides that dictated the outcome of this game. Let’s dive into all the tactics that handed Columbus one of the biggest losses of the Wilfried Nancy era. Playing into Miami’s hands As many fans saw in the last matchup against Miami, Javier Mascherano’s side often plays better on the counterattack. Although Miami is among the league leaders in possession, sucking an opponent in and countering with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez would be a potent gameplan for any team in the world. With the Crew leading the league in overall possession, their play style gave Miami a perfect chance to play on the counterattack. The hosts sat in an extremely narrow 4-4-2 on defense and forced Columbus to attack down the flanks. Many of the Black & Gold’s turnovers came in the center of the pitch due to the congestion of the Miami players in that same area. Due to Miami’s narrow approach, the emphasis was now on Max Arfsten and Mo Farsi to cultivate the attacks. Early in the game, Miami rotated its entire formation to the ball-dominant side to leave the backside of the defense wide open. With all the other attacking options stopped by Miami’s narrow approach, the Black & Gold’s best attack opportunities came on aerial balls to the backside wingback. To get those wide chances, the Crew had to commit sizable numbers into the attack. Columbus is not shy about getting defenders forward into an attacking phase, but this time it was exactly what Miami wanted them to do. The second the wingbacks and outside centerbacks flew forward for the Black & Gold, Messi started to roam to find space and be an outlet. From there, when the Crew turned the ball over it was a track meet. Miami threw numbers forward at a disorganized and recovering Columbus defense, reaping the benefits on multiple occasions. The Black & Gold’s recklessness with the ball and on defense landed them in a three-goal hole only a half hour into the match, which meant they had to send more players forward to chip away at the deficit. This cycle of throwing numbers forward, getting countered and conceding a goal was seemingly never-ending, but there was one are of the pitch that influenced the game more than another. The key for Miami in this game was winning the midfield battle. The Crew typically plays with two true midfielders, with outside centerbacks and attackers occasionally dropping in to fill voids. Miami knew the Columbus was light on defensive roles, so they overloaded the midfield. On offense, the hosts essentially transformed into a 4-4-1-1 with Messi as the attacking midfielder. Runners would push back the defensive line for the Black & Gold, allowing Messi and Sergio Busquets the time and space to create against an undermanned Crew midfield. From there, it was goal after goal until the final whistle mercifully blew for Columbus. This loss caps off the Black & Gold’s dismal month. The bad and the ugly Contrary to prior belief, the Crew’s biggest problem is their defense. Originally missing a true goalscoring threat to cap off the dynamic attack, Columbus’ biggest issue has morphed from an inability to score to a lack of defensive stability. Part of the problem is the inherent system. Nancy prides himself on allowing his players to go out and play beautiful soccer, but it does leave the defense exposed at times. With experienced defenders like Steven Moreira, Rudy Camacho and Malte Amundsen anchoring the backline, the Black & Gold used to be able to sort out those transition moments. As time has gone on, that cool-headed but stout defensive approach has vanished into thin air. Goals are going to be scored on a defensive line that plays high and allows it’s outside centerbacks to make runs into the attack. It is up to the offense to outscore opponents, but the defense also has to limit the damage. In recent weeks the Crew have not been limiting damage, they have rolled out the red carpet and invited it. One huge issue has been the number of turnovers. Columbus got into a rut of giving the ball away in the worst possible places and times. That brings on reactionary defending, which creates mistakes and allows the other team to capitalize. The Black & Gold are gifting opportunities to other teams at a rapid pace, which is not sustainable with the current offense. Another problem has been the communication and chemistry. For the Crew to play high-intensity transition defense, there needs to be a lot of communication about marks, where to set the defensive line and who can cover for players who run into the attack. Columbus has missed the mark on all three of these points. Farsi dropped too deep on Miami’s first and third goal to keep the runner onside. There were numerous back post marks that went undefended. Outside centerbacks will make runs and be too slow to get back or not communicate with someone to cover. All three of those defensive tenets have been poor for the Black & Gold in the month of May. The strength of a team starts from the back, and right now, the defensive line for the Crew is one of the weakest links. The weakest link, however, has been the play of Hagen. Taking over for the injured Patrick Schulte, Hagen has routinely not been able to give Columbus stability in between the posts. The Guatemalan’s positioning is not at a pro-level – consistently giving up his front post (Miami’s fourth goal) and getting caught off his line in no-man’s land when he needs to decide whether to drop back or rush the attacker (Miami’s first and third goals, and Charlotte’s corner goal a few weeks ago). On top of that, he withers when he makes mistakes. One of the purest qualities a goalkeeper can have is a short memory. Make a mistake? Put it out of your mind and execute. After Hagen essentially handed Messi the ball, got chipped, made a mess of tipping it over the bar, and ultimately gave up a goal, he could not play out of the back with his feet for the rest of the match. Every time the Crew gave the goalkeeper a back pass, Hagen would hit it long and direct or play a half-hearted nervous pass. At the end of the day, if you need a goalkeeper to step up and be a pure shot stopper, Hagen can do it. He has the ability to make great saves when he has to, but the rest of his game is unpolished and sloppy. If he continues to start in Schulte’s absence, the Black & Gold will have a liability between the posts. As for the rest of the team, this two-week break gives the Crew time to take a breath, get healthy and figure some things out. For Nancy and his coaching staff, the international window could not have come at a better time. It is back to the drawing board for Columbus, because this team is better than their record in the month of May.

