The Columbus Crew will take the field in Cleveland to host Lionel Messi and Inter Miami this upcoming Spring
While the Cleveland Browns might be struggling in 2024, at least the Columbus Crew will get to sink their cleats into Huntington Bank Field.
Hosting Inter Miami on April 19, the Crew (another Haslam Sports Group-owned team) will be taking on Lionel Messi and company off the coast of Lake Erie. These two teams have a knack for winning, something that has been sorely missing from Huntington Bank Field for the last three decades.
The Crew finished runner-up in the CONCACAF North American Champions Cup in 2024, and are back in contention for the cup again as they start the round of 16 teams in March. They finished their 2024 campaign second in the Eastern Conference behind only Miami before they were knocked out by Red Bull New York in the first round of the playoffs.
This matchup between Inter Miami and Columbus will draw a healthy crowd, and potentially a bigger one than any December Browns game this year as the team sits at 3-11 on the year.
DeJaun Jones scored a beautiful goal for the Columbus Crew
Michigan State soccer has a great alumnus in DeJuan Jones, who has seen action with the United States National Team and plays in Major League Soccer for the Columbus Crew.
In the Crew’s game against the New England Revolution, Jones scored a masterful goal inside of the box, showing the elite skill has a scorer from his right back defending position.
Watch the goal via Spartan Tailgate on X:
Michigan State Soccer alum DeJuan Jones with a banger of a goal:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner
This wasn’t exactly a denial from the 47-year-old Frenchman
Responding to a question about the vacant U.S. men’s national team position, Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy said he wants to be “limitless” and always push himself forward.
Nancy has been mentioned as a candidate to replace Gregg Berhalter, who was dismissed last week in the wake of the USMNT’s stunning group-stage exit at the Copa América.
The Crew boss has developed a sterling reputation since taking over CF Montréal in 2021. After moving to Columbus ahead of the 2023 season, Nancy turned the Crew into MLS Cup champion and took them to the Concacaf Champions Cup final this year.
Nancy has not only had success in terms of results, but has done so while instilling a proactive style of play that allows his team to win while also controlling matches.
That has made the 47-year-old a top candidate for the USMNT job, despite a lack of experience at the international level.
On Saturday, after his Crew side secured a 5-1 win at LAFC — coached by another USMNT candidate in Steve Cherundolo — Nancy addressed the USMNT rumors in a way that suggested he is at least open to the possibility.
“I don’t talk about rumors, simple as that,” Nancy said in his post-game press conference.
“Like I said, I am limitless. I want to be limitless so the idea is to push myself, to challenge myself, but at the moment I’m here. I’m happy here. We’ll see in the future.”
The 22-year-old midfielder has made the jump to Europe
Middlesbrough has confirmed the signing of Aidan Morris on a transfer from the Columbus Crew.
The 22-year-old midfielder joins the Championship side in a reported $4 million move, and has signed a four-year contract.
Morris has become one of the highest-rated midfield prospects in MLS in recent years, having made over 100 appearances for the Crew and won two MLS Cups despite his young age.
A fixture with U.S. youth national teams, Morris made his senior USMNT debut in January 2023 and has earned five caps thus far.
“He suits our style of play, he’s strong, he likes to get on the ball, and he plays off both feet,” said Boro head coach Michael Carrick.
“He’s a good age, but he’s already had a taste of success and he has a good amount of experience. We’re excited to work with him.”
We’re delighted to confirm the signing of Aidan Morris! 🇺🇸✍️
Morris was called into the most recent U.S. pre-Olympic training camp, and looks to be a solid bet to compete in the games in France next month.
“Watching Aidan’s growth as a player and person during his time at the Crew has been a true privilege, and we greatly appreciate his dedication to the club and our city,” said Crew general manager Issa Tall.
“Aidan has always been focused on learning and improving, and he’s an exceptional role model for our academy players. We are proud of what Aidan accomplished individually and with our club as he made a significant impact in the Crew’s history. He always aspired to play in Europe and earned the opportunity, and we look forward to him further displaying his form and character as he joins Middlesbrough.”
The Crew could become just the fourth MLS team to ever claim Concacaf’s regional crown
The Concacaf Champions Cup final is here, with Pachuca hosting the Columbus Crew in a one-off battle for regional supremacy.
It is something of a surprise final. While Pachuca was technically Liga MX’s top-seeded entrant, gaining a bye to the round of 16, Mexican powers like Club América and Tigres were seen as more likely finalists.
