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Senior Henri Kumwenda has scored two goals in nine games this season. Photo by Jada Gangazha. CALEB DENORME | SPORTS EDITOR | cdenorme@butler.edu Change is inevitable. Sports do not escape the constant of change, no matter how much the athletes, teams and leagues try. Players are forced to change positions, locations and leagues to keep their athletic dreams going. Teams are required to rotate rosters, coaches and stadiums. Throughout history, the spirit of change and reform is undefeated. Senior men’s soccer player Henri Kumwenda is no stranger to change. After being born in Malawi, he moved to England at a young age, picking up the beautiful game and never looking back. “I started playing when I was around six or seven, but it was never anything serious,” Kumwenda said. “It was kind of just playing with friends.” Kumwenda’s kickabouts with his friends not only developed his skill but also attracted the eyes of nearby scouts looking for talent. They did not have to look far before they found Kumwenda and signed him to play for a local team. He spent one year playing for their “C-team,” but he did not stay at that level long. “The following year I played for the ‘A-team’,” Kumwenda said. “And then everything can happen so quickly because after that, shortly, I got started [playing] for Leeds.” At this point Kumwenda made another change, signing to play for the Leeds United Academy . After spending eight years with the Whites, Kumwenda moved to Hull City for a season before eventually making his way across the pond to Butler. It is evident to Butler men’s soccer head coach Paul Snape that Kumwenda’s time in England has prepared him for his time in the States. “You can see he’s been educated in certain ways,” Snape said. “The way [he moves], [his] timing, [he’s] always scanning the field. You can tell he’s been trained.” The finesse and tactical nature of the English game rubbed off on Kumwenda, bringing a different aspect and skillset to the American pitch. Outside of the physical skills he picked up, Kumwenda also acquired a different mentality. “My last two years at Leeds, I was there full time,” Kumwenda said. “You learn a lot from the guys around you, and because you’re on the first team quite a lot, you kind of see the way they live, the way they eat, and how they see football as a full-time job.” When his time was up in England, Kumwenda decided to pack his bags and make the journey across the ocean to play collegiate soccer. Soccer was a priority on his mind, but other factors were involved in bringing him to Indianapolis to represent the Bulldogs. “NCAA Division I is what most guys dream of over here in the States,” Kumwenda said. “Not only that [competitive] aspect but getting a degree at the end of that, it’s something that you just can’t get anywhere else.” Kumwenda’s decision to pursue his athletic and educational dreams landed him at Butler, but the move across the world was not the only change that would happen. Primarily used as an attacking player his whole career, Snape began to rotate Kumwenda into a different position during his junior season. “I personally think he’s a person who should be on the outside,” Snape said. “Whether it’s attacking fullback [or] wingback, I think that’s his best place going forward.” Despite being slated as a forward for his first two seasons, Kumwenda began to move on the more defensive side to fullback. Though the switch to that position was new, moving to another spot on the pitch was nothing new for him. Kumwenda has played 792 minutes this season, which is third highest on the team. Collegian file photo. Kumwenda began playing his youth career as a central midfielder and then was moved to winger when he joined Leeds. After a year, he changed position yet again to striker before coming to Butler. Kumwenda credits his versatility to his physical and mental strengths. “I think my speed has a lot to do with it,” Kumwenda said. “But at the same time, I think my biggest attribute is my mentality. No matter what position you are, as long as you apply yourself well, I think you can do a good job in any position.” Senior goalkeeper Caleb Norris has seen Kumwenda apply himself at his new position. From his spot between the posts, Norris feels safer knowing the former attacker has a new job protecting him. “Henri’s a great player … to have on our backline,” Norris said. “He’s got the speed but also the technical ability on the ball defensively. Definitely as a goalkeeper, I’m very comfortable having him in the backline and honored to have him as a teammate as well.” Kumwenda’s growing defensive capability puts Norris at ease, but that is only half his game. The other half has him flying up the field to get in on the attack and score goals. He already has two goals this season, scoring against Oakland and Akron . His dual ability to be a lockdown defender and a dangerous attacker has Snape wanting to utilize him as much as possible. “He’s got so much to offer,” Snape said. “He’s got athleticism, he’s fast, he’s quick, he’s strong. Plus, he’s a very good one [versus] one defender. He’s a very important threat for us when he gets into it. Kumwenda’s dual-threat ability in both attack and defense even impressed scouts from the Malawian national team. In March of 2024, Kumwenda traveled back to his birth country to participate in the Four Nations Tournament against Kenya , Zimbabwe and Zambia . Kumwenda got some valuable playing time on the international stage against Kenya but was unavailable to play against Zambia due to injury. “Hearing I was going to get called up was a really proud moment for me,” Kumwenda said. “I think every guy dreams of representing their national team on such a high level. I called my mum straight away and she was over the moon.” Although his accolades on the field are substantial, Snape sees that outside of soccer Kumwenda is one of a kind. Off the field, the Malawian international is as mature as they come. “He’s an amazing young man,” Snape said. “Extremely smart in the classroom [with] emotional intelligence. He’s just a wonderful human being.” Inside that wonderful human is the embodiment of the joy soccer can bring. For Kumwenda, the sport has been a part of him and his life for as long as he can remember. “My family was kind of in love with the sport before I was even there,” Kumwenda said. “So I kind of took it from them. Seeing the emotion that soccer brings for me personally and for other people is something you don’t really see anywhere else. It can take stress away from all other areas of your life.” Kumwenda’s ever-changing soccer journey has come full circle. From his time in Malawi, the youth clubs in England, to Indy and back again, he shows no signs of stopping. “His character is absolutely incredible,” Snape said. “He’s going to do amazing things in life, no matter what he does.”

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

The Columbus Crew returned to winning ways in a midweek matchup with rival Toronto FC. Columbus made the trek up to Canada after a scoreless draw with FC Cincinnati on Saturday. Because of this, the Black & Gold featured a slightly rotated lineup, with another matchup with Orlando City SC coming on the weekend. The Crew struggled a bit in the first half, failing to generate any good scoring chances, but that changed in the second half. Substitute Cucho Hernandez got Columbus on the board in the second half with a curler from outside the box, and Andrés Herrera doubled the Black & Gold’s lead 19 minutes later. From there, the Crew saw out the victory to claim all three points on the road. It was another game that featured two halves of different qualities. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions for Columbus that turned the game around. First half struggles This lineup from Wilfried Nancy featured a different crop of players than fans are used to seeing. It was not a completely rotated lineup, but it was far from the Black & Gold’s full strength. Many of the struggles in the first half came up top in the attack. The Crew looked disjointed at times and failed to put pressure on the Toronto goal. Diego Rossi was seemingly non-existent as the spearhead of the attack, failing to get in behind or affecting the game with the ball at his feet. A lot of the first half mistakes were due to the rotated attack and Toronto’s tactics. Believe it or not, the home side did well in the first 45 to limit Columbus’ chances while getting a few attacking looks of their own. The Black & Gold went with a 1-4-5 in the buildup, which could turn into a 1-4-2-3. Rudy Camacho sat as the lone centerback, with Malte Amundsen and Yevhen Cheberko moving up alongside Derrick Jones and Sean Zawadzki in midfield. The front five consisted of the wingbacks and the front three. This buildup formation would turn into a 1-4-2-3 when Dylan Chambost and Rossi would drift into the midfield as dueling no. 10s. This helped the Crew immensely when they did it, because it helped Columbus break Toronto’s press. In this game, Toronto’s defensive goal was to close the middle of the field in the buildup. They pressured the Black & Gold with five narrow players, forcing the Crew to either play outside or turn the ball over on the inside. This meant that Toronto put the emphasis on Columbus’ outside centerbacks to be the playmakers and bridge to the attack. Forcing Cheberko and Amundsen to play accurate balls into the attackers was exactly what Toronto wanted, because the passes would often be wayward. The Black & Gold recognized this, switching later in the first half to a 2-3-5. This simple switch dropped Cheberko alongside Camacho and put Zawadzki in a playmaking position out right. Not only did this put Zawadzki and a more attack minded Amundsen in those wide areas, but it also took a player out of the midfield to make space for the dropping wingbacks. Now Herrera and Dejuan Jones had more room to come back and assist in the buildup. Despite the offensive changes and progress, the Crew still could not get any good looks on goal. On the defensive side, Toronto had some chances due to their own planning. The hosts’ entire offensive philosophy was to switch the point of attack quickly and get Columbus to over-shift. Playing a quick diagonal ball out to one of the wings would draw the defense out and open the backside for a cross. On the other hand, if the Black & Gold dropped off and covered the backside, it gave Toronto room to cut inside and take on shots. The Crew had to pay attention when the home side did this, because if they did not cover the channels and the backside correctly, they could be down a goal quick. Luckily the best defense in MLS shut out the opposition and got Columbus into the second half, where their ace-in-the-hole was ready to come on. Second half changes This one is easy. The Crew subbing in their superstar Colombian striker changed the game. It sounds too good to be true, but Hernandez changed the game for Columbus. In the first half, Columbus had trouble linking their buildup play and turning it into a potent attack. The attackers were not finding the space underneath the defense and getting the ball to their feet. This changed when Hernandez came into the game. The lack of holdup play that they had before disappeared, and now the Colombian and his Canadian counterpart began getting on the ball. Look at the first goal for example. Russell-Rowe receives the ball into feet one-on-one against his defender. He holds up the play, waits for the reinforcements and dumps the ball to Hernandez. From there, the MLS MVP candidate did his thing, dispatching a curler past Sean Johnson and into the net. It seems easy, but it was that combination of play that was missed in the first half. Rossi and Russell-Rowe often were unable to get on the ball, which was a severe disconnect between the attack and defense. Once the Black & Gold figured out how to get the ball into the feet of the attackers, the game became much easier. From there, the Crew set up their offense in the attacking third, putting Toronto under serious pressure with their possession. Another huge change from the first half was how Columbus looked to combine in the final third, rather than going direct. In the first 45, the Black & Gold were turning the ball over by hitting aimless long balls up field that was just collected by the defense. Once they figured out how to facilitate an actual buildup, the Crew were more open to holding possession and pinging the ball around Toronto’s box. The formations remained the same as they were in the first half. Columbus still was in a 2-3-5 or sometimes a 2-3-1-4 if Hernandez or Chambost dropped into the midfield. On defense, the Black & Gold stayed in their normal 5-2-3. The Crew’s defense is not broken, so no reason to mess with it. This game is just another example of Nancy’s ability to coach in-game. It is one thing to install a system and do the work in practice to create a championship culture, but adjusting on the fly is world-class. Nancy and his staff did it again, and it resulted in another three points on the road.