The Columbus Crew continued their recent struggles this week, falling to Charlotte FC on the weekend and drawing Nashville SC in a midweek clash. Columbus got an early goal down in Charlotte, but the hosts battled back to eventually win the game 3-2. The Black & Gold never have good luck in Charlotte, but they returned home on Wednesday for a matchup with Nashville – who had climbed in the standings in recent weeks. After conceding in the opening 90 seconds, the Crew struck back courtesy of a Diego Rossi rebound. Then, Columbus gave up the lead again when a quick throw in snuck by the defense and allowed Hany Mukhtar to score on an open net. At the point it looked like the Black & Gold would end up in the loss column again, but a low cross from the left side was turned in by a Nashville defender, ending the game in a draw. Let’s dive into all the tactics from both these matches in which the Crew extracted one point total. A two-striker formation against Charlotte One of the recent lineup surprises from Wilfried Nancy came when he decided to start both Ibrahim Aliyu and Jacen Russell-Rowe against Charlotte. Nancy also included Daniel Gazdag and Rossi in the starting eleven, setting up a fluid front for rather than the traditional fluid front three. This personnel decision set Columbus in a 5-1-2-2 that could be a 3-1-4-2 when the wingbacks push up. Very similar structure to the formation the Black & Gold always play, but they were a bit light on midfield roles. Since he came to the Crew, Nancy liked to have two central midfielders to act as deep-lying playmakers on offense, and recovery stopgaps on defense. In this game, Darlington Nagbe stood alone as the only deeper central midfielder on the field. At times, Gazdag did drop in deeper to assist Nagbe on offense, but was not up to the defensive role that Dylan Chambost is usually used to. In a sense, Nancy opted for more firepower up front in exchange for defensive instability. In the attack, Aliyu and Russell-Rowe played as dueling strikers. Aliyu stretched the defense with his pace while Russell-Rowe could drop underneath and holdup the ball for Rossi and Gazdag to be secondary runners. In theory this sounds like a good idea, but this decision also played right into Charlotte’s hands. Now Columbus turned the ball over, Charlotte already had a man advantage with the absence of a second central midfielder for the Black & Gold. The instant the hosts got the ball; they played direct passes into Patrick Agyemang and Wilfried Zaha to go at the Crew with pace. With secondary runners arriving from the midfield for Charlotte, the hosts outnumbered Columbus on the counterattack five to four. This is where defensive problems arose. Agyemang was a terror to mark one-on-one, especially for the smaller-framed Sean Zawadzki. Then on the other side you had Zaha on an island, with secondary runners arriving in the middle. Charlotte played their cards well and waiting for the counterattack because they had the numbers to overwhelm the Black & Gold in transition. That was the defensive fallout from the two-striker lineup, but there were some positives to be observed. Both Aliyu and Russell-Rowe attracting defensive attention gave Rossi and Gazdag more space to play in. The strikers also constricted the defense which allowed Mo Farsi and Max Arfsten to get into better spaces as well. In the end, the Crew had to utilize those wide areas because building through the middle remained a challenge with only one true central midfielder. Charlotte man-marked Nagbe, forcing Columbus to build through wide channels rather than through their central midfield engine. In the end, the lineup featuring two strikers was ultimately a failure. The Black & Gold lost the game and walked away still in a rut that has plagued them over the last month. A mid-week matchup with Nashville would not qualm their need for a win either, drawing 2-2 in front of a home crowd. What is the Crew’s problem? When this question is posed a lot of fans will point to Columbus’ offensive struggles. After two seasons of Nancy-ball, the Black & Gold are known for bagging loads of goals and playing beautiful soccer. This season the Crew have still been mesmerizing, but the goals have not come at the same rate. Through the first 16 games of the 2024 MLS season, the Crew scored 25 goals. In the first 16 games of this season, Columbus bagged 26 goals. Looking at the stats, the Black & Gold are actually outperforming their scoring total from last season up to this point. On the defensive side, in the first 16 games of 2024 the Crew conceded 17 goals. This season, Columbus has given up 19 goals. While there is not a huge jump in goals scored or conceded, the simple fact remains that the Black & Gold are on track in the scoring department. The Crew fail the eye-test when it comes to chances they should finish, but the stats are in their favor from the standpoint of scoring goals. Columbus’ real concern is on the defensive side of the ball. Stats can speak all they want but the simple fact of the matter is that the Black & Gold are going through the motions on some aspects of their defensive duties. Most of these mistakes that directly result in the goals are on an individual level, but as a collective the Crew’s defense has been poor by their standards. For Charlotte’s first goal of the game, Columbus played a zonal marking structure. Agyemang – arguably one of the biggest aerial threats in the league – is allowed to waltz into the front post past the Black & Gold defense and get his head on a cross that would ultimately make the game 1-1. From a collective standpoint, that is a colossal failure. No professional team accepts that an opponent’s number one target on corners should be able to score so easily. On an individual note, though, goalkeeper Nico Hagen could have prevented this goal. Hagen had his moments over the past two games, but he also made glaring mistakes. On the corner that Charlotte scored from, the ball is whipped into the front post. First response from a goalkeeper either has to be a decision to come out and claim the ball or drop back on their line for a potential save. Hagen hesitates, waiting too late before finally deciding to come out before getting caught in no-man’s-land and allowing the header to go right by him as he leaves his feet for some reason. It is a mistake that could be expected from a goalkeeper who was thrust off the bench to start in the place of an injured Patrick Shulte, but as a professional goalkeeper it is extremely poor. In the game against Nashville, both of the away side’s goals were easily preventable but due to complacency, were given up. On the first goal, Gazdag stands and watches as a Nashville attacker whips the ball into the box. Malte Amundsen makes a half-hearted effort to clear, deflecting the ball to an unmarked attacker on the back post. Three cardinal sins of defending were committed on this singular goal. Not closing a potential cross down, making minimal effort to clear a ball and not marking at the back post are all signs of complacent defending. To make matters worse, this goal came in the opening 90 seconds of the game, so fatigue is not an excuse. Fast forward to later in the game, Nashville gets a goal when the Crew were arguing a throw in. Chambost looks to the referee to change his call while Jacob Shaffelburg slips behind him into the box. Hagen makes a save, but yet again Nashville reacts first to grab their second goal. Arguing calls is part of soccer whether you like it or not, but the oldest rule that they teach in peewee soccer is to play to the whistle. Columbus was too busy arguing to get a throw in that they took their eye off the ball, and it likely cost them points. Throughout this lull by the Black & Gold the defense as not been up to par. In the past five games the Crew have tied four, lost one and conceded nine goals. Giving up a near-average of two goals per game will not lead to success. Columbus needs to start putting away more chances on the offensive end, but it is safe to say that those goals will not matter if the Black & Gold continue to defend the way they are right now.