Similarly, while the Crew earned rave reviews en route to winning the 2023 MLS Cup, MLS’s checkered history in the Champions Cup could have been seen as a reason to downplay the club’s hopes. A path through the bracket that involved clashes with Tigres and Liga MX’s biggest spenders, Monterrey, offered no easy outs.
[afflinkbutton text=”Watch Pachuca vs. Columbus Crew on FuboTV” link=”https://www.fubo.tv/welcome?irad=343747&irmp=1205322&subId1=PSW&subId2=Generic&subId3=2023%2F24″]
And yet, both teams have emerged as the last sides standing, with Pachuca’s slightly better record in the competition granting a massive home-field advantage at Estadio Hidalgo, which sits nearly 8,000 feet above sea level.
Los Tuzos will be without defender Jorge Berlanga, who is suspended after receiving yellow cards in both legs of the club’s semifinal victory over Club América.
The biggest Crew injury worry just so happens to concern its biggest star, Cucho Hernández, who has been battling a back issue. Columbus head coach Wilfried Nancy declared that Cucho is available for the final, but whether he can start or not remains to be seen.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.
Pachuca vs. Columbus Crew (Concacaf Champions Cup final)
We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. Pro Soccer Wire operates independently, though, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.
MLS teams have been here before, but no one has ever been as expansive or impressive as this Crew side
In Saturday’s Concacaf Champions Cup final, the Columbus Crew are looking to break new ground for MLS.
A victory over Pachuca would not, in and of itself, be a first. MLS has been tormented by this tournament over the years, but the league has not quite been Sisyphus pushing his boulder up a hill in Tartarus.
The Seattle Sounders were widely lauded for claiming a place as Concacaf’s top club in 2022. That triumph ended a decades-long spell that saw MLS clubs suffer a few heartbreakingly narrow losses in the final, and rather more morale-sapping blowout defeats at various Liga MX stadiums. That Sounders team wasn’t a first, either, though Champions Cup wins by D.C. United (1998) and the LA Galaxy (2000) are often unfairly waved away as ancient oddities.
What Columbus is attempting to do is different, from two important angles.
First, there’s the practical side. D.C. and the Galaxy had to come through three games from start to finish, most of which were played at home in one-week events. Concacaf’s premier club competition is a far more daunting task these days.
The Sounders, through no fault of their own, had a path that involved Honduran side Motagua and fellow MLS club New York City FC. Seattle did knock off two Liga MX sides in Club León and Pumas, but that league’s true giants never got in the way.
Contrast that with the Crew, who after disposing of the Houston Dynamo in the round of 16 have only faced Mexican opposition. The last two rounds have involved seeing off Tigres — a team that, perhaps more than any other, has been an MLS killer over the years — and Monterrey, the region’s most expensively-assembled squad.
So yes, the Crew have taken the hard road to this final. However, just how Wilfried Nancy’s team has accomplished that is even more notable.
MLS teams have generally crept through the Champions Cup (or, for most of its recent existence, the Champions League) hoping to snatch narrow victories on the basis of defensive organization, the avoidance of errors, and a little luck. It’s been about grit, intensity, and opportunism, but MLS teams — whether they won it all like Seattle, or got humbled like so many other examples — have avoided the burden of being the protagonist in this tournament.
Taking risks? In Mexico? It’s simply not done.
And yet the Crew stuck to their guns while staring down stared down André-Pierre Gignac, coming back from a goal down in both legs to force penalties. Tigres fans, stunned though they were, applauded Columbus off the pitch at El Volcán.
(Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Columbus then returned to Nuevo Leon to take on Monterrey, again welcoming pressure and maneuvering through it. A first-leg win at home seemed to point to a conservative approach in Mexico, and Columbus instead played its unique, high-risk style. Monterrey chased ghosts for most of that second leg, then watched on in disbelief as the Crew turned all that effort against their hosts.
In MLS, these things just do not happen. It’s not just conventional wisdom that says to park the bus when playing in Mexico; it’s hard-won knowledge, a response stemming from justifiable fear.
Years of heavy losses showed that between the charged atmosphere and the different caliber of player available to Liga MX clubs, MLS teams had a very limited range of options to select from to advance in Concacaf knockout play.