The Columbus Crew traveled down Interstate 71 on Saturday, looking to rebound against bitter rivals FC Cincinnati. It was a tightly contested matchup, with both teams generating some looks on goal and controlling portions of the match. Despite the combination of these two highly talented teams, the game ended in a 0-0 draw. Despite the shared points, the Black & Gold clinched a playoff spot with seven games left in the season. Back to full strength, the Crew did not have to resort to any drastic tactical measures like putting Sean Zawadzki in goal. Wilfried Nancy and his staff did have a few tricks up their sleeve though. Let’s dive into all the tactics and decisions that went into this Hell Is Real scoreless draw. Columbus’ offensive tactics From the first kick, fans could tell that Columbus slightly tweaked its offensive philosophy for this game. The Black & Gold were less reliant on building out of the back and instead wanted to try and counter quickly at Cincinnati’s defense. This did not mean that the Crew abandoned their high-volume possession setup though. When Columbus wanted to slow it down to try and put progressive pressure on Cincinnati’s defense, they could. There were a few reasons for the Black & Gold going faster and playing on the counter rather than trying to build out of the back. The first reason was due to their opponent’s rotated defense. Cincinnati was without Matt Miazga and Ian Murphy on the backline, so they were forced to start Deandre Yedlin, Chidozie Awaziem, and Alvas Powell. There were a few weak points with this starting back three. First, Yedlin is not a natural center back. Much like Steven Moreira, he is an outside back that was now converted into a center back. This means if Yedlin wanted to venture higher up the pitch into the attack, there would be space that he vacated in behind. Second, Powell is not a natural left center back. He is very right foot dominant, which makes it hard to switch the field and play balls out to the left wing. He also is more of a pure centerback, with fewer ball skills than his counterpart Yedlin. This meant that if the Crew was going to press anyone on the backline, it was likely going to be Powell. Another reason Columbus decided to play more direct was to bypass the Cincinnati press as soon as possible. A lot of the goals the Black & Gold have conceded this season have been due to poor defensive giveaways, so they avoided that by limiting how much they built out from their own territory. The direct approach did not always work for the Crew though. The final pass in the attacking third or even the final shot was not executed to their normal standard. In this rapid countering pace, they were turning the ball over too often which led them to pull play back a bit more to try and keep possession at times. In these moments, Columbus opted to play in two different formations. The first was a 3-1-3-3. The backline three centerbacks remained with Darlington Nagbe sitting deeper as the lone no. 6. In front of him, Alex Matan, Diego Rossi and Christian Ramirez dropped in from the frontline to play as three attacking midfielders. Up top, Cucho Hernandez led the line with the two wingbacks outside of him. This formation gave the Black & Gold options at every depth of the pitch. They had players deep for defensive stability, Nagbe as the split in the middle, three attacking midfielders to find the midfield gap and a front three that could push the line. Again, this formation was fluid, so they did not always stay in the same spots. Soon enough they morphed into their second formation of the match, a 3-4-3 diamond. The backline stayed the same, and Nagbe continued his work as the lone defensive midfielder. The big change came in the midfield, with Ramirez and Matan dropping into the wide midfield channels as passing options. Rossi or Hernandez stayed up as a lone no. 10, with the front three still intact. Ramirez and Matan dropping in was important in the moments when the Crew decided to build out of the back. Cincinnati was pressing with five towards the sideline, plugging up the nearside outside and middle passing lanes. Because of this, Matan and Ramirez dropped into the half-space and gave options to break the lines or switch the play. This offensive philosophy did not yield a goal for Columbus, but it generated some chances that should have been goals. It was a “nearly” game for the Black & Gold, but they will take a point on the road against tough competition. Columbus’ defensive tactics Not much change here from the Crew, but they had a few tweaks that was special for Cincinnati. Columbus defended in their typical 5-2-3 and pressed with the front three and wingbacks. Matan pushed up to mark the cutoff, but Nagbe did something different. Throughout the game, he sat deeper than Matan, sticking by Lucho Acosta’s side to prevent him from getting the ball. This worked for a large portion of the first half. Cincinnati was having issues building out and found it hard to get Acosta the ball. In the second half, the reigning MLS MVP began dropping deeper to get the ball to his feet. The Black & Gold were fine with Acosta doing this because he was being forced back towards his own goal. If they could limit where Acosta could get touches and have possession, they would be doing their job defensively. Occasionally in the second half, Nagbe began to push up and press alongside Matan. Cincinnati set up with two defensive midfielders, so the Crew tried marking both with Matan and Nagbe to turn their opponents over high up the pitch. When Nagbe did step up, Rudy Camacho pushed higher out of his usual spot on the backline to be closer to Acosta. This was if the ball was played into Acosta’s feet, Camacho could get there to try and disrupt him. Cincinnati had a few tweaks for Columbus as well though. On offense, the hosts set up in a 3-2-5, matching the Black & Gold’s 5-2-3 defensive formation. This gave the game a feeling of multiple one-on-one matchups happening all over the pitch. In the final third, Cincinnati tried to overload the backside of the Crew’s defense. They would attempt to draw out one of the wingbacks, get Columbus’ defense to shift, and then attack the backside with two runners. This is how Kevin Kelsy got a goal in the Hell Is Real matchup in Columbus earlier this summer. Despite the tweaks from both teams, neither were able to find the net in the end. Both squads clinched a playoff spot, so there is no doubt there will likely be another Hell Is Real clash in the playoffs.