The Columbus Crew drew their third straight game on Saturday, this time in a Hell is Real matchup with bitter rival FC Cincinnati. The visitors struck first due to a mess at the back by the Columbus defense just six minutes into the game, but from that moment on the Black & Gold had control. The Crew had the lions’ share of possession, shots and goalscoring chances, but they still lacked that killer instinct to put the ball into the back of the net. That changed early on in the second half, when a handball gave Columbus an opportunity to tie the game from the spot. Diego Rossi converted to even the score, but the Black & Gold would not be able to find the winning goal despite an absorbent number of promising attacks. It was another draw that feels more like a loss for the Crew due to the lack of finishing. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this Hell is Real showdown. Columbus’ offensive dominance Throughout this game, the Crew were constantly down in Cincinnati’s half of the field. Granted, there were times where the visitors created chances off of counter attacks, but to a neutral observer this game was largely dominated by the team in Black & Gold. Columbus did a few different things in this game to keep Cincinnati on the back foot and trap them in their own half. The first has to do with the outside centerbacks. Both Steven Moreira and Malte Amundsen were given a free pass to move into the midfield and explore out wide. This may be typical in a Wilfried Nancy gameplan, but this time it was different. Instead of pushing Darlington Nagbe and Dylan Chambost higher, the outside centerbacks were the higher attacking player. Often times, Nagbe and Chambost filled in for Amundsen and Moreira in their centerback positions to aid the buildup and offer defensive cover. When Moreira and Amundsen did this, the Crew attack morphed into a cupped 3-3-4 or a 3-4-3 depending on if Daniel Gazdag was up top or dropping into the midfield. The outside centerbacks – now moved up into the midfield – had the option to stay inside or overlap with the wingback to create wide overloads. Nagbe and Chambost operated from a deep-lying position but made secondary runs towards the box as the play developed. Not only did the outside centerbacks’ positioning create overloads, but it allowed them to choose where to formulate those advantages. Cincinnati usually pressed with four players and defender with five, leaving only one midfielder as a safety valve to pick off any stray passes. When this was the case, Moreira and Amundsen pinched in to overload that singular midfielder. When other attackers dropped in to help defend, Moreira and Amundsen moved outside to make a wide overload with Mo Farsi or Max Arfsten. This freedom for the outside centerbacks was a huge catalyst for why the Black & Gold did so well on offense (minus the final finish). No matter where Cincinnati tried to cover, the Crew could adapt around them. The second big change that came on offense was the inclusion of Ibrahim Aliyu on offense. After Jacen Russell-Rowe started much of the year, Aliyu was named as a surprise starter for what is arguably the biggest game on Columbus’ calendar. When the team sheets were announced fans were skeptical at first, but Aliyu offered a different skillset the Russell-Rowe does not have. Aliyu’s main game is to play off the shoulder of the defender as a speedy vertical option. He often drifted into pockets and made runs in behind to stretch the defense, making room for Rossi and Gazdag underneath. Russell-Rowe’s skillset is more in the realm of being a poacher and holdup player. He does not have the same pace that Aliyu does but would excel against a team that likes to press high and allow whipped balls into the box. With Aliyu stretching the defense with his verticality, Rossi and Gazdag had more room to drop into the midfield and create. If the defenders followed them, Aliyu had enough pace to get in behind the defense and cause damage that way. The third key to the Black & Gold’s dominance was their ability to change formations to better aid the buildup and attack. For example, when the Crew would be building up in possession they would be in a 1-4-5, with both outside centerbacks alongside Nagbe and Chambost. When Columbus advanced into an attacking phase, that formation would quickly become a 1-3-6 or a 1-2-7. In the 1-3-6, Sean Zawadzki would stay back with Nagbe and the outside centerbacks right in front of him. Chambost would move into an attacking space along with the front three and the wingbacks. From there, Chambost would typically drop back into the midfield alongside Nagbe in the attacking third, while the outside centerbacks moved into the attack. All these changes are subtle, but they played a huge role in why the Black & Gold were a dominant attacking team in this matchup. The final piece of the puzzle now is to actually put the ball into the back of the net. Columbus’ shortcomings Of all the characteristics we think of when it comes to a Nancy-coached team, not being able to score is not one that comes to mind. The Crew are not drowning in a goalless abyss where they cannot score a single goal, but they are not converting the chances they should. Many will point to the departure of Cucho Hernandez – which is a valid reason – but Columbus has a plethora of other goalscoring threats that simply wet the bed in front of goal on a consistent basis. Fans will point the finger at attackers like Russell-Rowe and Gazdag – who have both missed tons of seemingly must-take changes – and look for improvement, but the goals will come. Gazdag has only been with the Black & Gold for a few weeks and in the past, it sometimes takes players half a season to become accustomed with Nancy’s system. There was a time when Rossi was being ridiculed for his lack of production early on, but he has since taken the spotlight and been the Crew’s main goalscoring threat. The good news for Columbus is that they are doing everything right up until the final finish. It would be a different story if the Black & Gold were not able to even generate a scoring chance, but the only missing piece right now is the final finish. If the Crew can get a multi-goal game back on the board, suddenly scoring will feel so much easier. If the scoring lapse continues though, focus must turn to the other end of the pitch. I have often contended that Columbus only concedes goals that are self-inflicted mistakes or absolute world-class plays from the other team. If the Black & Gold eliminates the defensive mistakes, they will win more often than not. On Saturday, it was yet another shot in the foot that sunk the Crew. Patrick Schulte came out to claim a ball and did not deal with it, leading to an open shot on the back post in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Many fingers will be pointed at Schulte, but Moreira and Farsi need to share some of the blame as well. Moreira slides over to mark another Cincinnati attacker, leaving Kevin Denkey alone at the back post. In that moment, Moreira needs to tell Farsi – who was hanging out further up in the box – to track back and mark as soon as he switches onto another attacker. On the other hand, Farsi needs to recognize that while he is a staple in the attack, he has defensive duties to attend to as well. The lack of communication and cavalier nature that Columbus played on defense in that moment cannot stand if the Black & Gold cannot score more than one goal a game. These are issues that are fixable, but they are a constant thorn in the Crew’s side.

