Diego Rossi, Julian Gressel, Malte Amundsen, Rudy Camacho and Christian Ramirez played their roles. But the most important transfer for the Columbus Crew, the move that helped a team that missed the playoffs the past two years become the 2023 MLS champions, was the hiring of its head coach.
Whatever the Crew paid Montreal to hire Wilfried Nancy a year ago, it was worth it. First, Nancy built Columbus into the league's most vibrant team. He then turned them into the biggest winners.
The 46-year-old was a lower-league defender in France who became academy coach for Montreal in 2011, rose to first-team assistant in 2016 and then head coach in 2021 following the departure of Thierry Henry. He exceeded expectations by leading Montreal to the playoffs last year as the runner-up in the Eastern Conference reportedly dropped out with the owner, Joey Saputo. Tim Bezbatchenko, Crew's savvy general manager, jumped in.
Nancy quickly turned Columbus into the most gonzo outfit in MLS: fierce pressers, dedicated attackers, top scorers and the most ball possession in the regular season, but prone to wasting winning positions, as if locking them up would mean a betrayal of ideological purity, a nerve failure. They shrugged off the mid-season departure of their talismanic midfielder, Lucas Zelarayán, and put their faith in Patrick Schulte, a rookie 22-year-old goalkeeper.
Against Los Angeles FC in Saturday's MLS Cup final, the Crew played like they looked in their black and gold kit: swarming like wasps over lemonade. It was the kind of fast, aggressive, versatile and irresistible attacking display that a former Crew coach, Gregg Berhalter, would love to show in a major tournament with his men's national team.
Overwhelmed in the first half at Lower.com Field, LAFC failed in their bid to retain the trophy, losing their third final of the year after defeat in the Concacaf Champions League and Campeones Cup.
“The performance we had tonight was perfect,” Nancy told reporters. In the league's 28th season, he became the first black coach to win the MLS Cup. “I am so proud of that, because there is a lot of work behind it,” he said. “There was a lot of courage behind it. But at the same time I'm not happy because it's not normal. Simple as that.”
As the founding members of the MLS won their second title and third place overall in the last four seasons in front of a sellout crowd in their fancy new stadium, it's worth remembering that it was only five years ago that fans successfully rallied to save them. The team's previous owner, Anthony Precourt, made plans to move the franchise to Austin, Texas, where it is easier to sell corporate sponsorships to technology companies and the booming local economy means more fans can afford to pay. $14 for a beer.
“Crew SC is near the bottom of the league by all business measures,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber in 2017. Fan shaming, however, was a deception to deflect from flawed ownership. After essentially greenlighting a move to Austin before the Crew were acquired by Cleveland Browns owners in 2019, with Precourt getting a team in Texas anyway, Garber, as usual, was keen to accentuate the positives in a interview during halftime. on Saturday's Fox broadcast.
“Columbus is a great story,” he declared. “From challenge comes opportunity, a lot of courage and vision that has contributed to what we have here, this incredible fan base and a team that performs so well on the pitch. Everyone must choose their own path.”
When you think about it, not everyone is convinced that the sporting equivalent of attempted murder was really a valuable learning experience. Garber was booed by the incredible crowd of fans before the trophy was presented to captain and four-time champion Darlington Nagbe on a rainy evening in the Ohio state capital. In any case, there was little to complain about anymore.
After an endless and unfathomable play-off format in which 18 teams played 28 matches in 46 days, two from the mid-table of the league payroll pack had reached the showpiece. For all their prowess, the Crew may have owed their place to the irresponsibly exuberant personality of Cincinnati defenseman, New Jersey native and former New York Red Bulls player Matt Miazga, who was suspended for the Ohio finals -Ohio Eastern Conference.
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Miazga entered the referee's room amid an uproar in an earlier round that followed his second yellow card for blowing kisses and making a heart-shaped hand gesture at angry Red Bulls fans after scoring in a penalty shoot-out. Without the MLS Defender of the Year against Columbus, a makeshift Cincinnati defense blew a 2-0 lead late and conceded late in overtime to lose 3-2. Love Hurts.
Saturday's predictable pattern of play was in stark contrast to last year's sensational final, a penalty shootout win for LAFC over the Philadelphia Union after a 3-3 draw, which added layer after layer of increasingly absurd plot twists.
This time, the rope-a-dope tactics that saw a pragmatic LAFC get past a wasteful Seattle Sounders and a toothless Houston Dynamo in the previous two rounds were ineffective and left Steve Cherundolo's side looking tense and tight against inventive and cheerful opponents.
LAFC had 31% possession in Seattle and 30% at home in Houston, so holding the ball 38% of the time against Columbus was an improvement. Yet the visitors were so battered and confused, so outmatched in midfield, that they were unable to get out of counter-attack mode and take the initiative after being two goals down.
Cucho Hernández, signed for $10 million from Watford in 2022, scored a 33rd-minute opener from the penalty spot after a handball from Diego Palacios. A clever pass from Amundsen four minutes later ensured Yaw Yeboah doubled the lead. Denis Bouanga replied in the 74th minute, but the climax was relatively serene for Nancy's side. Bouanga and Carlos Vela, probably in his farewell match for the club, rarely threatened up front for LAFC. 39-year-old Giorgio Chiellini tried valiantly to hold the defense together in possibly his last game before retirement.
“Did Columbus deserve to win tonight? Yes, they did,” Cherundolo, the LAFC coach, said told reporters. “They played a fantastic match. Do I think they are better than us? No, I think they were better than us tonight and we made a few mistakes defensively that led to their two goals. And that's about it. And that's how these games are decided.”
That assessment does the Columbus coach a disservice by ignoring context. Cherundolo set up his side to get a goal. Nancy put his team together to take advantage of the day.