COLUMBUS – Defense won the day on a chilly spring afternoon at MAPFRE Stadium as Columbus Crew SC recorded their first shutout at home this season and their second in three games. The 2-0 victory over a previously undefeated Orlando City SC team sent the Black & Gold faithful home happy on Saturday.
Crew SC Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter was happy with his team’s defensive performance following the match.
“Last week we had to control the game offensively, and this week we had to control the game defensively,” Berhalter said. “They had more of the ball in the second half, but very few clear chances, and it was our excellent shape and movement that prevented that.”
Defender Alex Crognale started his first game at home of his career and played all 90 minutes, assisting in the shutout of Orlando. Crognale recorded seven clearances, an interception and dominated aerially.
“I don’t think he was out of position once,” Berhalter said of Crognale. “Then when he’s in position, the ability to win the duels was crucial.”
The Homegrown standout Crognale, a product of Gahanna, was happy with Crew SC’s performance on the defensive end.
“I think we executed our game plan very well,” Crognale said. “Defensively, I thought we were great. The first half we limited them to very little and the second half we weathered the storm.”
Midfielder Artur, who skillfully assisted on a Justin Meram goal early in the game, also impressed on the defensive end with three tackles won, three interceptions and two clearances.
“Artur was good today, really good,” Berhalter said. “He can win the ball back, he’s calm with the ball, he has a good first touch. [Artur has] a lot of different skills that make him an exceptional player but today was a good example of what he can do.”
Defender Jukka Raitala returned to Crew SC this week after serving international duty for his home country of Finland. He played all 90 minutes in the shutout after an international flight just 48 hours ago.
“Jukka is not used to that amount of travel, he’s not used to the time zone change to play a game 48 hours later so we were concerned,” Berhalter said. “I think Jukka is a guy who got stronger in the second half and that was good to see.”
Crew SC's 21-year-old goalkeeper Zack Steffen secured the shutout with four saves through 90 minutes against an Orlando attack that is held in high regard across Major League Soccer.
“When you look at guys like (Carlos) Rivas and (Cyle) Larin, they’re quality guys,” Berhalter said. “And to see our defense come up that big against them is good. Larin had two shots and Rivas didn’t have many more that were dangerous. They did an excellent job.”
Steffen hopes that the recent shutouts and defensive play will carry over to future games as the season goes on.
“Each win and each shutout and each good performance just gives us more confidence to go out there next week and work even harder and show even more,” Steffen said.
Crew SC will return to action on Saturday, April 8 at 2 p.m. ET as they travel to Chicago to play the Chicago Fire in the second meeting of the season between the two teams.
The Black & Gold return home to MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus on April 15 for a match against Toronto FC at 8 p.m. ET.