The Columbus Crew continued their unbeaten streak on the road, salvaging a 1-1 draw with lowly CF Montreal. It was a rough first half lacking scoring chances for Columbus, with Montreal fighting back against the Black & Gold’s possession style with long spells of possession themselves. The home side eventually found the opener courtesy of a dummy and a backheeled assist that found the feet of Luca Petrasso. Petrasso controlled his touch and dispatched the ball low to Patrick Schulte’s left to put Montreal on the board. After a dismal first half, the Crew got back on the horse. In the second half, Columbus had much more possession and scoring chances, finally equalizing off a Montreal disaster in the back that left Jacen Russell-Rowe with an open net. From there, it was a lot of Black & Gold possession that did not yield another goal. A draw is a draw, but the Crew were likely hoping for more against an inferior side. In another road point for Columbus, let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this match. Two different possession-dominant styles Both the Black & Gold and Montreal have a similar philosophy on the offensive side of the ball: possession. While either team may have the same ideas about how to best control the game on offense, they have different offensive philosophies based on possession. For the Crew, Wilfried Nancy’s men love to build from the back by whatever means necessary. Columbus relies solely on their individual skill and collective versatility to control the ball in tight spaces, play out of position, and find the weak points in the opponent’s defense. This free-flowing brand of soccer is proven to be difficult to stop, but if the Black & Gold have an off night with poor touches and passes, they can become ordinary. The Crew’s offensive philosophy is predicated on a possession-first mentality. That being said, if the counter chance is there Columbus will not hesitate to pull the trigger and strike quickly. More often than not though, the Black & Gold find their goals through long spells of possession that break down an opponent and overwhelm them. Many of these possession movements begin at the back, with the Crew’s backline and midfielders doing the majority of the work. A combination of small passes and playing out of position breaks through the opposing lines to overload the defense is Columbus’ mantra. If they are forced to go long into the striker’s feet they will, but the Black & Gold do not have a player that can hold up the ball well enough to do this consistently. Focusing more on short passing and building from the back is what works the best for the Crew. On the other side, Montreal also loves to possess the ball. While the home side does enjoy having the ball at their feet, the Canadian side has a different offensive approach. Columbus may love short passing and a slower buildup to break down opponents, but Montreal does the exact opposite. Le CFM is content to possess the ball but wants to counter quickly if they have the chance. Playing against a team like the Black & Gold gives Montreal an opportunity to do just that, with some Crew players overextended and out of position. If Columbus is set defensively, Montreal will keep the ball moving from side to side until an avenue opens up, much like former Black & Gold head coach Gregg Berhalter would do in Columbus. Unlike the Crew, Montreal wants to build using holdup play and secondary runners. Using striker Prince Owusu as the focal point of the attack, Montreal plays the ball into his feet and then has attacker Caden Clark run underneath Owusu to advance the ball. This combination of a tall, strong holdup striker and a speedy attacker makes for a potent strategy on offense. These differing philosophies both yielded a goal on Wednesday, but in the broader scheme of things one team sits at the top of the conference while the other is at the bottom. Both squads enjoy having the ball at their feet but have gone about putting the ball in the back of the net in different ways. Positioning of the outside centerbacks and Darlington Nagbe One of the little tweaks that Nancy implemented in this game involved the outside centerbacks and Darlington Nagbe. When Columbus was on offense, Malte Amundsen and Steven Moreira had free reign to go up into the attack. During the first half, the Black & Gold opted to keep two centerbacks deeper at all times. This was likely to account for Owusu and Clark, who could quickly hold up play and overwhelm one defender. Moreira typically moved forward during the first half since the Crew prioritized attacking the right side more often. The second half was where Columbus changed things for the better. Nancy then gave both centerbacks permission to move forward at the same time, but he kept Nagbe deeper in front of Yevhen Cheberko as a safety valve. Nagbe acted as a cutoff man for balls into Owusu and could operate as a deep-lying playmaker to assist the attack. This moved the Black & Gold offense into a 1-1-3-5/2-3-5 shape. Both outside centerbacks offered attacking midfield support to Dylan Chambost, with the attacking trio and wingbacks up high. This formation trapped in Montreal and made it easy to employ a repress, with Owusu up top as the only long-ball release valve. This formational change is part of the reason why the Crew had more success in the second half. More pressure on Montreal’s backline forced them into mistakes, which eventually resulted in a goal for Russell-Rowe. After the goal for the Canadian striker went in, Columbus sometimes moved into a 1-3-6 with Nagbe moving alongside the outside center backs. This pushed Chambost up higher into the attack and put more pressure and overloads on the Montreal defense. While this game did not result in three points, the Black & Gold keep stacking points away from home ahead of a Hell is Real matchup this weekend. Holding out Diego Rossi and Sean Zawadzki for the weekend was a risk, but one Nancy was willing to take if it rewarded the Crew with at least a point.

The Columbus Crew picked up another big win on Saturday, this time taking down a Charlotte FC side that opened up the season playing well. Dylan Chambost opened the scoring for Columbus in the 25th minute, burying a rebound that goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina spilled in front of the goalmouth. Diego Rossi doubled the Black & Gold’s lead a mere 14 minutes later, but Wilfried Zaha brought Charlotte back within one from the spot. After halftime, AZ Jackson’s first-time strike near the middle of the box found the bottom corner to restore the Crew’s two-goal advantage, but the visitors were not done yet. A poor Patrick Schulte spill led to an open-goal tap-in for Liel Abada, but Jacen Russell-Rowe would find the clincher in the 81st minute to secure a 4-2 win for Columbus. It was an offensive showdown for both teams, with six goals total ending up in the back of the net. Let’s dive into all the tactics that helped the Black & Gold secure the top spot in the East. Attacking the midfield gap One of the big mistakes Charlotte made in this game was in the middle of the field. In recent weeks, opponents of the Crew have done the exact opposite of what Charlotte did in this game, yielding good results, as it was hard for Columbus to score. Recent opponents of the Black & Gold opted for a tight and compact midfield, forcing the Crew to attack primarily through the wingbacks and outside center backs. Keeping the midfield condensed and tight forces Rossi and the other attackers to find wide space because the interior passing lanes are blocked off. Instead of keeping up the trend of narrow midfields, Charlotte’s midfielders gave up sizable passing gaps in the middle of the field. These gaps allowed Rossi, Jackson and Russell-Rowe to get the ball and turn, heading straight at a recovering backline. These passing gaps are likely due to the visitors’ formation choice. Charlotte came out in a 4-3-3, with Brandt Bronico up in the attack as a no. 10. This left two defensive midfielders to plug up the middle of the pitch, not enough to keep up with Columbus’ dropping front three, Darlington Nagbe and Chambost. Bronico and the front three for Charlotte seemed disinterested in tracking back, leaving the two defensive midfielders to fend for themselves. That matchup is just not fair, especially since the Charlotte backline was not following the Black & Gold dropping attackers. With the two defensive midfielders set to cover essentially five players for the Crew, Columbus had a field day in the middle of the pitch. Attack after attack began after playing a line-breaking pass into an attacker’s feet. Then from there, all options were on the table as the recovering defense tried to halt the impending movement. The first part of attacking the midfield gap was mostly due to Charlotte’s error, but the second part was actually something routine that Wilfried Nancy does. The only way to hold the defense accountable and make them respect the Black & Gold offense was by keeping both wingbacks as high as possible. When the wingbacks were high up the pitch, this created the space that the Crew attackers could drop into. By pushing back the defensive line, the gap between the defense and midfield grew. So, with Max Arfsten and Mo Farsi up high, Rossi, Jackson, and Russell-Rowe had more room inside to operate. Not only did the wingbacks’ positioning help in the attacking buildup, but it also offered an instant outlet to catch the defense by surprise. Defenders tend to ball-watch when an attacker turns to face them, allowing Arfsten and Farsi the option to slip in behind the defense on diagonal runs or stay wide and put a cross into the box. By holding the backline high up the pitch, the wingbacks gave the attackers time and space to exploit Charlotte’s midfield gap. Those passing lanes created several chances for the Black & Gold and were one of the main reasons the Crew netted four goals. How can the Crew be stopped? I have often said that the only way Columbus is beat is through moments of brilliance by their opponents, or by shooting themselves in the foot. In this particular matchup against Charlotte, it was the latter that caused the Black & Gold issues. On the visitors’ first goal, it was a poor challenge by Yevhen Cheberko that gifted Charlotte a spot kick. It was a necessary tackle, but the Ukrainian got there a second late and caught the man instead of the ball. The entire sequence of passes up until the foul seemed riddled with a sense of complacency by the Crew defense. It was late in the half and Columbus dominated the game up until that point, but a brief lapse of concentration gave Charlotte the opportunity to get back within a goal right before the break. The Black & Gold pushed their lead back out to two goals in the second half, but it was another poor judgment call that caught them in hot water again. Miscommunication by Schulte and Arfsten on a seemingly routine and uncontested cross ended up at the feet of Abada, who took the gift from the Crew defense and slotted it home. It does not have to always be one or the other that causes Columbus to falter. A few weeks ago against Miami, the Herons had a moment of brilliance on a counterattack that gave them the lead. On the other hand, the Black & Gold had a number of goal-scoring chances that they could not find a way to finish. Those are the games where the combination of an opponent’s brilliance and a self-implosion will result in a loss. Luckily for the Crew, they found a way to score four goals and secure all three points despite their gaffes in the back. Almost a third of the way through the season, Columbus sits at the top of the Eastern Conference still without a true DP no. 9 in the front line. If the trend continues, the Black & Gold will be in good shape heading into a crucial stretch of the season.