The Columbus Crew returned to MLS action after a week of rest to take on the Seattle Sounders at home on Saturday. Columbus featured a highly rotated lineup due to a significant number of players being called up to international duty. One surprising aspect of the team sheet was the inclusion of only one goalkeeper after MLS denied the Black & Gold’s exemption request to bring up an emergency goalkeeper to backup Abraham Romero. That denial would come back to hurt the Crew, after Romero’s challenge on striker Jordan Morris left the goalkeeper seeing red and forced Sean Zawadzki to go in goal. From there, the game was a formality. Seattle scored with the next kick of the ball, and then continued to bag three more on the way to a rare victory in Columbus. The league has finally found the Black & Gold’s limit; the Crew cannot win without a goalkeeper. The rotated squad and unusual in-game circumstances forced Wilfried Nancy to do tactical gymnastics. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this wild game. Pre-red card tactics Columbus came out of the locker room and it was business as usual, despite a few new or unfamiliar faces in the lineup. The Black & Gold still opted for their typical formation and setup, with three centerbacks and wingbacks that would climb high up the pitch. Two central midfielders sat behind a fluid front three. Very familiar territory for the Crew. Despite the usual setup, there were a few positional caveats. Positionally, Rudy Camacho lined up as the right centerback for a large part of the first half. Yevhen Cheberko was the central centerback, while Zawadzki played to the left of the Ukrainian. Due to Columbus’ rotated personnel, the Black & Gold took different shapes throughout the first half. Initially, the Crew lined up in a 3-1-5-1 on offense. Cheberko stayed deep with Zawadzki and Camacho, while Darlington Nagbe sat as a lone defensive midfielder in the center of the pitch. Alexandru Matan moved up as a central no. 10, with Dylan Chambost and AZ Jackson next to him so they had three attacking midfielders. Outside of the attacking mids, both wingbacks gave Columbus width higher up the pitch and Diego Rossi led the line as the lone striker. Rossi’s positioning in the first half looked like shades of Cucho Hernandez. The Uruguayan often drifted along the backline, trying to get in the defenders’ blind spots and run in behind. When that was not available, he was content to drop into midfield and receive the ball to feet much like his Columbian counterpart typically does. This formation could easily become a 3-1-6 when either Rossi decided to drop into the midfield, or the midfielders moved up higher on the defense. Typically, the fluid attack did not stay in one line, but there were times in the attacking third where they all were pushing up on the defense. Finally, a third formation switch came as the Black & Gold really began pushing for a goal. The Crew moved into a 1-3-6 in the final third, moving both outside centerbacks alongside Nagbe to pin Seattle in. The centerbacks joining the attack gave Columbus width behind the attack to swing the ball and try to shift Seattle’s defense. This is a tactic the Black & Gold have taken advantage of all year, trying to get opponents to overshift and then find the backside runner. Unfortunately for the Crew, they were not sharp at combining on passes in the final third. That usual chemistry and quick passing was not there, which made it hard to generate any strong attacking chances. Then the red card came, when Romero came errantly and erratically off his line to clear a ball that he did not need to. This led to a red card, and a laughable decision by MLS meant that Columbus would have to finish the game with Zawadzki in goal. Post-red card tactics Now the Black & Gold were really in a bind. The Crew have expressed this “never say die” mentality throughout the season. Coming back against Inter Miami from 2-0 down in Leagues Cup, scoring two goals in the Leagues Cup final in stoppage time, even winning with a heavily rotated lineup against Philadelphia. Despite this confidence, overcoming not having a goalkeeper on the field was too much for Columbus. No tactical adjustment or personnel switch was going to bail the Black & Gold out this time, but Nancy still put in the work and tried to give his team every little advantage he could find. The first and most obvious switch was to move Zawadzki into goal and bring off Jackson for DeJuan Jones. Now the Crew had a fully manned backline and set up in a 5-3-1 on defense. Jones moved to the right wingback spot while Marcelo Herrera came inside as the right centerback. Columbus typically runs a 5-2-3 on defense with a full lineup, but they dropped Chambost back with Matan and Nagbe to shore up the midfield. The thinking behind this was to try and get the Black & Gold on the ball and still have enough numbers deep to keep possession. If the Crew could still grow into this game and keep the ball, they may have a shot at evening the contest and maintain a sense of control in the game. The problems arose for Columbus when they became unable to retain the ball, which meant Seattle could counter on an undermanned backline. The absence of a player on the field for the Black & Gold loomed large, especially when trying to create overloads. The Crew tried a bunch of different formations in the second half to try and remedy Seattle’s man advantage. They started in a 3-3-3 on offense with a cupped midfield. Rossi, Jones and Max Arfsten led the attack, with Matan and Chambost underneath them as attacking midfielders. Nagbe sat as a lone no. 6 in front of the three centerbacks. This gave Columbus a balanced look but failed to produce anything on the offensive end. The Black & Gold were not able to commit enough numbers forward and combine enough to unlock Seattle’s defense. So, they went to a 1-5-3 and moved the outside centerbacks into the outside midfield. This gave the Crew a more attacking approach but opened the floodgates for Seattle on the counter attack. After the influx of goals conceded, Columbus switched to a 2-4-3, but the results were more of the same. Even with two centerbacks staying deeper, overcoming the loss of a player and a goalkeeper was just too much for the Black & Gold. MLS has safeguards in place to prevent these situations from happening. Despite the Crew following the protocol to get an emergency goalkeeper, the league opted to deny them for what can be understood as no reason at all. Nancy has been a miracle worker since he arrived in Columbus, but no amount pixie dust from the Black & Gold’s French manager could have saved the Crew from the result against Seattle. Columbus will move their focus ahead to a date with FC Cincinnati with a pissed off mentality and revenge on their mind.

Women’s soccer players allege sexual abuse by former athletic trainer. Photo by Jada Gangazha. AIDAN GREGG | MANAGING EDITOR | agregg1@butler.edu   CALEB DENORME | SPORTS EDITOR | cdenorme@butler.edu    Content warning: explicit references to sexual abuse, sexual harassment, sexual assault and grooming .  Amid the 2024 fall semester, Butler University’s ongoing legal battles rage behind the scenes. Following initial complaints filed in July 2023 , four current and former women’s soccer players continue to allege sexual abuse, stalking and grooming by former assistant athletic trainer Michael Howell. They further allege negligence by Butler University and Ralph Reiff, the senior associate athletic director for student-athlete health, performance and well-being.  Although a settlement conference was held on Aug. 14, the plaintiffs and defendants were unable to reach an agreement to end the legal proceedings. University president James Danko and athletic director Grant Leiendecker have declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.  Players report Howell, Title IX investigation initiated The plaintiffs — Jane Does 1-4 — were four of six women’s soccer players who formally reported sexual abuse by Howell to the university. In September 2021, four of the six players — several of whom are now plaintiffs — reported Howell’s misconduct to women’s soccer co-head coach Tari St. John. Shortly after, St. John reported the allegations to then-Title IX coordinator Maria Kanger, who filed an official complaint against Howell on Oct. 6. Howell was subsequently placed on administrative leave.  On Sept. 29, prior to his administrative leave, Reiff informed Howell that concerns regarding his conduct were raised. The university later told Howell of the complaints before contacting law enforcement or asking for possession of his university-issued phone, despite Kanger’s knowledge that he recorded and photographed the players. The plaintiffs claim that Howell would have had time to destroy evidence because the university neglected to contact law enforcement or seize his phone. Despite the allegations against Howell, Reiff told him to report to work on Oct. 1. Counsel for the plaintiffs alleges that Howell was instructed not to interact with women’s soccer players; Howell denies this allegation. However, plaintiffs said that Howell confronted Doe 1 and later followed her and a teammate after they left the training room.   Butler’s Title IX panel found that Howell “exploited his authority and power over [the women’s soccer players] to isolate, manipulate, control, and sexually assault [them].” The panel further found that by fostering “an emotional intimacy with [the players] and causing [them] to feel reliant upon him for [their] physical, mental and emotional well-being, [Howell] created an unconscionably abusive environment.”  Following the lawsuit filing in July 2023, the university sent an email to Butler students and families, stating that Howell was fired in the summer of 2022. They further stated, “Butler looks forward to the opportunity to show the high integrity and responsiveness of the coaches and senior personnel.” An excerpt from the university’s statement on the lawsuit, sent July 26, 2023. Howell denies the above claims, including the findings of the Title IX panel.  