Columbus Crew SC and its majestic home, MAPFRE Stadium, have served as loyal companions to U.S. Soccer’s most prolific home game over the last 15 years. The marriage between the U.S. Men’s National Team and Columbus has seen its vows renewed every four years, with the World Cup Qualifying showdown against Mexico at MAPFRE Stadium – and with those meetings comes a new opportunity for the Dos A Cero saga to be extended.
Since 2001, four meetings have occurred and each have ended the same. The USMNT soars to a 2-0 victory – seemingly by some higher power – to 25,000-strong singing the score line in Spanish.
Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter has been at MAPFRE Stadium for the biggest games it’s hosted – including the 2005 qualifier as a defender.
“Anytime the U.S. plays Mexico in a World Cup Qualifier, it’s a huge game,” Berhalter says “You’re always aware of that. The game I played in, we were lucky enough to qualify on that night as well so it was extra special. We beat Mexico and qualified for the World Cup on the same night.
“As a professional, any opportunity to lace up your boots and to represent your country is a great event. It’s the culmination of all the hard work put in throughout your career. Those are the moments that you realize that you’re a part of something bigger than yourself as an individual.”
For Berhalter – a player for 18 years in Europe, Major League Soccer and with the USMNT before growing into a veteran manager in Sweden and Columbus – each Dos A Cero is a climactic moment. The moments he’s been a part of have molded him into the manager he is today.
“You learn from all your experiences and, especially these Dos A Cero games, you understand the severity of it,” Berhalter says. “Your preparation becomes intensified and everything is heightened. You realize how global everything is.
“Overall, it does help give you a set of experiences where every little action is critical. That’s what helps you translate back to the club game. Every play is important to every moment.”
It’s those same critical moments that he sees shape his players’ mentality when they return from individual international call-ups as well. Whether its Crew SC players like 2016 Defender of the Year Harrison Afful or Barbasol 2016 Most Valuable Player Justin Meram – featuring this week for Ghana and Iraq, respectively – or members of Berhalter’s technical staff like original Dos A Cero hero Josh Wolff or Canada’s Pat Onstad, international experience is a valuable and exclusive intangible.
“Your perspective changes a little after international experiences,” Berhalter says. “Your viewpoint is broadened. Playing internationally is always interesting, to see the different cultures clashing and competing. To see how other countries support their teams and when you look back at the history of the Club, we’ve been fortunate to have a number of high-level national team players and now, with the technical staff, there is a close connection with past national team experience. It all ties in nicely.
“Personally, I remember times as a player coming to Columbus and looking around thinking what a special experience this is and what a special place to play with the national team.
Now to have staff members as past players, it all only strengthens the bond between Crew SC and U.S. Soccer.”
With the USMNT using Crew SC’s EAS Training Center at Obetz in the days leading up to Friday’s match, Berhalter, Wolff and the rest of the Black & Gold technical staff have used the time to study. As a quintessential student of the game, Berhalter has particularly taken notice to the level of preparation and implementation of Jurgen Klinsmann’s game plan for the fifth consecutive USA-Mexico qualifier in Columbus.
“Every opportunity we get to watch training sessions is a learning experience, and that goes for all around the world at every level,” Berhalter says. “You’re always trying to take something positive away from what you’re seeing. The other side of it is to see the preparation and the game plan that is slowly established for U.S. Soccer throughout the course of the week. And then how all of that will be executed in the match.
“A lot goes into these games and I don’t think people always appreciate the amount of preparation and work that both teams put into them.”
On Friday, Berhalter will join the rest of North America as it turns its attention toward a 90-minute spectacle of sport at MAPFRE Stadium. And like so many others, he’ll turn to the scoreboard with hopes of seeing a familiar score when the final whistle blows.
“I’m looking for the intensity in the stadium,” Berhalter says. “I think you’re going to see an electric atmosphere that only gets replicated on nights like this. What I expect, is for U.S. Soccer to take advantage of that. They are very good at home, they’re very good in this stadium.
“And in the end, I have to go with a 2-0 final. It will be something special.”