The Columbus Crew got back to winning ways at their real home in downtown Columbus, defeating their geographic rivals San Jose Earthquakes 2-1. Sean Zawadzki opened the scoring for the Black & Gold in the first half on a whipped in freekick, but the Earthquakes equalized before halftime to send both teams to the locker room deadlocked. Max Arfsten found the winner for the Crew in the second half, dazzling the defense with a few stepovers before roofing the ball into the back of the net. From there, Columbus defended its lead and ended up taking all three points. It was another game of adjustments with the Black & Gold having to change their offensive philosophy depending on what San Jose’s defense did. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into Wilfried Nancy’s side racking up three points. Attacking the Quakes’ press with dropping attackers In the opening minutes of this match, it was apparent what San Jose’s defensive strategy was. The Quakes wanted to make the Crew uncomfortable by instituting a man-to-man pressure high up the pitch. Unlike Columbus’ press – which is a bit resisted and focuses on cutting off passing options instead of attacking the player with the ball – San Jose put effort into putting the ballhandler under pressure. This caused some high turnovers by the Black & Gold, but the Crew quickly learned how to pick the Earthquakes apart with a few simple tactics. The first thing Columbus did had their attackers and wingbacks drop into the midfield more often than they usually do. The Black & Gold typically have two droppers during a routine game – Diego Rossi and Daniel Gazdag. Those two are the creative fulcrums of the Crew, dropping into the midfield to receive the ball to their feet and spray it out to another player. On Saturday, Columbus had Rossi, Gazdag, Arfsten and Mo Farsi drop deeper in search of the ball. Not only did this relieve the pressure on the backline by giving them passing options, but it also dragged-out San Jose’s defenders who followed the droppers. Now, the Black & Gold opened up space in behind for Jacen Russell-Rowe and others who did not have the ball to run into. By using simple passages of play like the up-back-through technique, the Crew unlocked the San Jose backline and press in one sequence. This option was not always open though as the Earthquakes made their press more compartmental. Now the visitors were cheating pressers over to one side, trying to overload Columbus and force bad turnovers. This change posed a problem, but it also opened up another avenue to attack through. Now the non-ball side of the pitch was wide open due to San Jose’s overshift. If the wingback on that backside stayed wide, the Black & Gold had an easy outlet and overloaded the far-side defender with the wingback and Russell-Rowe. Yet again, San Jose adjusted to try and stump the Crew. This time, the Earthquakes kept pressing with their frontline and midfielders but told the defenders to stay deeper. With this change, the droppers now had time to get the ball into their feet and turn, essentially eliminating the midfield battle and making it a transition game. The Quakes might have felt safer with a stagnant and deep defensive line, but there was so much space in the midfield that Columbus was now able to bear down on that defense. Regardless of how San Jose changed their defensive structure, the Black & Gold found a way to get around it. The final tweak that the Earthquakes made not only opened up the midfield, but it gave a certain player off the Crew’s bench an opportunity to further open the game. AZ Jackson coming on for Russell-Rowe – opening up the game AZ Jackson has been on the receiving end of some fair criticism in recent weeks for his play. The young midfielder tends to lose the ball too much and struggles at times to be consistent in that fluid front three. While the critics have been loud and decently fair, Jackson showed his quality in the second half against San Jose. Substituting Jackson in for Russell-Rowe gave the Crew a different dynamic on offense. Taking out Russell-Rowe – the only true no. 9 on the field – allowed Rossi and Gazdag to pursue different roles. Now, both Rossi and Gazdag were given a free license to go and hunt as dueling strikers. Both players are hybrid midfielders/forwards, but they both are still Columbus’ best attacking options. So, bringing on Jackson to carry the burden of the attacking midfield role, allowing Rossi and Gazdag to push higher and letting them be the main attacking threats gave the Black & Gold a different look on offense. With the San Jose backline dropping off later in the game and essentially refusing to follow droppers, Jackson now had loads of space to operate in the midfield. His job was simple – get the ball to his feet and then play it out wide to the wingbacks. The wingbacks then would have an opportunity to run at the retreating defense and find the Crew’s two killers in the box, with Jackson and other midfielders trailing the play as secondary runners. This substitution opened up the game for Columbus and also played to Jackson’s strengths. In that moment, a pure strike like Russell-Rowe was not offering much to the Black & Gold by pushing against the backline. Instead, Nancy opted to bring on his talented, twitchy attacking midfielder to push his more versatile threats higher up the pitch. While this change did not directly result in a goal, it did give the Crew more of a chokehold on offense and some dangerous attacking opportunities. The coaching staff has been searching for Jackson’s role as he has often struggled, but using his as a creative fulcrum off the bench to spring Rossi and Gazdag might be the move going forward. Every season is about finding which players fit the best in certain positions and roles. Nancy and the coaching staff might have unlocked Jackson’s role against San Jose.