Plaintiffs allege Howell sexually abused, groomed and stalked them According to the complaints filed by the plaintiffs Howell repeatedly exposed and touched their genitalia and breasts during lengthy massages when such contact was unnecessary. Such massages typically last no more than ten minutes, but Howell’s massages sometimes lasted up to three hours. Doe 2 said that Howell once massaged her groin so forcefully that it was bruised the next day.  Additionally, the players said that Howell rubbed his erect penis against them several times during massages and positioned himself in such a way that they could not move to prevent this contact. The players allege that Howell sought to isolate them from their teammates and coaches. Doe 1 alleged that Howell told her “to be ‘careful’ of her close friend and teammate because he ‘knew things’ about the woman.” In addition to purchasing food for her and putting it in her locker, he reportedly told her and others “‘If I go down, I’m taking you with me.’”  Howell conducted several massages alone in his hotel rooms and offices with no windows when the team traveled away from Butler. The plaintiffs allege that co-head coaches Rob Alman and St. John knew that Howell conducted these massages in his hotel room.  The plaintiffs also claim that Howell surreptitiously photographed them using his Butler-issued phone. Further, the players said that Howell claimed to have “files of the soccer players with photos of them underage drinking.”  Howell denies the above claims.  Plaintiffs allege negligence by Butler, Reiff In addition to the claims against Howell, the players have filed suit against the university and Reiff for negligence. Reiff was Howell’s direct supervisor; as Reiff’s employer, the plaintiffs’ team argues that Butler is also liable.  The players allege the university and Reiff failed to properly educate them — and coaches Alman and St. John — about proper athletic training procedures. Such knowledge would have allowed the players to identify Howell’s massages as sexually inappropriate earlier than they did.  As part of the Title IX proceedings, Reiff said that he worked “elbow to elbow” with convicted serial rapist Larry Nassar. Nassar was the former team doctor for USA Gymnastics, assaulting hundreds of women during his tenure until he was arrested in 2016.  Reiff worked alongside Nassar for St. Vincent’s Sports Performance as a member of the medical task force for USA Gymnastics.   The plaintiff’s team has been working in their complaints to draw connections from Nassar’s crimes to Howell’s misconduct. Rachael Denhollander, a former gymnast who came forward after being sexually abused by Nassar, has joined the women’s soccer players’ legal team as counsel.  According to the players, Howell stopped submitting required written reports about the players’ injuries and his treatments to Alman and St. John. They further claim that Reiff was or should have been aware that these reports had ceased. Despite this knowledge, no one took action to ensure that athletic treatment complied with acceptable standards for student safety, including “treating student-athletes in common areas instead of a private hotel room with a bed; not entering locker rooms; communicating with and appropriately ‘draping’ or covering an athlete during treatment; asking for an athlete’s permission to move her garment during treatment; having a trainer of the same sex assist if treatment in a private room is necessary; and properly recording treatments.” Butler and Reiff deny the above claims of negligence .  Butler, Reiff seek dismissal The defendants filed a motion to dismiss the charges against them on the grounds that there was “failure to state a claim” by the plaintiffs and that Indiana law only allows negligent supervision claims to be brought against employers, not employees. Butler argued that the claims made by the plaintiffs are covered under Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act and that Reiff, who was Howell’s supervisor but also a Butler employee, cannot be liable for negligent supervision of Howell.  According to Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act, all claims must pass an administrative medical review panel before coming to court. The university claimed that since Jane Does 1-4’s claims had not gone through the administrative panel, the case should be dismissed. District Court Judge James R. Sweeney II denied the request on Jan. 22, 2024 . In his decision on the defense’s motion, he contended that the plaintiffs did not have to abide by Indiana’s Medical Malpractice Act. Subsequently, the court also ruled that this case is not under the categorization of medical malpractice because whether the trainer provided sufficient medical care is irrelevant, as the alleged abuse is not medical care. Regarding the defense’s opposition to the claims of negligence, the court found that “‘negligent supervision’ is just negligence”, stating that the university and Reiff could both be brought under the Does’ negligent supervision claims.  With both arguments by the defense falling short, the court denied the motion to dismiss and opted to move on with the cases. The defense continues to assert that this litigation should have first been subject to the Medical Malpractice Act. Defendants object to use of pseudonyms by women’s soccer players The defense further objected to the plaintiff’s joint motion to proceed using pseudonyms. All four players have been proceeding under Jane Doe 1-4 since the case was filed in July 2023, citing that a judge can “permit pseudonymous litigation when the balance of harms justifies it.” The plaintiffs said that if their identities were public and if they lacked the protection pseudonyms provide, they would have “reasonable fear of embarrassment, public scrutiny, invasion of privacy and social stigmatization, all of which place them at risk of further emotional and psychological suffering and injury.” Finally, they cited a summary judgment briefing in which Butler and Reiff did not deny the harm that has been suffered by the plaintiffs. This coincided with the findings of Butler’s Title IX Panel, which stated “the harm to [the players] was severe and the effects resulting therefrom are likely to be profound and lasting.” The defense pushed back on the motion, alleging the plaintiffs have misused their pseudonyms, the joint motion is missing evidence, and there are less drastic means to keep anonymity.  Regarding the alleged misuse of pseudonyms, the defense said the plaintiffs have “deployed” their pseudonyms in the media against the named individuals, including their coaches and Reiff. They also contended that the joint motion had “no evidence to show a risk of harm,” while finally stating that less drastic measures such as sealing or redacting filings remained possible. Despite the defense’s adamant responses to the plaintiffs, the court upheld their prior decision to allow the women’s soccer players to proceed under pseudonyms. However, the plaintiffs’ ability to protect themselves with pseudonyms remains in question. Due to recent developments in case law regarding the use of pseudonyms, the court may need to reassess the ruling on the use of pseudonyms.  Judge denies university’s motion to dismiss Howell’s crossclaim  Howell filed a crossclaim against Butler University on March 4. The first of three counts in Howell’s crossclaim against the university accuses Butler of Title IX violation. Howell claims that the university discriminated against him on the basis of his sex “by ignoring procedural rules when necessary to achieve the desired result of imposing sanctions on a male employee.” He alleges that the university “caved” to social pressures in the wake of high-profile sex abuse cases in collegiate athletics.  The second count regards defamation as part of the Title IX proceedings against Howell. According to Howell, the hearing officer for the investigation made false and defamatory statements which the university republished to multiple third parties. He further claims that Reiff sought to harm him by reporting information he learned during the Title IX investigation to the state licensing board.  In the third count — similar to the women’s soccer players — Howell alleged that the university “did not maintain any written policies, procedures or protocols with respect to athletic trainers providing services to athletes, let alone providing services to athletes of the opposite sex.” The university’s failure to do so then left him vulnerable to the allegations of sexual assault brought against him by the women’s soccer players.  The university moved to the dismissal of Howell’s claims of Title IX violation and defamation. On July 29, 2024, the court denied the university’s motion. Howell seeks trial by jury and compensation for legal fees, lost wages and emotional distress.  Butler has since denied Howell’s claims that it did not maintain official policies regarding athletic trainers’ conduct and communications or restrictions for performing training services in private rooms. They have further denied Howell’s claims about the Title IX process and defamation. In terminating Howell, the university said they had legitimate reasons to terminate Howell. Further, they said “Howell’s unclean hands render him ineligible” to seek legal remedy from the university. As of now, the crossclaim will be tried together with the women’s soccer players’ claims. However, the court may decide to split the claims and try them separately.  Trial to proceed in 2025 The trial for the complaints brought by the women’s soccer players is set to begin on June 16, 2025. A hearing regarding the use of pseudonyms by the defendants will occur on October 28, 2024.  The athletes seek to “recover [their] injuries and damages, compel Butler to institute safety protocols to protect [their] current teammates and future athletes, compel Butler to contact former student-athletes to assess whether they were also abused by Howell and need resources and assistance, prevent Howell from maintaining licensure that would give him the ability to abuse others and to hold Defendants responsible for their acts and omissions that enabled a dangerous predator to gain unfettered access to and abuse [them] and many other young female athletes.”  The Collegian will continue to investigate and report on this story.