The script goes something like this: Somehow win at home by multiple goals, then go to Mexico and hang on for dear life. If your goalkeeper plays out of his skull, and the referee isn’t completely cowed, and you get some good fortune on top of that, then — maybe, and only once in a while — you survive.
Columbus has not simply survived in this Champions Cup, nor have they been carried by a transcendent superstar. They were every bit as good as Tigres in the quarterfinal, and deserved their victories in both legs over Monterrey. Cucho Hernández, between team discipline and injury, hasn’t been the hero. Diego Rossi is the Crew’s leading scorer in this competition, while goalkeeper Patrick Schulte was the star of a penalty-kick triumph over Tigres.
In terms of approach, this Crew team functions outside of MLS norms, particularly given the league’s history of playing follow-the-leader when it comes to tactics. Going all the way back to the league’s formative years, the rhythm involves one team succeeding with a given approach — going all-in on a playmaker like Marco Etcheverry, or the counter-attacking nightmare that was the Galaxy side built around Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane — and the others falling in line.
Columbus has its success, and has been showered with praise for its stylish play, but what it doesn’t yet have is a copycat. The Crew’s willingness to welcome pressure comes in a league full of high-pressing teams. Possession-oriented teams in MLS are fairly traditional, or are looking towards the positional play espoused by Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. No one else wants to give the Crew’s approach a shot.
Mandatory Credit: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Sports
And yet, in so many ways Columbus is MLS. This club has hit all the familiar notes since coming online for the league’s first season: a weird logo, a historic (if rustic) home venue, and an existential threat. You’re not an MLS original without those experiences.
Columbus pulls its club legends from the same two groups (CONMEBOL attackers arriving towards the end of their prime years, or hard-working U.S. men’s national team standouts) that most of MLS has gone to over the years.
The current version is, in some ways, not an exception at all. Cucho required major Designated Player spending, but most teams have a player that cost more than $5 million to bring in from abroad at this point.
Schulte came to the club via the SuperDraft, while the club’s academy system — bolstered by its successful MLS Next Pro squad — has produced players like Aidan Morris and Sean Zawadski. Astute trades have landed a foundational player in Darlington Nagbe as well as defensive starters like Rudy Camacho and Malte Amundsen.
In other words, Columbus hasn’t reinvented the wheel, nor are they pushing the outer limits of the rulebook like Inter Miami. The Crew are just better at being a normal MLS team than anyone else has been in recent years.
MLS has always hoped to see its teams not just win at this level, but to win “the right way,” whatever that means during a given period’s trends. The league’s structure doesn’t include the punishment of relegation, and the frankly unhealthy levels of pressure seen in some places don’t exist here. A player that misses a stoppage-time penalty kick on Saturday can go grocery shopping on Sunday without fear of being accosted.
And yet, over the years so few teams have actually taken this opening to be distinctive, to do something no one else in the league has really done. One of the league’s great heartbreaks in Concacaf play came when a Real Salt Lake team built with an unusual commitment to keeping the ball fell to Monterrey in the 2011 final.
That side stood out not just because MLS had failed to send a team to a Concacaf final in the preceding decade, but because RSL played “the right way.” Their defeat was mourned because they didn’t get the reward for coloring outside of MLS’s lines.
Columbus, by just about any definition, plays “the right way.” In a sea of high-pressing teams who play the percentages, work extremely hard, and get physical, the Crew are an island. Columbus sees a team that wants to deploy a high line of contention, and is glad. The Crew encourage teams: come closer, pressure the ball, chase it!
Somehow the major recurring image of a Crew game under Nancy is Crew defender Steven Moreira standing still, the ball at his feet…and it’s exhilarating to watch. It calls to mind the primal, empathetic fight-or-flight response evoked by a matador, just without the nihilistic violence of a bullfight.
Monterrey doesn’t plan on sending seven players within 30 yards of the Crew goal in this sequence. It’s not what they want at all. And yet, they keep being convinced to risk just a little bit more: one more five-yard sprint, one more player stepping high. You can almost hear them buzzing with anticipation of winning the ball in the attacking third.
And yet, like the unwitting supporting players in a slasher flick, every player making that individual choice to step high and leave a safe position is jogging to their doom.
Los Rayados start the above sequence with one player holding space up high. By the time the Crew break the press, fully seven blue-and-white-striped shirts are 80 or more yards away from their own goal, watching as Columbus breaks the other way.
