As with most circumstances, the crux of a situation ultimately comes down to how one plays the hand that is dealt.
For Columbus Crew SC, which currently sits in fourth place in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference, a 2-1 victory to start a stretch of three home games in September combined with two road games in five days started as well as one could plan.
Goals from Harrison Afful and Justin Meram propelled the Black & Gold to a comeback victory over the third-place team in the East, marking the last opportunity for Crew SC to make a direct impact against teams currently sitting ahead of the Black & Gold in the standings.
With the New York Red Bulls (55 points) and Atlanta United (54 points) in the top two spots, Saturday’s showdown marked the beginning of what could very well end up being a battle for third place in the conference.
“I think it was an important win,” said Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter following Saturday’s match. “I think we had an excellent week of training – lot of intensity to the training, a lot of speed to the training – and we framed this game for a potential battle for third.”
Defender Lalas Abubakar emphasized the team’s mentality going into Saturday’s match as a practice in preparation and executing what you can control.
“Coming into the week, we knew what kind of game we were going to face,” Abubaker said. “The coaches got us prepared, explained everything to us, how the game is going to look like, and I think everyone came out during the week and put in a lot of work at training, and we went out on Saturday and executed and did what we had to do.”
Following the victory and being one-for-one to begin September, Crew SC enters a bye week before traveling to Western Conference-leading FC Dallas (Sept. 15) and the Portland Timbers (Sept. 19), the latter of which currently sitting above the playoff line with 41 points.
Given the opportunity to establish momentum on the heels of a key conference win, Berhalter stressed that, in the meantime, sustaining that energy must come from training.
“We set the tone in training,” Berhalter said. “We know there’s going to be no competition this week, but the training’s been intense. It’s warm, and we have some physical priorities this week and some tactical priorities we want to accomplish, and the guys have been doing a good job so far."
Following Crew SC’s second-to-last road stint of the regular season, the Black & Gold return home to face the Colorado Rapids on Sept. 22 and the Philadelphia Union, who currently sit three points behind Columbus, on Sept. 29.
In looking at the Philadelphia match, in particular, Crew SC’s home record bodes well given the circumstance – two contending teams vying for playoff contention, ideally a top-four slot given the home-field advantage that comes with it.
This year, Crew SC is 9-2-3 at MAPFRE Stadium, marking a tie for the fourth-most home wins among MLS teams and the fifth-most in points earned at home.
With seven matches remaining, including three at MAPFRE – two of which come in September – Crew SC’s 4-1-1 record in its last six games becomes an ideal rallying point as the regular-season home stretch approaches, albeit one match at a time.