Wheelchair basketball in the Hoosier state The RHI Racers are Indiana's only wheelchair basketball team. Photo courtesy of RHI Racers on Facebook. CALEB DENORME | BUTLER CAPSTONE | cdenorme@butler.edu In 49 states it’s just basketball. In Indiana though, basketball is engrained in every Hoosier as religion. From Evansville up to South Bend, basketball-hysteria coats the state and its residents. That feeling runs through every Hoosier’s blood. While fans from around the state support Purdue, Indiana University or Butler, there is another team in Indiana shining on the national stage. The RHI Racers, Indiana’s only wheelchair basketball team, is ranked second in the nation  and competes in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association  [NWBA]. With players traveling from all over the state and region to play together, the Racers set the standard for excellence in this state’s basketball economy. Led from the sidelines by head coach Tanner Hall and on the court by players such as Lyjah Cox and Cole Connelley, RHI is a powerhouse within the NWBA ranks. All the accolades on the court would not have been made possible without the work of people like Karen Lawrence – the Director of RHI Sports – who makes sure the team has the facilities and funds to compete. The adaptive sports program at RHI is full of people doing extraordinary things. Together, they make up a part of the RHI Racers, a devoted team that brings excellence on the court and beyond. The Coach Tanner Hall instructs the Racers during nationals. Photo courtesy of RHI Racers on Facebook. He couldn’t stop in time. Tanner Hall still does not have a perfect memory about what happened that fateful day when he was 15. He remembers cruising on his dirt bike at speeds upwards of 70 miles an hour with some friends on the second-to-last day of school before summer break. Hall began climbing over a hill but was unable to see the remaining debris from a demolished bridge at the bottom of the other side. In the next few moments, his life changed. “I started trying to stop,” Hall said. “There just wasn’t enough time to stop. Then I guess I got launched off into it headfirst [and] then I remember waking up off and on.” Hall’s first thought did not go towards his own health, how he could not feel pain or the adrenaline coursing through his body. Instead, he was more worried about the condition of the dirt bike he was riding. “I remember, I asked the medics or somebody at some points ‘how’s my bike?’,” Hall said. “And they [said], ‘don’t worry about that’. I told them, ‘My dad’s going to kill me’.” After an airlift to the hospital, multiple days falling in and out of consciousness and surgery, Hall learned he had a T4 spinal cord injury that put him in a wheelchair. After being discharged from the hospital a week later, he began therapy at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) . Adjusting to life after his accident was more difficult than Hall thought. He had therapy twice a day, relearning how to move and operate in day-in and day-out life. Through the pain and the hardships, Hall was out of RHI in a month – a much shorter time frame than many of the patients at the hospital. Upon his release from the hospital, Hall went to get measured for a wheelchair. In that moment, a worker planted a seed in Hall’s mind that would change the path of his life. It turns out that the wheelchair representative that helped Hall was the coach for the RHI Racers, the hospital’s adaptive wheelchair basketball team. The Racers compete in the National Wheelchair Basketball Association’s  [NWBA] varsity and prep divisions, giving kids the opportunity to compete with wheelchair basketball teams around the nation. "And then for a minute, it just took the disability away." Hall did not join right away; in fact, he took a year until he finally decided to go to a practice. That first leap of faith – spurred on by his mother – sent Hall down a path that would change his life. “I was hesitant to go,” Hall said. “I showed up kind of in shock. When I got there [and] in a sports chair, it [was] different. And then for a minute, it just took the disability away.” His step of faith into the unknown had given him new passion, but it was one that required work. During his junior and senior year of high school, Hall picked up the sport and performed well enough to be recruited by colleges that had wheelchair basketball programs. In the end, the sport his mom convinced him to try ended up sending him to Southwest Minnesota State University  [SMSU] to play for the Mustangs. Hall spent six seasons with SMSU before returning to Indiana. Although his college career was over, he found a new angle of the game that piqued his interest: coaching. “I really fell in love with learning the X’s and O’s of the game,” Hall said. “I didn’t have the true athletic ability that other players had. Early on I had a roommate that was really into film, and then I got into that.” His transition from playing into coaching was a gradual slope that began when Hall was still in college. During breaks, Hall would text Jacob Patrick, RHI’s coach at the time, to see if he could come in and stay in shape. Upon his graduation from SMSU, Hall continued joining practices and giving input but was not yet convinced that he should coach. Once Patrick decided to step away from the team, he asked Hall to take over. “At that time, I was only out of school [about] a year,” Hall said. “I was like, I don’t know if I’m ready for that. I knew in my mind at some point I’d like to help more, but I didn’t know if I wanted to fully commit.” One of the problems that arose during Patrick’s exit was the possibility of the team dissolving. Without Patrick, players considered traveling to Cincinnati to play on their team. After Hall talked with the players and their families, a decision was made for all of them to commit to each other and keep the team – along with a merger with Fort Wayne’s wheelchair basketball team. After a brief moment of the Racers possibly collapsing, everyone came together to ensure that this new RHI team had a coach and six total players from both RHI and Fort Wayne. From that moment on, Hall and RHI grew together. The Racers now have 15-20 players showing up to practice on Saturday mornings, led by the man who found his calling in a sports chair on the basketball court. The Racers are now ranked second overall in the nation and recently placed third at the National Wheelchair Basketball Championship in Virginia. The product of their play is a big testament to their head coach, but the journey and improvement is what Hall loves the most. “I still love competing,” Hall said. “But it’s also just the growth that we’ve had the past few years. Watching the kids get better is big for me.” Beyond the journey, Hall’s end goal is to get his players into a college program like the one at SMSU. He wants them to have the same opportunity he had, a chance to continue chasing their dreams at the next level. “I hope they all go to college and play,” Hall said. “I know that completely changed my life at the time." The Players Lyjah Cox attacks the defense during a game at nationals. Photo courtesy of RHI Racers on Facebook. “I always wanted to play basketball with other people.” For Lyjah Cox, growing up with spina bifida was challenging. The spinal birth defect caused him to be in a wheelchair or on forearm crutches for much of his life, making it increasingly difficult to compete in sports with other kids. “I just couldn’t play a sport as well as everybody else could,” Cox said. “I was on forearm crutches. It just kind of ruined the mood and killed the vibe. Honestly, I was kind of jealous and I wanted to join in on these sports.” Those feelings translated into a desire to get into athletics by whatever means necessary. When Cox’s mother pushed him to find an activity that would get him outside and around others with disabilities, he found his passion. The wheelchair basketball program at RHI was ready and waiting for him when he was just nine years old. In any sport, the first practice of a season or career can be nerve-wracking. There are so many unknowns in the air, but for Cox, he just appreciated the opportunity to get out and participate. “Honestly, it was nice to be able to play a sport that I could actually play,” Cox said. “My first practice was amazing. I met a lot of new people that I never would have thought to have met in my normal school and my regular life.” Finding this new sport gave Cox a new passion to go after, but there was an adjustment period. In the early stages, Cox struggled to get the ball up to the hoop and was frustrated by the obstacles, but the RHI prep team gave him the opportunity to hone his skills. The Racers offer two teams to field the wheelchair basketball athletes. The first is the younger age group of kids under 13, or “prep” team that allows early learners to get into the sport on the ground floor. The prep team focuses on building the skills necessary to excel on the court but also aims to get kids involved. "I get proud looking back on what I used to be and where I am now." In five short years, Cox graduated from the prep team and moved up to varsity. In just his first season with the varsity team, there was a mindset shift that happened in the 14-year-old’s mind. The appreciation for the sport was still there, but deep down he had a desire for more. “I realized I wanted to be good,” Cox said. “I want to start taking this seriously. I want to use this as an outlet to pursue things and be great at something.” His first step was transitioning from a two-handed toss to a traditional shot form with only one