MLS teams have long talked a big game in terms of aspiring to a style of play, but when push has come to shove, most choose safety over dogma. There have been a few “this is who we are” true believers over the years, but none have been able to execute at this high a level. Again: this is the Crew doing this to Monterrey, a club serving as pioneers in Concacaf in terms of expenditure on players.
Aidan Morris, in a quote published by MLSsoccer.com, summed up the Crew, but also gave away how very unlike its MLS peers this team really is.
“[Nancy] says it’s an infinite game, so he’s always pushing us to try new things [and] experiment,” said the young USMNT prospect. The idea of a coach approaching Concacaf play and talking about infinite possibilities — of opening the tactical door to more, rather than less — is unprecedented.
This Columbus side will live long in the memory regardless of what happens on Saturday; their accomplishments, as Crew fans will surely tell you, are already massive.
However, a win at Estadio Hidalgo will mark not just the biggest moment in the club’s 29-year history. It would be a high-water mark for what is possible for MLS as a league, as well as an extraordinarily clear example of what can be done in this restrictive league with the right players, coach, and framework.
A win on Saturday doesn’t just cement this Crew team as one of MLS’s great sides. This is the chance to shift the entire trajectory of a league, to show every other club what lies beyond the horizon.
Columbus got a major boost Wednesday, as Cucho returned to training just in time to face Pachuca
The Columbus Crew should have a major piece of the puzzle back for Saturday’s Concacaf Champions Cup final.
After three games on the sidelines, Cucho Hernández is set to return for the Crew, who face Pachuca at Estadio Hidalgo.
“The idea is that he going to be available, so he wants to have a good game, and we want that also,” Columbus head coach Wilfried Nancy told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “We’re all happy that he’s back, and hopefully he will be able to have a good performance.”
Cucho, the Crew’s leading scorer last season, had missed MLS wins over CF Montréal, the Chicago Fire, and Orlando City with a back injury, but participated in Wednesday’s training session with no apparent issues.
Nancy noted that while the Colombia forward hadn’t been able to train or play in those recent games, he was able to do the altitude training the Crew has undergone to better prepare for this clash with Pachuca. Estadio Hidalgo sits 7,979 feet above sea level, making this one-off final all the more difficult.
The Columbus manager did express a note of caution in discussing Cucho’s status, saying that his side must “find the balance, because when we are so excited to play the game, sometimes you can overplay.” Nancy did not make any declaration over whether Cucho was fit to start a match that could go 120 minutes, or whether he would be kept on the bench at first.
Since joining the Crew in the summer of 2021, Cucho has been arguably the most consistent attacking player in all of MLS. In 67 total appearances, the 25-year-old has 39 goals and 13 assists, functioning as both Columbus’ deadliest goalscorer as well as one of the team’s best chance creators.
In his absence, Nancy has turned to a mix of players including target man Christian Ramirez, attacking midfielder Alexandru Mățan, and winger Marino Hinestroza.
MLS may treasure a Champions Cup victory, but per Diego Rossi Columbus just wants to win it for themselves
The Columbus Crew will face plenty of pressure to win Saturday’s Concacaf Champions Cup final against Pachuca, but per forward Diego Rossi, it’s all internal.
Facing the biggest game in club history, the Crew will head to Estadio Hidalgo hearing plenty of talk about how MLS’s aspirations are as much on the line as the club’s own hopes.
It is, after all, a rare opportunity for an MLS club to claim Concacaf’s biggest club prize, and the league has long placed a major emphasis on regional supremacy as the next step towards global prominence. In MLS’s 28 previous seasons, only nine of its clubs have gotten to this stage, and only three of those sides proceeded to win the final.
However, if you ask Rossi — who leads the Crew with three goals in the tournament — the Crew are only focused on bringing glory to Columbus.
“We don’t have another kind of pressure, or [at least] I don’t feel like this,” Rossi said in a Tuesday press conference. “I want to win every game and this is what I’m working for.
“We want to win like we already did there, in Mexico, but we just have our pressure, that we want to win. So yeah, I have maybe that pressure to win, but not from another [source].”
Rossi added that the MLS Cup champions — who are currently on a 5W-1D-1L run that includes wins in both legs of the club’s Concacaf Champions Cup semifinal over Monterrey — are “in a good way.”
“I think a good moment for the team,” explained the 26-year-old. “Obviously it’s a different competition, but I think the team is good, [and] working hard. For me, it’s the most important thing to go and have a great game there in the final.