The Columbus Crew extended its winning streak on Saturday, coming from behind against NYCFC to claim all three points and winning by a 4-2 scoreline. It was another rocky start in Columbus, with the Black & Gold going down a goal within four minutes. The Crew responded 13 minutes later through Diego Rossi and doubled their lead in the second half thanks to a goal from Max Arfsten. After Columbus’ second goal, their intensity dropped which allowed the visitors to even the game at two apiece. In classic Black & Gold fashion, two stoppage-time goals would net the Crew the three points and extend their win streak. It was an up-and-down game for Columbus, controlling parts of the match but also being on the back foot at times. Let’s dive into all the tactics that helped, hindered, and gave the Black & Gold the win. Columbus’ struggles It is not often that fans of the Crew see their team struggle as much as they did on Saturday night. NYCFC seemed to be on the front foot for the majority of the match, even winning the possession battle with 55% compared to Columbus’ 45%. The big question is how did NYCFC come into Lower.com Field and play the Black & Gold as well as they did? The answer lies in the visitors’ approach to the game, and their defensive tactics. When NYCFC came to Columbus in the quarterfinals of Leagues Cup, they seemed content to sit back and absorb the Crew’s pressure on their defense. They got a quick goal, and then tried to hold out and try to win the game 1-0 or go to penalties if the Black & Gold equalized. They got their penalty wish but could not convert enough from the spot to give themselves the win. Coming into this MLS regular season match, NYCFC’s attitude and defensive tactics took a complete 180. From the first kick, they were pressing the Crew high up the field with five to seven players, trying to prey on Columbus’ mistakes NYCFC’s press was not just throwing players up the field with reckless abandon though, it was regimented and well-thought-out. The visitors tried to compartmentalize the Black & Gold defense and midfielders in possession by pressuring them towards the sideline. New York City essentially wants to cut the field in half, trapping the Crew on a side of the pitch and overloading them. This change in defensive philosophy from NYCFC showed a boldness that was reminiscent of LAFC’s approach to Columbus in the second half of the Leagues Cup final. In that game, LAFC decided to press higher and harder in the second half with more disregard for their defensive stability. In that half the Black & Gold made more mistakes and turned the ball over, which gave the opposition a foothold in the game. NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing must have been watching, because that is exactly how New York City played the Crew in this matchup. Their pressure with seven players and a high line gave Columbus more potency in attack, but they first had to worry about getting the ball to the attackers. Too often NYCFC’s pressure yielded a wayward pass or bad touch, which set them on the attack down in the Black & Gold’s end. The visitor’s defensive pressure was one side of the coin. On the other side, they had a possession-based offense that had a definitive purpose in the Crew’s defensive half. NYCFC’s game plan on offense was to push their outside backs high up the field to play underneath their wingers. Columbus’ wingbacks often stepped up to pressure the visitor’s outside backs, which then drew out the Black & Gold outside center backs to cover NYCFC’s wingers. This defensive coverage not only made the Crew undermanned on the backline, it caused them to shift over to the ball side. Now the backside was wide open, where only one Columbus wingback had to mark both NYCFC’s opposite-side winger and outside back. This only left New York City with two defenders deep, but they were able to win the ball in the Black & Gold’s half so there was little worry of being exposed defensively. Both the pressing tactics and offensive setup from NYCFC was sublime, but it ultimately did not gift them a victory. They, along with many teams around MLS, are learning that no matter how well you gameplan you cannot count out Wilfried Nancy’s men. Finding a way to win This was not the Crew’s best performance by a longshot, but they still scored four goals and grabbed all three points. Columbus’ will win is a perfect combination of tactical setup and team mentality. First, the tactics. The Black & Gold got into trouble (much like how they did against LAFC) when they tried too hard to build out of the back at all costs. NYCFC was pressing with seven players, leaving the back end open for the attackers to find space on direct balls either into their feet or over the top. Once the Crew saw and grew into the game, they were able to have success breaking NYCFC’s press and getting some attacking chances. Ironically for a team that lives and dies by building out of the back, they played better when they went direct. Although Nancy set and conditioned his team to be fearless when playing out of the back, they are also set up to have direct options. Cucho Hernandez is one of the best players in the league at drifting around the attacking third and getting into the defense’s blind spot. A direct ball into him can spell doom for an entire team just based on his positioning. This direct safety valve became Columbus’ number one option to attack NYCFC. If they could find Hernandez on a sprint, the defense was more than likely going to pay. Another release to NYCFC’s pressure became all three attackers dropping into the midfield and receiving the ball to feet. The visitor’s pressure made it hard to find those passing lanes at times, but if they opened and the attack could turn into an undermanned defense, the race to goal was on. Rossi and Christian Ramirez have become masters at dropping into the midfield and then playing off each other. Their development as playmakers has given the Black & Gold a new dimension, and a new option to go direct as opposed to playing out of the back. To NYCFC’s credit, they went for the Crew’s throat and got a few good punches in, but it was not enough. This Columbus team just does not quit. No matter how much play has gone against them, they continue to scrap because they know goals can come out of nothing. They kept to that mentality, and it netted two goals in stoppage time to secure three points. Just another so-so performance that is overcome by the mentality of a hardworking team.

The Columbus Crew resumed their winning ways on Wednesday evening, besting the Philadelphia Union on Columbus’ return to MLS play. The Black & Gold featured a heavily rotated squad, with nine changes from the starting XI from the Leagues Cup Final. The Crew backup brigade kept it scoreless deep into the second half, when Wilfried Nancy decided to dip into his star power off the bench. Nancy brought on Yaw Yeboah, Max Arfsten, Diego Rossi, Cucho Hernandez, and Darlington Nagbe to try and steal three points for Columbus. The plan worked, with Yeboah bagging a goal off an assist from Arfsten to secure the only goal of the game for either team. The Black & Gold now sit 10 points behind Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference with two games still in hand. By fielding a mostly rotated squad, Nancy and his staff had to tweak their formation and tactics for this matchup. Let’s dive into those decisions. Rotated squad – new formations After the Leagues Cup triumph on Sunday, going into Philadelphia on Wednesday would always be a short turnaround for the Crew. Facing a Union side that has struggled this season, Nancy decided to go with a mostly rotated lineup for a large portion of that match. The brilliant manager that Nancy is, he knew that if he rotated his squad, he needed to also tweak their formation and tactics to fit the team on the field. That is exactly what he did, and it netted Columbus three points after the 90 minutes were up. In the back, the Black & Gold had Yevhen Cheberko at the central center back spot, with Malte Amundsen to his left and Sean Zawadzki on the right. DeJuan Jones and Marcelo Herrera split out wide as wingbacks, with Derrick Jones and Alexandru Matan inside as center midfielders. The team was rounded out by Dylan Chambost, AZ Jackson and Jacen Russell-Rowe in attack. From the beginning, the Crew lined up in their typical three/five back defense with two central midfielders and a fluid attack. After surviving an early Philadelphia offensive surge, Columbus finally showed their hand in possession. The first formation the Black & Gold shifted to on offense was a 2-4-4. Amundsen and Cheberko stayed back while Zawadzki moved into central midfield alongside Jones. Matan and Chambost acted as half-pivots between the outside center backs and the wingbacks, who were now up high as wingers. The key in the 2-4-4 is Zawadzki. Naturally brought up as a midfielder, he can easily transition from the backline into the midfield without a problem. He is the player that made the 2-4-4 work as well as it did due to his versatility. Because Zawadzki could move into the midfield, this freed up Matan to have fewer defensive duties and go up into the attack. With natural ball-winners like Jones and Zawadzki in the center of the pitch, this gave the rest of the team a pass to extend themselves further in pursuit of a goal. The 2-4-4 was used by the Crew in buildup and transition situations. When Columbus reached Philadelphia’s attacking third, they morphed into the second formation of the night, a 2-2-6. The change from the 2-4-4 to the 2-2-6 was easy, both Matan and Chambost moved up into the attack. Both midfielders would play underneath or alongside Jackson and Russell-Rowe, who acted as the fluid attackers in this formation. This formation gave the Black & Gold the opportunity to put pressure on the Union backline and create those overloads that Nancy loved. The front six had the freedom to interchange and play off each other but mostly stuck to their positions more than the usual starters did. This could be due to their limited playtime and still trying to learn the system, but they still generated some half-chances directed at Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake. In the second half, Crew fans got to see the third formation change of the night with Columbus changed into a 1-3-6 in attack. Much like the Leagues Cup final against LAFC, the Black & Gold changed into this formation that looked like a diamond in the back, with six attackers up top. Cheberko stayed deep with Amundsen and Zawadzki moving slightly higher, having Jones complete the diamond at the top. This gave the defensive line different depths and widths that they could move around and find passing lanes from, especially when the Union started pressing with four players. The fourth and final formation that the Crew changed to a 3-3-4 just before the substitutes came on. Again, the backline consisted of the three center backs, but they cupped the line a little bit to give extra support to the midfield with the outside center backs. The midfield line was flat with Matan on the left, Jones in the middle, and Chambost out on the right. The attack remained mostly unchanged, with the wingbacks outside along with Jackson and Russell-Rowe as dueling strikers. These formation tweaks not only changed as the situations in the match changed, but they also played to the strengths of the players that were on the field. Nancy has set up teams differently depending on who he has available, which is one of the many reasons why he is such a great manager. Some coaches play a rigid system no matter what personnel they have, but Nancy is completely different. He knows his players are multidimensional and can adapt, which is why he can toss in these tactical wrinkles. While the formation changes for the rotated squad did not yield a goal, they did their job. They kept Philadelphia from scoring while also generating some half-chances of their own until the closers could come off the bench to finish the job. Nancy and the Crew coaching staff essentially made this a 30-minute game when they brought on the usual starters, and it paid off big time with three points.