hand. This fundamental change required time on the hardwood perfecting his technique, but Cox also began hitting the gym. The combination of lifting and hours of technique training produced growth, only pushing Cox further. “I airballed everything,” Cox said. “Even as close as I could, I couldn’t even hit a layup. But now, I can shoot it from half court almost. I get proud looking back on what I used to be and where I am now.” Now, Cox’s next goal is securing a spot on a college roster when he graduates high school in a few years. Beyond that, the Paralympics are coming up in three years and Cox expects to put in the work to be on the plane to LA with the United States National Team. For now, he continues to ball out with the Racers in a sport that has fueled his passion. “[Wheelchair basketball] gives me a purpose. When I wake up, what am I going to do with my life? What do I look forward to? That’s what I look forward to, getting and reaching that goal in wheelchair basketball. That’s my purpose.” Cole Connelley defends a Cincinnati player at nationals. Photo courtesy of RHI Racers on Facebook. Another player on the Racers has already begun chipping away at goals of his own. Cole Connelley, another RHI Racer with spina bifida, recently announced his commitment to the University of Missouri to play wheelchair basketball. The Fort Wayne native began playing wheelchair basketball when he was around 12 or 13 but joined the Racers during the merger with RHI and Turnstone  his sophomore year. "If I'm feeling stressed, it gives me a purpose to work towards [and] to keep bettering myself and staying active with people I know and care about." Turnstone is a not-for-profit organization in Fort Wayne that addresses the needs of people with disabilities and their families. Much like RHI, Turnstone has different athletic programs that allow people with disabilities to get involved and active. In Connelley’s sophomore year of high school, Turnstone decided to merge their wheelchair basketball team with RHI’s to have a big enough squad to compete. “It was odd,” Connelley said. Going into it, it was just me and one other person from Turnstone [so] I was kind of worried at the beginning. But once we got a few practices in, it was clear that we all bonded really well. Then it grew into the mindset of ‘we can work with this and get better as a team’.” Joining Turnstone’s and RHI’s basketball programs gave Connelley something that is undervalued in sports – a community. Players from all around the nation see each other at tournaments all the time defying the odds and competing in athletics that is ultra-competitive, but they all have each other’s backs. “Just through basketball, it’s given me connections across the US,” Connelley said. “I have friends in Washington, Michigan, Utah, places really far away from me through basketball. So that’s given me an outlet to hear some different experiences from other people and form a lot of different bonds. It’s a big part of who I am.” The additional social aspect allowed more formerly reserved people like Connelley to come out of his shell. Not only were the players given an avenue to compete physically, but they were also given a tight-knit community to fall back on. “The thing about basketball is I probably wouldn’t be as social as I am now without those connections helping me over the years,” Connelley said. “It definitely helped give groundwork to go off of when talking to people, knowing that they’ve been the same places I have. Not many people can say they’ve dealt with a disability for their entire life.” After leading his team to a third-place finish at nationals, Connelley is now off to pursue his college career. After volunteering at his local zoo throughout his time in Fort Wayne, Connelley will major in microbiology and minor in captive wild animal management. His love for animals will take priority in the classroom, but he will stay competitive as a Mizzou Tiger on the court. “I’ve got a lot on my plate,” Connelley said. “I love the competitiveness of [wheelchair basketball]. It gives me a hobby to do. If I’m feeling stressed, it gives me a purpose to work towards [and] to keep bettering myself and staying active with people I know and care about.” The Director and Program The Racers competed at the NWBA Junior Division Championship, placing third. Photo courtesy of RHI Racers on Facebook. Outside of the Racers, there is an entire support system at RHI dedicated to helping people with disabilities do the things they love. At the head of that system, is Director of RHI Sports Karen Lawrence. A recreational therapist by trade, Lawrence oversees the entirety of RHI’s sports program, including the racers, other adaptive teams and camps that RHI puts on. If it was not for an internship though, the leader of RHI’s sports wing may never have found her passion. “When I did my internship at RHI many moons ago, one of the people that I was interning under was one of the people who started the sports program,” Lawrence said. “I got on to going to the meeting there, and then learned all about the amazing things RHI sports was doing. Then, I have stayed on board ever since then.” In a study  supported by the Kelley Adaptive Sports Research Institute at Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, those who participated in adaptive sports who have a disability saw improvements in physical traits like strength and balance that improved their daily lives. On top of the physical advantages, the study also noted that participation reinforced a positive identity and gave the participants more belief in themselves. In short, competing in adaptive athletics is an additive for the mind and body of those who participate. Lawrence saw this firsthand, using sport to help those with disabilities or traumatic injuries get back to daily life. “It is all encompassing and getting people back to sports,” Lawrence said. “Because you have to utilize all those same things to get people doing their recreational aspects, whether it’s typing on a computer or playing cards. So, all those things [are] just getting people back to life.” Helping others became Lawrence’s only goal when she signed on at RHI. Originally planning to do occupational therapy, Lawrence would have likely worked in a nursing home or at day programs for recreational therapists if she had not done the RHI internship. Luckily for her, she took the position at RHI and never looked back. “[Occupational therapy] wasn’t my cup of tea,” Lawrence said. “But when I got to do the rehab aspects and being able to continue with adaptive sports, I found my passion.” Her passion for adaptive athletics and helping others has springboarded RHI into the forefront of opportunities. RHI offers a ton of different adaptive sports for people to try. From organized teams like the Racers wheelchair basketball team, power soccer, sled hockey and beat baseball, to day camps that offer opportunities to play pickleball, waterski, golf, and snow ski, RHI caters to everyone’s dream. To make all these adaptive sports happen though, Lawrence and RHI relies on grants and donations to keep the program running. Adaptive athletics requires highly specialized equipment that can cost much more than people think. “[Sports chairs] can be up to $4,500 per chair,” Lawrence said. “A lot of it comes from corporate sponsors and then just individual donors.” For example, much of the Racers’ funding comes from donations by families, friends and companies to help finance the team’s season hotels and other expenses. Lawrence is incredibly appreciative for the generosity of others and wants to keep campaigning so she and RHI can provide for every athlete’s dream. That drive to provide for her athletes is only spurred on by character of the players, coaches and parents of the Racers, and every team RHI has. “I’m beyond thankful that we have an amazing team and coaches,” Lawrence said. “They do it voluntarily for the most part. [They] step up, understand the game and have made us such an amazing team that people are willing to drive, and the parents are willing to take their kids [on] a two-hour drive just to come to practice.” Despite the Paralympics’ growing popularity  around the globe, programs like RHI still face many challenges when it comes to funding, personnel and finding athletes. It costs approximately $150,000 to $200,000 to run RHI’s sports program every year. That money goes to give opportunities to anyone that has a dream of playing a sport, or doing an activity or an art. In the end, it is up to the kindness of others to make that happen, giving teams like the Racers chances to battle for national championships. For Lawrence though, every hard-fought donation dollar and specialized clinic is worth it if it means she helped someone. “Those are the warm feelings that make you wake up every day and want to do your job,” Lawrence said. “It gives them the passion, the drive to go above and beyond and be able to compete at a high level. It’s the giving back [and] the changing lives.” "Basketball really changed my life." From the top down, RHI and the Racers have given the entirety of Indiana something to cheer about. From every corner of the state, players, parents, coaches and friends have come together to do what many see as unfathomable. In the words of their coach, the Racers have come far from where they once were, but there is still room for growth and improvement. “Basketball really changed my life,” Hall said. “But we’re still working on growing.” If you would like to get involved, donate to or seek more information about the RHI sports program, please contact Karen Lawrence at karen.lawrence@rhin.com .