“It’s a different competition, but you always want to win every game and to do good in every competition. We were focused last week on MLS, and we are focused on another competition [now], so yeah, we are training hard.”
Tall task ahead of Columbus at Estadio Hidalgo
It will still take something special for the Crew to become the fourth MLS club to win the Champions Cup, as the final will be held as a one-off event in Mexico due to Pachuca’s better overall record in this year’s competition.
Los Tuzos have not lost a game in regulation play in over a month, and managed to knock newly-crowned Liga MX champions Club América out to earn the place in this weekend’s final. Pachuca faced América in the Mexican playoffs as well, holding the Mexico City powerhouse to two 1-1 draws and only going out by virtue of being the lower-seeded team.
Additionally, Pachuca has a massive home-field advantage in terms of altitude. Even trips to play the Colorado Rapids will not prepare the Crew for Estadio Hidalgo, which sits 7,979 feet (over 1.5 miles) above sea level.
Guillermo Almada’s side showed just how meaningful that can be when it last hosted MLS competition. Back in March, the Philadelphia Union were on the wrong side of a 6-0 demolition, and no MLS side has ever walked out of the venue with a win.
Rossi brushed that history aside, insisting that the Crew won’t be intimidated.
“It’s just, be focused on the game and try to [make sure] this kind of thing doesn’t affect our game,” said Rossi. “We know that [altitude is] there, but we need to be focus on our ideas and our football.”
The Liga MX side has won the hosting rights over the MLS champions
Concacaf has announced that the Champions Cup final between the Columbus Crew and Pachuca has been moved to June 1, and will take place at Pachuca’s Estadio Hidalgo.
Kickoff for the match will be at 9:15 p.m. ET (7:15 p.m. local). It will be broadcast in the U.S. on Fox Sports in English and TUDN/ViX in Spanish, with specific channel information to be announced soon.
The game was originally scheduled for June 2, but has been moved back by a day due to Mexico’s national elections also taking place on June 2.
Pachuca secured hosting rights to the one-off match by compiling more points than Columbus in its six matches over the round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal (14 points to 12).
The Liga MX side reached the final by defeating Club América 3-2 on aggregate in its semifinal. Prior to that, it got past Herediano in the quarterfinals and the Philadelphia Union in the round of 16.
It will be the sixth time Tuzos have reached the final of this competition, having won in all five previous appearance (2002, 2007, 2008, 2009–10, 2016–17).
It will be the Crew’s first time in the final of the competition, as they look to complete an incredible run that has seen them beat Liga MX giants in consecutive rounds.
The Crew first got past fellow MLS side Houston in the round of 16, before defeating Tigres in the quarterfinal and Monterrey in the semifinal.
The winner between Columbus and Pachuca will join previous champions Club León (2023), Seattle Sounders (2022), and Monterrey (2021) as Concacaf’s four representatives in the new 32-team Club World Cup next summer.
The show’s producer woke up on Thursday and chose violence
As the “Good Day Columbus” cast put it, their producer woke up on Thursday and chose violence.
To be fair, the show on Fox 28 and the entire city of Columbus were in a gloating mood. Their team, the Columbus Crew, had just produced an epic performance the night before in Mexico, defeating Liga MX power Monterrey to clinch a berth in the Concacaf Champions Cup final.
Whenever the Crew produce an amazing performance these days (which is pretty often), it’s hard to not think back to the events of just a few years ago, when then-owner Anthony Precourt attempted to engineer a move of the team to Austin, Texas.
The “Save The Crew” movement was subsequently born, which proved stunningly successful when Precourt ultimately sold the team to an ownership group that kept the Crew in Columbus.
Precourt also got what he wanted as part of the deal, with MLS awarding him an expansion franchise in Austin, which became Austin FC.
On Thursday, the entire cast of “Good Day Columbus” chose to spike the football directly in Precourt’s face by showcasing his “trophy case” during the show.
“Thank heavens we saved the Crew,” one host said.
“Thank heavens we’re not vindictive at all,” another chimed in.
Thank heavens indeed.
Watch ‘Good Day Columbus’ choose violence
Good Day Columbus celebrated the Columbus Crew defeating Monterrey to make it to the CONCACAF Champions Cup final by trolling Austin FC owner Anthony Precourt, who tried to move the team out of Columbus. pic.twitter.com/4YyrYGAZGP