The Columbus Crew added another trophy to the case on Sunday night, knocking off LAFC yet again to win Leagues Cup. This is the third straight win over LAFC for Columbus, besting them in the 2023 MLS Cup Final and the 5-1 drubbing out in LA earlier this season. The game started off well for the Black & Gold, looking dangerous in LAFC’s half and ultimately finding the opener through Cucho Hernandez’s head. The second half was a different story though. LAFC made changes to their gameplan and came at the Crew, now putting Columbus on the back foot. The visitors equalized with an Oliver Giroud header off a corner kick, and the game remained tied until stoppage time. Despite being outclassed in the second 45, the Black & Gold kept pushing and found the go-ahead goal yet again through Hernandez. A counter just a minute later secured the third goal and the Leagues Cup title for Columbus, this time with Hernandez assisting Jacen Russell-Rowe. It was a game of tactical adjustments by both sides, but it ultimately saw the Black & Gold’s playstyle triumph over LAFC’s. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into the championship matchup. Strong start From the moment the ball was kicked, the Crew were looking dominant as usual. The first half of this game was reminiscent to how the first half of the 2023 MLS Cup Final went, lots of Columbus possession and good chances to build a lead. The first way the Black & Gold had success was by finding out what LAFC was doing defensively, and then game planning around that. Early on, LAFC was trying to clog the middle of the pitch, playing in a 5-4-1 defensive formation. Both the defensive and midfield line pinched to try and force the Crew to attack from wide areas. To remedy this, Columbus tweaked their formation to find the passing lanes in the middle of the pitch, while also maintaining width with their wingbacks. The Black & Gold switched to a new looking formation that is very different from how the Crew usually lines up. Rudy Camacho stayed back as a deep-lying centerback while Malte Amundsen and Steven Moreira would move up field in the channel. Sean Zawadzki sat as a lone central defensive midfielder, while Darlington Nagbe moved up as a left-side no. 10. The defenders and Zawadzki formed a diamond, with Nagbe higher up the field in the attacking midfield space. One of the front three would also drop into the right attacking midfield space to balance the formation with Nagbe. This meant that the other two attackers would play up top as dueling no. 9’s, with the wingbacks outside of them. This essentially put Columbus into a 3-1-2-4 on offense. LAFC’s defensive structure also played a massive part in the Black & Gold’s success in the first half. The visitors decided to defend narrow and deep into their own half, not very intent on applying pressure to the Crew in possession. This let Columbus have a lion’s share of the ball and enough time to break down LAFC’s defensive block. The only time LAFC decided to pressure players in possession was when the centerbacks marked the Black & Gold attackers who were dropping into the midfield. The visitors tried to chase the Crew backwards if they could but were otherwise just content to sit in their block and wait for the counter. This idea of waiting to counter Columbus did not yield any clear-cut chances for LAFC due to the Black & Gold’s ability to win the ball back quickly after losing it. Camacho and the rest of the defense did a great job in the first half stepping up to break up passes and fending off attackers trying to hold play up on the counter. Both the Crew’s tactical setup and LAFC’s willingness to sit back led to the Black & Gold building a 1-0 lead in a strong first half showing. Hanging on in the second half The second 45 was an entirely different story for the Crew. A compound effect of LAFC deciding to press and Columbus being stubborn in building out of the back made for a touch half for the Black & Gold. The visitors came out in the second half with a completely different gameplan that hinged on going for the win at the expense of possibly exposing their backline. The gamble paid off from the jump, pressing the Crew and turning them over time after time. LAFC came out of halftime and began pressing high up the field with five players, with five defenders staying back. Pressing with five matched Columbus’ buildup numbers, with Nagbe sliding back alongside Zawadzki in midfield. This gave the Black & Gold two options to beat the press, they could have the attackers drop into the passing lanes to receive the ball to their feet or go long overtop. Going direct instead of constantly relying on building out of the back now became the best course of action for the Crew, but they did not adjust. For much of the second half Columbus kept trying to build out of the back. This led to poor touches, wayward passes and numerous LAFC dangerous attacking moments. Going direct is not the first attacking avenue the Black & Gold want to utilize, but they needed to in the second half. Because LAFC was up pressuring the Crew’s backline, there was a sizeable gap in the midfield between the visitors attacking and defense. The times Columbus broke the press in the second half was when they dump the ball into a dropping attacker in that space, and then they could go from there. In the end, the Black & Gold ended up getting away with their poor second half performance due to LAFC’s inability to pressure the Crew in wide areas. Hernadnez was allowed to receive the ball to feet off a throw-in while LAFC was arguing with the referee. This gave him the time and space to pick out a good ball into the box that Russell-Rowe shieled Hugo Lloris from seeing, giving Columbus the go-ahead goal. Despite being outclassed in the second half, all the Black & Gold needed was one chance to find the winner. Even in a half where they were on the back foot, struggled to get clean touches and looked second best at times, they found a way to get the win. That’s what makes this team so special and hard to gameplan against. Tactically, LAFC did everything right in the second half. They pressed, forced bad passes and took a chance on a corner. The one thing they did not do was maintain a hard-working attitude for the full 94 minutes. Their inability to step out on Hernandez and close him down on the go-ahead goal tells you all you need to know about these teams. Columbus has the talent and the work ethic to find ways to win, no matter the situation. That is why they are MLS Cup champions and now Leagues Cup champions, and they do not look like slowing down anytime soon.

