A tale of two cities
Fun times ahead
Credit where due: Chris Doran, radio voice of the Columbus Crew, pursued the following line of questioning at media availability Wednesday. The line was, essentially, about the evolution of the Crew's and FC Cincinnati's rosters and the philosophical contrasts – Columbus is more of a mid-pack spender with the 11th-highest payroll in MLS while Cincy, with the 4th-highest payroll, spends like the Pentagon.
Sunday, the Crew staved off a Round One elimination by bludgeoning Cincinnati 4-0 in the new Crew stadium. It is true that the visitors had to play down a man after Yuya Kubo, already on a yellow card, took a straight red with a what-the-hell-was-he-thinking tackle from behind in the 31st minute. It is also true that the Crew dominated 11v11 before feasting on the remains. (One more thing: Shouldn't the team that finished second in the Supporters' Shield race have a better grasp of playing with a man down?)
Michael Arace
The best-of-three playoff series will be settled in Game 3 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati Saturday night. The Garys – who are not nicknamed for SpongeBob's pet snail, but as an homage to fans who saw "Gary" ghostwritten in the team's lion crest and made a meme out of it ... my god, the Hell am I talking about here?
The Garys won Game 1 down there by a 1-0 score. No doubt, the better team won that game. FCC's defensive shape, sometimes prone to spells of disjointedness, was tight. Their press was aggressive and their multi-million-dollar attackers – midfielder Evander and forwards Brenner and tip-of-the-spear Kevin Denkey – oozed danger. The Cincinnatis possessed and attacked in Game 1. The Crew didn't have enough of the ball.
Game 2 was something else altogether. It was like Bruckner's Symphony No. 7, or maybe No. 8 or No. 9 – but we'll stick with No. 7 to match the Crew's tournament seed in the East. If you've got a spare 98 minutes, or if you're just sitting around wondering how the Garys got named the Garys, have a listen. It keeps sneaking up on you and striking. Here's the finale:
Where was I? Oh, yes, the rout. The Crew allowed one shot on goal and put 15 on the Cincinnati net. The Crew had an xG that approached 3. The Cincinnatis had an xG of 0.1, which should be impossible. Passes in the final third were 179-25. It was cartoonish.
"What does discipline mean for me?" Nancy posed. "In the little movements, win the little battles. Run together to offer solutions, and play with creativity. And defensively, be front-foot like we like to do. So this is what I like to call discipline, and we were good with that.
"And because of the first game, we were better the second game. So, the third game is going to be a new game, a new pattern, and we're going to have to be good to create the momentum like we did by winning the little moments that we had. Running, fighting and also be good with the discipline."
Back to Doran's line of questioning. Cincinnati acquired Denkey a year ago, then added Evander in February, and then re-acquired Brenner on loan from an Italian team – a series of deals that totaled something around $30 million in fees. Doran argued that Cincinnati should not be in a position where they're held to one shot on net in a game. Not even if they're playing with 10 men.
Doran pointed out the contrast to Nancy: "With the exception of Hugo Picard, your starting XI was made up of players who were part of the roster in February – when you lost two high-profile players (Cucho Hernandez was sold and Christian Ramirez was traded) and you and Issa (Tall, the GM) said, 'We believe in this roster.' I mean, if there's a time to say, 'I told you so' it's now. I know you're not a braggart, but you were right back in February."
Michael Arace
Nancy: "Listen, we did our due diligence, with the front office, with ownership, with my staff. And I don't like assumption. I like to see fact. And for me the first day we came back (at season's start), we didn't have all the players because it was not done – but the energy, the way we train, the way they (handled) injury, the way they try to win the ball back – by running 70 yards back to win the ball back – the way they were upset when they didn't finish and score, the way.they were moving between the lines, to play with personality, the way they try to win these little movements ...
"It was a no-brainer to say that, because it was a fact that we were doing good things. After that, I knew we were able to compete. Again, I'm not surprised."
Nancy then went into a mystical phase, which is always welcome. He brushed aside payroll comparisons and said, "I don't like to compare myself with other people because everyday there is the moon and the sun, so why am I going to compare myself to other people?"
Words to live by.
"I know what I want to do," Nancy said. "I try to put an environment (in place) with my staff, with other people, with my players, to create, to do things, to try things. And 'F' compete."
That's Franglish for "effin.'"
"I am going to stay polite," Nancy said. "I want my team to be limitless. To be honest, I am not the most expressive guy on the pitch, but I was emotional the last game because, like I said, it's not easy to do that. It's not easy to play in this kind of (playoff) context, but I know my players want to do well and, for me, we are ready to compete all the way."
Michael Arace
Many things can be true at once.
The Crew have been rounding into a finer form over the past month and Game 2 was a clinic. That said, the FCCs were thumped a few times during the regular season – Philly, Charlotte, Atlanta and the Crew caught them flat-footed – but they still won 20 games, racked up 65 points and had a plus-8 goal diff at home. Did the Crew get into their heads? It's possible. But the Garys still have the superior high-end talent, they've got Game 3 at home and that crowd in Porkopolis is a bear.
Doran makes an excellent point about how the Crew painted a Game 2 masterpiece with one DP and zero U22 Initiative players in the starting lineup – which is in stark contrast to the big-ticket team the Cincinnatis trotted out Sunday night. It speaks to Nancy's system, how it takes time for the plan to come together – and how it might be coming together now. (If so, look out.)
Yet, it's not like Crew Tall has sat on his hands. DP striker Wessam Abou Ali (fractured ankle), who came over in August, has been on the shelf for seven weeks and may be available for selection in Game 3. We'll see. More germane to this conversation is the case of DP attacker Daniel Gazdag, who was purchased for a $4-million cash price from Philadelphia in April and given a new contract. Combined, the Crew paid $11-plus million in fees for Abou Ali and Gazdag.
Gazdag has four goals and four assists in 26 appearances. He was excised from the starting lineup last month; he has come off the bench for the past four games.
Nancy was asked about how he has seen fit to change the role Gazdag, a prominent, expensive acquisition.
"It is difficult for Daniel," Nancy said. "It's difficult also for me, because I really like Daniel as a person and also as a player. He had good moments. My job was to be patient with him and I still believe he's going to help us. But I need also to make decisions.
"But Daniel is important for us because, first of all, he's a good player and second of all he is able to do good things. But he's struggling right now with the recycle ... but I'm still confident in him. I know that he can provide, but for the moment, he starts on the bench. But for me, bench players are not subs, they are solutions. This is the way I see it."
I've said this before and I'll say it again: Gazdag thrived when playing in combination with Abou Ali and Diego Rossi.
We'll see how it all plays out Saturday, when one team in the Hell is Real derby-darby will see its season come to an end. Over the past three seasons, Cincinnatis (193 points) and the Crew (177) are one-two in MLS in racking up points. Fun times ahead.
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Michael Arace
