Crew fans still have flashbacks to 2022, when they watched their team drop 24 points from winning positions. That’s soccer parlance for “esophageal disorder.” What made the problem acute, and contributed to the decision to fire coach Caleb Porter, was that they dropped 11 points in second-half stoppage time. That’s soccer parlance for “epic choking.”
There was a flashback Tuesday night in a Leagues Cup game against Inter Miami at the new Crew Stadium. Just 10 minutes in, a back-end blunder led to a conceded goal. Then, early in the second half, a miscommunication led to another goal and Miami’s lead doubled to 2-0. Everyone in the building thought the game was over by the 62nd minute.
Inter Miami coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino – who has coached three national teams (Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico), sat on the Barcelona hot seat and led Atlanta United to the MLS Cup – was winning the chess game against Crew coach Wilfried Nancy.
Nancy’s team flipped the table, scored three lovely goals in a span of 13 minutes and posted an improbable, 3-2 victory. It marked a triumph for the defending MLS Cup champions over the defending Leagues Cup champions in a much-hyped affair. The Crew move on to play a quarterfinal match against New York City FC at the new Crew stadium Saturday.
The chess match with Inter Miami, playing without injured Lionel Messi, was something. Martino used a five-man back line with Sergio Busquets in the middle, pressed the wing backs up the field and made a man-to-man minefield out of the midfield. Miami stymied the Crew’s possess-attack game and made the home team uncomfortable in its defensive end. For about an hour, anyway. Nancy riposted with some deft substitutions and tweaks to his “forward animations” and the Crew showed they still have an estimable measure of intestinal fortitude. It was quite a game.
There remains a perception that the Crew are something less than elite on the defensive side of things. The esophageal problems and the choking of 2022 have something to do with it. While that was a completely different team with a wholly different coach, the sort of defensive lapses that occurred Tuesday night can trigger uncomfortable flashbacks.
More, the perception is based on Nancy’s unyielding system. The Crew want possession, they want to discomfit their opponents, and they want to score as many goals as possible. To this end, they can be daring in their action – and prone to counterattack. They’re also not all that terrific in defending set pieces, right?
Six of 10 analysts at MLSsoccer.com picked the Crew to beat LAFC in the MLS Cup final last December. The four who picked LAFC said, “defense wins championships” and “LAFC are a strong enough defensive team to withstand the Crew’s attack” and “with (Maxime) Crepeau in goal, LAFC have an individual player who can make a difference” and “if the Crew are the plucky Star Wars rebels, then LAFC are the Empire.”
The plucky rebels won, 2-1.
It's the audacity of Nancy and his players, the single-mindedness of their collective goal (score!), that makes them so unique. Other coaches are front-footed and aggressive – reportedly, Mauricio Pochettino is the next USMNT coach, and he is noted for his attacking philosophy. But rare is the coach who keeps the accelerator pressed the way Nancy does. It is only natural, then, to surmise that the Crew can be exposed or even exploited on the back end.
On the contrary, one can make the case that the Crew are the best defensive team in MLS. Here’s a stat: The Crew have the lowest goals-against average (0.96) in the league. No other team is below 1.00.
It’s part of the system. Put it this way: Lucas Zelarayan may be the greatest player in Crew history; he was replaced by Diego Rossi; Rossi, for his mobility and his ability to transfer from offense to the press, is a better fit in Nancy’s 3-4-2-1. It’s not just about possession, cracking open the blocks and creative expression; it’s also about quickly reading the field and recognizing responsibilities when the ball is turned over.
There is a bigger picture.
Since that meltdown in Orlando, the Crew have played 44 games in all competitions. They are 25-6-13 with 13 clean sheets. Over this span, they’ve scored 88 goals and allowed 45 for a differential of plus-43. Their average game has been a 2.00-1.06 victory.
The Crew want the ball and they’re dangerous when they have it. When they don’t, they are efficient in getting it back or, when it comes to it, digging in to protect their net.
marace@dispatch.com
