Arace: There was beauty, somehow, in Crew 2 loss to Austin FC II in MLS Next Cup final
Rarely do minor league games stir the hearts of major league fans the way the MLS Next Pro Cup championship game did at Lower.com Field Sunday night. Crew 2 were defending the title they won in the league's inaugural season last year, Austin II were the visitors, and the specter of Anthony Precourt loomed.
The new Crew stadium seats 20,300 and the first team, now preparing for the MLS playoffs, has been racking up sellouts. Some of the diehards are also regular patrons at Crew 2 games, which are normally staged at the old erector set. Sunday night, the diehards were joined by throngs and throngs of ardent add-ons. The lower bowl was full on the sideline sides, there were hundreds of fans in the upper bowl and the Nordecke had a tight clutch of revelers whose chants and cheers were relentless.
They do not forget that Precourt, the Crew's former owner, tried to steal their team and move it to Austin. To them, Austin FC − or its proxy, Austin FC II − represent an enemy.
Yes, Save the Crew saved the Crew by the end of 2018. Yes, a new ownership group has proven that proper stewardship can unlock a robust Columbus market. Yes, the team has taken off under president/GM Tim Bezbatchenko and new coach Wilfried Nancy. But the fans do not forget that Precourt attempted to destroy all of this because, as he once blightly put it, "I have a total weakness for queso."
Precourt got what he wanted − and expansion team in Austin, and queso − without paying an expansion fee. But he will never escape his record in Columbus. If his minor league team is in town, it'll touch a nerve that remains raw. And so it did Sunday night.
Alas, the cause of schadenfreude was not served. Crew 2 let the game get away from them in the second half. Austin II won 3-1 and seized the trophy. The fans in the building, festooned with Black & Gold, had to watch a postgame celebration that was decidedly Verde. This was not easy.
Yet, it turned out beautiful, in a certain way. Crew 2 coach Laurent Courtois and his players made it such.
"I've been a kid," Courtois said. "My dad took me, with my little sandwich, to the stadium when I was 10 years old to see my local Lyon team. It was the highlight of my week, my dad's highlight of the week. So we know what it means for the fans to have their passion and their soccer game on the weekend, to be in this (environment)."
Last year's Crew 2 team had its "animals," as Courtois put it, referring to the players who graduated and contributed to the first team this year − goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, midfielder Isaiah Parente, defender Philip Quinton, striker Jacen Russell-Rowe and play-him-anywhere Sean Zawadzki, et al. This year, Courtois had a new first-team coach, a entirely new system to implement and a roster of baby faces that had no idea how their soccer minds were about to be blown. He had four 17-year-olds − not counting the passel of teenaged academy players who made appearances − to shepherd.
It was a feat that Crew 2 won it all last year given that the damage that Precourt left behind was the devastation of the academy. Three years of recruitment and development had been lost, but the "animals" still rampaged. That Courtois managed to return to the final with a roster that was almost completely new is even more incredible. (Credit, too, must go to Crew 2 GM Corey Wray.)
Thus, Courtois was balancing the big-picture success with the disappointment of losing − and the added sting of losing to Austin II. He was not afraid to admit this. In fact, although he didn't put it in so many words, he highlighted the specter of Precourt. So did his players.
"The very fact that we (instructed) our squad on the Save the Crew movement and what happened in Columbus − especially facing Austin − they knew that it was very special," Courtois said. "They really care because they respect the fans. The fans are soccer. They are literally what makes soccer what soccer is. We owe everything to the fans, it's that simple. So, based on that and what happened − the threat of being relocated, it has been a heartbreaking story for the guys. But it was also something they were willing to embrace and show the fans how much they care."
It's part of the history of the franchise that should not die. MLS commissioner Don Garber sold the team to Precourt and gave him an out clause, which specified Austin as a relocation site, in the 2013 sales agreement. Garbert said in 2017 that the Crew's "business metrics" did not work in Columbus. Then, Save the Crew saved the Crew. It's something that just doesn't happen in American sports. It happened here.
The fans will never forget. They posted banners emblazoned with "Business Metrics" and "Respect Your Roots" and "I have a total weakness for queso." They chanted "Save the Crew" and "We hate broccoli" at the Green Yetis. Full marks, then, to Austin II for winning fair and square.
As the confetti flew over the riser where the new champions were being hailed, as that packaged celebration was going on at midfield, the Crew 2 players, in classic yellow kits, jumped the north wall to join fans in the Nordecke. They shook hands and they hugged. Some of these young players even apologized.
It's OK, kids. Here's hoping the fans will be seeing you again soon in the new stadium. The prospects are promising.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Austin II wins MLS Next Cup battle, Crew 2 wins fans, at season's end
