Arace: Columbus Crew have come a long way in 400 days. What will the next 400 look like?
Of the 11 starters who took the field for the Crew in their last game of the 2022 regular season, three remain – midfielder Darlington Nagbe, defender Steven Moreira and forward Cucho Hernandez. Crew fans remember well Decision Day, Oct. 9, some 400 days ago, when the Crew lost 2-1 to Orlando City at Exploria Stadium in O-Town. Thus, the Crew's season ended without a playoff bid for the second year in a row. Coach Caleb Porter was fired fewer than 24 hours later.
This coming Saturday, Nagbe, Moreira and Cucho will take the field with one or two or even three Crew 2 graduates (keeper Patrick Schulte and maybe wingback Mo Farsi and/or Sean Zawadzki, who plays multiple positions); two players for whom Porter had little use (wingback Yaw Yeboah and forward Alex Matan, who was loaned out last year); a couple of center backs who were brought in via trade (Malte Amundsen and Rudy Camacho); a new designated player in forward Diego Rossi and, of course, Mr. Motor midfielder Aidan Morris, who missed nearly all of last season with an ACL injury.
Depending on how coach Wilfried Nancy judges the matchups, wingback Julian Gressel, another major trade acquisition, will start or come off the bench when the Crew meet Orlando City in an Eastern Conference semifinal at Exploria Stadium.
Goalkeeper Eloy Room, center backs Jonathan Mensah and Milos Degenek, midfielders Pedro Santos and Artur, they're all out of the picture. Attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan, perhaps the greatest player in the history of the franchise, is on another continent playing in the Saudi Pro League. Cornerstones and a captain, stalwarts and a wizard … all gone. And that is just a partial list of those who served the Crew well but no longer call Columbus home.
Yet, the Crew are a much better team by any measure.
It’s a stunning turnabout.
The Crew are the No. 3 seed in the East; Orlando is the No. 2. The other East semi pits No. 1 Cincinnati, who won the Supporters’ Shield with the best record in the league, against No. 5 Philadelphia, the defending conference champion.
If the Crew can beat Orlando, something they failed to do after a stunning collapse the last time they visited Disney World (on Sept. 16), and Philadelphia manages to win on the road in Cincinnati, which is not out of the question, then the Crew would host the conference final Dec. 2. And if the Crew make it out of the East, they will host the MLS Cup championship game Dec. 9.
Crew president/general manager Tim Bezbatchenko does not get ahead of himself to the point of fantasy. He does, however, look ahead as a matter of being a forward-thinking franchise shepherd. To that end, it was announced on Friday morning that Nagbe, still a critical piece of the central midfield at age 33, had signed a contract extension. The new deal runs through the 2025 season and has a club option for 2026.
Expect more announcements to follow in the coming weeks. Backline anchors Moreira, 29, and Camacho, 32, are in the final years of their contracts and expectations are that they will extend their careers in Columbus.
Time will tell.
Right wingback Gressel, 29, is a valuable piece – the Crew paid $850,000 in allocation money to get him from Vancouver – and Gressel was happy to land in Columbus. The Crew would like to keep Gressel and an an open line of communication with his camp is being maintained. A few things to keep in mind:
Gressel did not start in Game 3 of the Crew’s first-round series against Atlanta because Nancy looked at certain matchups and wanted more speed (Mo Farsi) on the right flank. Gressel is in his late prime, in control of his own destiny as a pending free agent and remains one of the best crossers in the league. Nancy’s system is not reliant on service from the flanks. Is there a better fit for Gressel, the player, out there? Is there a better landing spot for him and his family, who have roots in the Northeast?
Time will tell.
Nagbe will still fill one of the Crew’s three DP slots (Hernandez and Rossi fill the others). Nagbe is earning $1.8 million this season. While the financial terms of his extension were not announced, one might assume his new salary is in the realm (TAM eligible) that allows the Crew, per league rules, to add the maximum number of U-22 Initiative players (three).
Will Bezbatchenko be big-game DP hunting this winter? Unless the Crew get a transfer offer they and Cucho can’t refuse, I don't see it. The team has developed Crew 2 graduates into important contributors, and their organization is now set up to keep that pipeline flowing, from the academy on up. They're targeting U-22s, looking for their next Matan. Right?
Time will tell.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: It has been a wild ride from Orlando to Orlando for Columbus Crew