The Columbus Crew advanced to the Leagues Cup final with a 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. The game started off strong for Columbus, controlling the match from the opening kick instead of conceding seconds after the first whistle blew. Diego Rossi continued his hot run of form, scoring only 12 minutes in on a rebound that bounced off Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake. The Union would answer with a goal of their own off a bad giveaway in the back for the Black & Gold. The Crew’s tradition of shooting themselves in the foot was kept alive and well with this goal. Columbus’ response would be strong and decisive though, with Rossi adding a second tally before halftime and Cucho Hernandez finishing one of his own to secure a 3-1 victory for the Black & Gold.  The Crew will face familiar final foe LAFC on Sunday for a shot to be Leagues Cup champions. Columbus had a good showing in this game, with little doubt being left as to who is the better team. Let’s dive into the tactics of this match, and how the Black & Gold will stack up against LAFC in the final Attacking Philadelphia’s defense Teams around the league have tried different philosophies to slow the Crew down throughout the season. Some match Columbus’ formation hoping to match the Black & Gold’s overloads. Others have stuck with their own tactics and stayed true to their identity. Philadelphia coach Jim Curtain took the middle ground on Wednesday night, borrowing from both schools of thought. Curtain kept his team in a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield, not matching the Crew’s 5-2-3. The Union stuck to their guns and decided to play their formation rather than setting up in a new look and risk being uncomfortable. Philadelphia simply did not roll out the balls and play Columbus like any other team though. Curtain tried to force the Black & Gold to attack down the left flank, rather than the somewhat preferred right wing. This approach makes sense from the Union’s point of view. Mo Farsi is a more dynamic player in tight spaces and can be dangerous with an overload of teammates around him to combine with. On the other side Max Arfsten is still dangerous, but he is more of a crossing marksman rather than a quick scat wingback like Farsi. So naturally, Curtain wanted to plug up the right side so the Crew would be forced to play down the left side. Apparently, Philadelphia felt more comfortable defending crosses as opposed to defending overloads and numerous combination plays. Now Columbus presents this problem to every team they line up against; they simply do not comply by anyone’s rules. From the minute the ball was kicked the Black & Gold flew down the right wing, to the exact side Curtain wanted to prevent them from exploiting. Despite the game plan and extra manpower on that right side, Philadelphia still was outmanned and passed around. That is what can happen when you have a team that is as comfortable on the ball as the Crew is. Other than attacking Philadelphia’s seemingly stronger left side of the defense, Columbus learned from their mistakes in the NYCFC game as well. In the quarterfinals, the Black & Gold squeaked through on penalties after struggling at times against NYCFC. One of the reasons for that struggle was due to how flat the Crew’s midfield was. In this game against the Union, Columbus remedied that by pushing Sean Zawadzki higher into an attacking midfielder role and having Steven Moreira step into the midfield. With Zawadzki higher and Moreira alongside Nagbe, the Black & Gold were able to have more attacking passing options and Zawadzki higher up the field to engage the repress. These changes paved the way for the Crew to have a smooth game, outside of one boneheaded moment trying to build out of the back. Columbus will have to nullify those rare mistakes with counter-kings LAFC coming to Lower.Com Field on Sunday. Game planning for LAFC The real Black & Gold waxed LAFC last time they met in July out in Los Angeles. The Crew hounded the hosts with their pressure all night, banging in five goals and only allowing one. All the fans know the recent history between these two teams, and it’s been one-sided in Columbus’ favor. LAFC is not a team to be taken lightly though, especially with the attacking weapons they have and Hugo Lloris between the posts. So, what do the Black & Gold need to do to get the job done and secure another title for Columbus? It will take a good team performance, but there are a few points of emphasis. First, they must eliminate the stupid mistakes. I’ve said before that the Crew only concede stupid, self-inflicted goals or absolute unbeatable, world-class strikes. There are not many teams that can break Columbus down and create a well-worked goal, almost all those moments come off a poor decision or turnover from the Black & Gold. LAFC’s whole mantra is blitzing teams on the counter, so if the Crew are turning the ball over, they could be in for a world of hurt. This team is designed to give up a goal in exchange for scoring multiple goals, but LAFC is a team that can match Columbus’ firepower if the Black & Gold are sloppy. Second, the Crew must press like they pressured LAFC in July. In July, the hosts did not have a second to think on the ball before they were being pressed by a Columbus player. That same level of intensity is necessary in a final, especially against a team of LAFC’s caliber that wants revenge for the past two outings. The Black & Gold opted for a man-marking pressure in MLS Cup and in the July regular season game. The midfielders and backline stepped up and made sure they had LAFC covered, which made it hard to find passing options to go forward. They need the same type of press and intensity on Sunday. Finally, the Crew needs to take their chances when they come. Not a lot of chances get wasted in Columbus, but if the attack has an off night it is going to be tough to win this game. Hernandez, Rossi and Ramirez all need to be on their game from the first minute trying to break down Lloris’ wall in the net. I have a feeling this game is more on the Black & Gold than it is on LAFC. This is the Crew’s game to lose, and if they play sloppy in possession and in attack, they will be at risk of losing this game. Knowing Wilfried Nancy though, he will relish having the control and upper hand in this match. Needless to say, this will be a must-watch final for all parties involved.

The Columbus Crew advanced into the Leagues Cup semifinals following another come-from-behind victory, this time against NYCFC. The visitors went up only seconds into the game, following a bad giveaway by Rudy Camacho that left a New York attacker one-on-one with Patrick Schulte. From there, it was an uphill battle for the rest of the match. Columbus would eventually find the equalizer courtesy of Cucho Hernandez. Max Arfsten delivered an exquisite ball into the box, which Hernandez met with his head to tie the game. Both teams had chances but could not finish them en route to a penalty shootout. Newcomer DeJuan Jones dispatch the winning spot kick for the Black & Gold, sending them to a semifinal matchup with the Philadelphia Union. Tactically, this game looked very similar to how the Crew played against Miami. They struggled at times to stick to their fast paced, fluid identity and it caused them problems. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that went into this Leagues Cup quarterfinal victory. Columbus’ struggles Out of the gate, it looked like it would be an unlucky night for the Black & Gold. Setting a Leagues Cup record of 12 seconds for the fastest goal conceded is not anyone’s idea of success, but that is exactly what happened to the Crew. From that moment forward, Columbus looked better, but still slightly off. Much like in the first half of the Miami game, the Black & Gold looked disconnected, sloppy and contained, three things that would not normally be used to describe a Wilfried Nancy-coached team. So, what was preventing the Crew from playing how they normally did? There were a few factors, both due to self-inflicted issues and opponent’s game planning.  First, the self-inflicted problems. From the start, there was a disconnect between the backline and the midfield on offense and defense. Columbus struggled to find Darlington Nagbe and Sean Zawadzki in the middle of the pitch, which made building out of the back more difficult than it had to be. One reason for this was because Nagbe and Zawadzki were playing as two flat defensive midfielders. This is not a problem if an attack would have dropped into the attacking midfield space, but Diego Rossi and Hernandez were opting to come deeper in the channels, rather than the attacking midfield. This meant that NYCFC was not having to stretch themselves defensively and commit to guarding Nagbe and Zawadzki one-on-one. They could help each other to form traps in the middle of the field while the backline stepped up to mark the other Black & Gold attackers. This is one of the many reasons why there were more turnovers than normal committed by the Crew. On the other side of the ball, Columbus was having the same issue, but with an added wrinkle on the back end. Nagbe and Zawadzki were flat, which meant that the NYCFC defensive midfielders or defenders in possession could move up freely without being pressed. Typically, the Black & Gold like to commit one of their defensive midfielders to step forward and press the cutoff man for the opponents, but that was not happening often enough to set up the pressure for the Crew. That was problem number one, but problem number two occurred at the same time along the defensive line. If Nagbe and Zawadzki were going to play flat during the press, the backline needed to step higher to draw the attackers offsides. If they had done this, it would have been much harder for NYCFC to pick out a pass. The problem arose when the Columbus backline stayed deeper than normal, giving the attackers free reign to probe and run behind the backline with no pressure on the ball by the Black & Gold midfielders. This led to dangerous situations where the Crew had to defend one-on-one, something they do not love to do. The last factor that contributed to this slow start to the game, was NYCFC’s game planning. The visitors had done their homework and devised a gameplan slowed Columbus down for the time being. NYCFC decided to press with four, one striker and a line of three behind him. The striker would press Camacho, while the two outside midfielders would push up on the outside centerbacks. The attacking midfielder for NYCFC took care of the Black & Gold’s split, usually Nagbe. It was more of a resisted pressure than what Miami did, allowing the Crew to commit the mistake themselves rather than trying to force the mistake by all-out pressure. Because the centerbacks and the split midfielder was cutoff, Columbus had to find new avenues around the pressure. This often was resolved by the attackers dropping into a wide wingback space and receiving the ball, then combining with either Mo Farsi or Arfsten who had gone high up the field like a winger. Once the Black & Gold figured that out, the game opened much more for them. NYCFC did a good job at slowing the Crew down, figuring out their passing patters to apply pressure and forcing mistakes, but they could not stop the Columbus machine. Once the Black & Gold figured out their identity and how NYCFC was combatting them, they looked dangerous as usual. Finding a foothold The Crew began finding success in this game when Hernandez dropped into that attacking midfield space and the team started to attack from wide areas. Both these little changes played a factor in Columbus getting on level terms and trying to push for a second goal. When Hernandez began dropping into the midfield, he filled that space that either Zawadzki or Nagbe would usually take up if they were staggered. Typically, it was Aidan Morris who would go up into that attacking midfield vacancy when he was here, but Nancy opted to keep Zawadzki and Nagbe flat in the midfield in this game. That meant the space was open for the attackers to exploit because NYCC was pushing their defensive midfielders higher to compete with Columbus two midfielders. Because they moved higher, now NYCFC had to decide to push one of their centerbacks up to press Hernandez or drop back and wait for the recovering midfielders to get back in transition. This now gave the Black & Gold’s most dynamic and dangerous attacker the freedom to create and find passes from a deeper midfield spot. It also meant that he could make late-arriving runs and use the other attacker’s runs as decoys to create space for himself. This is exactly what happened on the Crew’s goal. Hernandez started deep and after a failed combination, just hung out at the top of the box. Once the ball was recycled wide for Arfsten, he let Christian Ramirez and Yevhen Cheberko make darting runs towards the front post. This dragged the defense out of position and gave Hernandez the space to get a good jump and direct the ball into the back of the net. After the goal and into the second half, Columbus began to figure out a pattern of play and an attack plan that worked well against NYCFC’s setup. The visitors had a balanced formation that was hard to poke holes in but were forced to rotate to compete with the Black & Gold’s front five, and even sometimes six attackers. The Crew discovered that they had to most success when the ball would be switched quickly to a wing, and then played to the backside to catch the defense over-shifting. This constant sliding back and forth across the field is tough on a defense, and they are bound to lose track of runners after a while. This has been in Columbus’ wheelhouse for the past few weeks. Many of their goals have come from the ball being played out wide from a central area, and then attacking a back post cross as the defense tries to shift. The only way that teams can combat this is by playing with a back five or six, which would limit their ability to counter and get up in the attack. They would lose offensive power for defensive stability, and risk having a constant barrage of the Black & Gold attack on top of them, without an escape plan. While the Crew did not grab a second goal to kill the game in regular time, their calmness on penalties saw them go through to the next round. Another up-and-down match for Columbus, but this team has figured out how to win games when things do not go their way from the first kick. That is a dangerous quality to have, especially in a sudden-death tournament like Leagues Cup.

