Arace: Columbus Crew recent roster moves a sign that management, coaches are on same page
The Crew got better on Friday when they acquired midfielder Julian Gressel, 29, from the Vancouver Whitecaps for a pile of GAM or TAM or whatever the Garberbucks involved. Gressel's renown has grown steadily since he graduated to MLS in 2017, when he was rookie of the year. His is as close as one can get to being a Designated Player without actually being a DP.
Inter Miami is in last place in the Eastern Conference and, as far as we can tell, on Wednesday morning the league’s board of governors adjusted the DP rules so that Lionel Messi can have another three or four or five DPs join him in Fort Lauderdale, or wherever that godforsaken sweatbox stadium is in South Florida. Miami signed Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba and tried to get Luis Suarez (stay tuned). Who else from Barcelona is headed there? Picasso?
Commissioner Don Garber doesn’t care about Columbus, a city he conspired to abort. He likes Miami. He likes New York and LA and, akin to Gary Bettman, Roger Goodell and Bugsy Siegel, he has a thing for Las Vegas. He serves at the pleasure of the league’s owners and Apple TV. He is an invertebrate who is very good at his job.
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Look, everyone should be thrilled that Messi is in MLS. He fits the league’s plans to become one of top five in the world. Even at 36, the best soccer player who ever lived is a boon to the growth of the sport on this continent, especially with the World Cup coming to North America in 2026.
One should admire Messi for eschewing Saudi Arabian blood money and bending it like Beckham. Messi may or may not get richer than Ronaldo, the Greg Norman of soccer, but he’s not going to worry when global warming sucks his Porsche Design Tower condo into the sea. He'll survive.
If you are the general manager of the Crew at this juncture of the 21st century, it does not matter that you have the charge of the league’s first chartered team, or that the Crew was integral to saving the whole league from bankruptcy in 2001, or that your fans rose up to save the team from relocation in 2018 – which is one of the coolest things in the history of sports. The question is, how do you compete?
Crew: When will Julian Gressel, Yevhen Cheberko make their Columbus debuts?
The only response is Massive. If you are Crew president/GM Tim Bezbatchenko, you try to build an Ajax-like feeder system. You hire a dynamic coach who shares your vision, describes your ethos and has the humanity and personality to get buy-in from the players. You have a plan that the owner can understand, and you have an owner with bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. All good.
Bez has been busy this month. He agreed to terminate the contract of goalkeeper Eloy Room, who wanted to go home to the Netherlands. He moved forward with a transfer of center back Milos Degenek, who wants to go home to Serbia. And he acquired Gressel, 29, a player every team wants.
The loss of Degenek gives Crew fans cause to worry. Nancy’s system is built to go forward, aggressively when possible, and it can leave the back end prone to counter attacks. A spate of injuries earlier this season had the coach using converted midfielders and wing backs at center back. Now, the best defender on the team is being shipped home to Belgrade? And the answer is Gressel, who is known for playing the right flank, and moving forward?
What’s up with that?
The Gressel acquisition can be seen as a metaphor for the commitment Bezbatchenko has to Nancy’s system. The Crew (10-7-6) lead the league in goals with 45 in 23 games. The plan with Gressel is to put him at right wing back, where he will be in position to augment an already formidable offense topped by Lucas Zelarayan, Cucho Hernandez and Christian Ramirez. Gressel has a magical right foot, he might be the best crosser in the league and forwards love him. So do coaches.
Bezbatchenko worked for months to land left-footed center back Yevhen Cheberko, who arrived in Columbus earlier this month and is now fit for duty. It seems clear that Bezbatchenko does not feel pressed to add another, not immediately. He’s looking. It may be that he’s looking one or even two windows ahead. He and Nancy have a plan and they’re playing a long game.
The Crew are 5-1-3 in their past nine league games, which is to say the defense has been good enough to rack up 18 out of a possible 27 points since May 31. They've been happy with converted midfielder Sean Zawadzki back there. Enter Cheberko – and Gressel, an incredibly polished talent who, unlike the players who’ve transferred out this month, wants to be in Columbus.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Arace: Columbus Crew stick to plan with recent player moves