On Saturday up in gloomy Cleveland, the Columbus Crew had their unbeaten streak ended by MLS’ other unbeaten team, Inter Miami. The Black & Gold began the game with the bulks share of possession but could not convert any meaningful chances into goals. Miami struck first, with Benjamin Cremaschi throwing his body on the line to head the ball past Patrick Schulte and into the back of the net. After what was a promising start, the Crew became incredibly slopped and lethargic in the last 20 minutes of the first half. After halftime, Columbus started biting back, keeping possession and getting multiple sure-fire chances on offense, but they squandered them all. The game would end in a 1-0 loss and Miami moved on as the only unbeaten team remaining in MLS. This game was one of those frustrating outcomes where one simple cool head could have bailed the Black & Gold out. Unfortunately for all the Crew faithful up in Cleveland, a bail out never came. Let’s dive into all the tactics that landed Columbus with their first loss of the season. Differing philosophies This particular matchup featured two great teams in their own rights, but both sides had differing philosophies on offense to take control of the game. Let’s start off with the Crew. Columbus is known throughout the league to play possession-dominant soccer that installs a re-press after the ball is lost. The Black & Gold like to have the ball but will not wait to attack if the moment arises. This hybrid approach of playing controlled with the ball but bold with the re-press and numbers in attack has caught the league by storm. Wilfried Nancy came into the Black & Gold and instantly put his mark on the team, and it was incredibly evident on Saturday afternoon. For much of the opening 20 minutes of the first half, the Crew dominated the ball. Miami struggled to keep possession, but Columbus’ possession numbers did not yield them many scoring chances. On the other side, Inter Miami came in with more of an emphasis on counter attacking the Black & Gold’s recovering backline. Miami was content to defend with eight players while Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi sat up top, waiting to spring a counter chance. Much of the Black & Gold’s possession in the early part of the first half was due to the fact the Miami’s defenders could not find Messi or Suarez, or the former Barcelona teammates could not retain the ball while they were hounded by the Crew’s defenders. Sean Zawadzki nicked the ball off Messi several times before Inter Miami finally figured out how to spring the two attackers. Once Miami started getting the ball to Messi and Suarez though, the gameplan opened up for them. With Messi on the ball holding up play, Miami could get secondary runners screaming down the flanks in spaces that the Columbus wingbacks and outside center backs have not recovered in. Part of the problem for the Black & Gold on offense was actually the layout of the field. The playing surface at Huntington Bank Field was narrower than the pitch at Lower.com Field, limiting the amount of space the wingbacks had on the flanks. This meant that Miami had an easier time plugging up the middle and did not have to worry about the wide players doing any real damage that they usually could have. To account for this, Nancy pushed up the outside centerbacks into midfield roles to try and keep Miami’s defenders honest inside. Despite the scoreline, the Crew’s offensive approach worked for the most part. Columbus had a few really good chances in the first half to take the lead, and in the second half it was almost a miracle they did not score. Jacen Russell-Rowe stared down a few chances that he did not take, Diego Rossi skied a sitter and newcomer Daniel Gazdag had three bites at the apple, whiffing on them all. Saturday was simply a case of having an off game at a bad time. The Black & Gold could have scored three or four goals, but squandering every chance gave Miami the opening they needed. As always, it was a bad day to have a bad day. The “we miss Cucho” game The Crew’s news cycle has been dominated by one central question since the winter: what will Columbus do without Cucho Hernandez? For the most part, the Black & Gold have done alright. Unbeaten in the league up until this matchup with Miami, and a few missed chances away from moving past LAFC in the CONCACAF Champions Cup is not a horrible way to start the year after selling arguably the best player in club history. Saturday was a reminder that there is still a hole though. For as good as the Crew have been this season, there is a feeling around this team that their play could be kicked into another gear. On the offensive side against Miami, Columbus was lacking a greedy, goalscoring killer like Hernandez is. Too often the Black & Gold get a good look on goal but make one too many passes, disrupting the movement and squandering a goal-scoring chance. Ultimately, that job falls to Russell-Rowe to become that killer up top. Many fans want that role to be Rossi’s, but the simple fact of the matter is that the Uruguayan operates better as a playmaker who can be a secondary option than a true goal scorer. Gazdag will likely begin to fill that scoring role, but even then, he still is more of a playmaker like Rossi than a finisher like the Crew needs. To fix this problem, Columbus has two options. The first is relatively simple and will likely happen, and that is to sign a striker this summer. The Black & Gold historically like to do their big business in the summer transfer window. More teams from around the globe are willing to sell in the summer due to their seasons being over. If the Crew can get a hybrid no. 9 with a killer instinct to pair with Gazdag and Rossi, Columbus will become instantly dangerous. The other option is more immediate, and that is to simply tell the attacking players they need to be greedier. Greed as a word has a negative connotation, but in soccer sometimes you have to be greedy to win. Again, look at the case of Hernandez. He took shot after shot in every single game regardless of where he was at. Sure, at times it was arrogant and did not pan out, but he made it work more often than not. Right now, the Black & Gold’s offense is too unselfish. Too many passes in and around the area break down promising attacks that could have resulted in goals if someone had just pulled the trigger. This is where Russell-Rowe and Rossi can both improve their games. Both players have incredible talent but look to pass first too often. If Nancy can get through to his striker or his team’s no. 10 and tell them to let it rip, the goals just might start coming for the Crew. For now, Columbus is nine games into the season and only have one loss. The Black & Gold have a long way to go, but the season is off to a promising start.