The Columbus Crew advanced to the quarterfinals of Leagues Cup on Tuesday with a dramatic comeback victory over Inter Miami. Still without Lionel Messi due to injury, Miami came into this game with the other Barcelona boys ready to pick up the slack. Miami did just that, taking control of the game for the first hour of the match and building a 2-0 lead. Then in the 67th minute the Crew were given a lifeline courtesy of Christian Ramirez’s head. A mere two minutes later, Columbus was level with the visitors as Diego Rossi tapped in a back-post ball from Cucho Hernandez. The momentum had shifted, and the Black & Gold would find the winner in the 80th minute. Rossi slipped through the defense and placed the ball into the side netting to complete the comeback. It was another game where the Crew were night and day in terms of their quality of play. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that hurt, and ultimately helped Columbus grab a victory and advance to the quarterfinals. Struggles in the first hour Anyone who watched this game could see that the Black & Gold were not their usual dominant selves for a large part of this match. Messi or not, Miami is a tough opponent with a good coach at the helm. This was never going to be a cakewalk like Crew fans are so accustomed to seeing these days. There were a few things that the visitors did to make Columbus’ life difficult on top of the Black & Gold making their own lives difficult. Miami head coach Tata Martino’s decision to match formations with the Crew proved to work at first, but later found out it would not work in the long run. Miami coming out and matching Columbus’ formation made it easier to press the Black & Gold. Martino employed a man-marking press, putting a defender on every single Crew player that was involved in the buildup. Columbus had a hard time exploiting the high press because they could not drag Miami out of their defensive shape, because their shape was a mirror to the Black & Gold’s offensive shape. This meant that overloads were essentially taken out of play, and the only ways to beat the press was to counter quickly when Miami lost the ball, play long into feet or attempt to lose the man-markers. On top of this, the Crew were atrocious in the first 60 minutes of this game with their touches and passes. Even the great Darlington Nagbe was being turned over at a higher rate than normal. Miami’s first goal was indicative of these struggles. Steven Moreira took two bad touches and had his pocket picked, which led to a free header in the box because Yevhen Cheberko had to rotate over. Despite Miami’s press and Columbus’ poor technical play, no factor was more impactful on the Black & Gold than their slow pace of play. It seems odd to say a Wilfried Nancy side had a slow pace to their offensive play, but that was the case on Tuesday night. More than usual, the Crew were taking too many touches and not getting others involved around them. Not spraying the ball around and attacking Miami in those transition moments gave the visitors a chance to get back on defense and prepare for a Columbus attack. This continued into the second half, which eventually led to Miami’s second goal of the night. Alexandru Matan came on for Sean Zawadzki to start the second half along with Ramirez and Mo Farsi, taking out Dylan Chambost and DeJuan Jones. Matan took way too many touches, got his pocket picked and ended up watching Miami add a second to their tally. Bringing on those substitutes gave the Black & Gold more familiarity and punch going forward, but it was not until Ramirez’s goal went in that the Crew really woke up. 30-minute sprint to the finish  Everyone says that a 2-0 lead is the most dangerous lead in soccer. Whether you believe it or not, that saying became a reality for Miami on Tuesday. The visitors had full control. They had demoralized Columbus by soaking on pressure and making them pay on the counter. Miami had done everything right until the Black & Gold figured out how to attack their defense, and how to get Ramirez a free header in gimme range. The Crew ended up figuring out that the way to get after Miami was to switch the point of attack quickly multiple times. Playing quick, horizontal balls to the wide areas shifted Miami’s defense and caused them to organize and communicate constantly. That much communication breeds an opportunity for a mistake, which is what Ramirez capitalized on. Hernandez played the ball out left for Max Arfsten, drawing out the right wingback for Miami while Ramirez drifted inside towards the six-yard box. Farsi, who had cut inside as an additional striker, moved towards the ball, dragging Miami’s left centerback with him. This vacated space is what opened for Ramirez, and what allowed him to get a free header in the box. Another wrinkle in this goal, was the back-post defending by Jordi Alba and Noah Allen. When Hernandez switched the ball for Arfsten, both Allen and Alba drop deeper, while Sergio Busquets and the rest of the defenders stepped up. Allen and Alba kept Ramirez onsides due to a communication issue and the other defenders stepping high. From that moment, the energy in Lower.com Field changed. The fans could smell blood in the water, and they knew what was coming next. Sure enough, two minutes later Rossi struck on another back-post ball to even the game. This goal started all the way from the back, on a goal kick. A pass was played quickly to Farsi who raced down the right sideline to link up with Hernandez, who had drifted out wide. The keys to this goal again are the decoy runners, miscommunication and Columbus’ quick pace of paly in transition. Miami’s right wing-back was late getting back on defense because he had gotten high into the previous attack. When Ramirez made a darting diagonal run towards the penalty spot, Miami right centerback Tomás Avilés follows him. This left Rossi wide open at the back post to receive the cross from Hernandez and tap in the Black & Gold’s second goal of the night. If Avilés had passed off Ramirez to Miami midfielder Yannick Bright, he could have marked Rossi and prevented the goal. Again, miscommunication and bad soccer IQ sunk Miami in that moment and allowed the Crew to get back into this game in a flash. After the two goals in rapid fashion, it went back to looking like the Black & Gold of old. Quick passes, smart runs, calm on the ball and dangerous. Then in the 80th minute, Columbus found the dagger. The Crew’s third goal yet again, hinged on a quick pace and more miscommunication from Miami’s defense. Ramirez received the ball at the halfway line and played a pass into space for Farsi. Miami’s defense was in recovery mode, which allowed the Canadian wingback to cut inside. As Farsi cut inside, backside defenders Busquets and Marcelo Weigandt both did not recognize the situation and step up with the rest of the defense. While Farsi cut inside, Rossi was making a diagonal run from left to right, in front of Farsi. The Canadian played a quick slip ball into Rossi’s feet, and the Uruguayan picked out the far corner to put Columbus into the quarterfinals. So, what changed around the 60th minute to help the Black & Gold get back into this game? A large part must be placed on the substitutions. While it took 15 minutes to settle in, Matan, Farsi and Ramirez played an immense role in giving the Crew a victory. Matan came in and gave Columbus a more attack-minded midfielder who could join the attack to form a front six. Farsi of course had an amazing game down the right side, providing the ultimate assist to Rossi in the 80th minute. T here was not a player that impacted the game more though, than Christian Ramirez. Chambost struggled to get on the ball in the first half and seemed lost at times in the fluid attack with Rossi and Hernandez. Ramirez came on at halftime and instantly changed the game. He dropped into the midfield and played exquisite layoff passes to the wingbacks and other attackers, and then he just had a poacher’s mindset to grab the first goal and give the Black & Gold a lifeline.  The other thing that changed was the Crew’s mindset and belief. Sometimes all you need is a spark to start a chain reaction, and Columbus needed one on Tuesday night. Not every game is going to be dominance from the beginning, and sometimes the team will need a moment of individual brilliance to start a snowball effect. Ramirez’s goal provided that for the Black & Gold, and it changed everything From that moment the Crew’s pace changed, they were lively on the ball and quick to attack and defend. It was as if they had sleepwalked for 60 minutes but woke up as soon as Ramirez’s ball hit the back of the net. Columbus needed a goal to get the crowd and belief back on their side, and they ultimately found it. Miami failed to adjust, which played a part in the three-goal landslide, but the Black & Gold will not care. They are onto the quarterfinals on Saturday in front of another deafening Lower.com Field crowd.