It's Hell Week in Columbus
But first, there's NYCFC, PDQ, and, of course, Disrespected Media's Hell is Real Raffle. Enter for a chance to Go to Hell. Exclamation point.
LAST CALL: Disrespected Media is raffling off two seats, located in a shaded corner of the lower bowl, for the Crew vs. Cincinnati Hell is Real match in Columbus on Saturday, July 25. Parking included. To enter, hit the black button below and leave a $20 "tip." Winner will be contacted via email on Thursday, July 23. Yesterday, Mrs. Arace saw on the Facebook where two tickets (with no parking) for this game sell for $110 apiece. Take a shot for two sawbucks! Thank you for your support.
It has been eight weeks and six days – 62 days, if my math is right, or 1,488 hours, if you like – since the Crew defeated the Atlantas 2-0 on the breathtakingly beautiful greensward not known as Fertilizer Field. That was on May 24, before the Crew (and MLS) took a break for the World Cup.
The boys are back. Actually, they've been back for a few weeks now, training. Last week, they played exhibitions against the Chicago Fire and Burnley, recently relegated from the EPL to the Championship.
Crew interim-not-interim coach Laurent Courtois said he considered a third practice game but discarded the notion because he wanted more time for training, to iron out his systems, and to do some team building with an intro to Brazilian jujitsu. Courtois has belt of some color (blue, I think) in this particular martial art and he admires its masters for the way their ability to kill you in 10 seconds is combined with deep humility, probably because of the looming possibility that one is always 10 seconds away from being killed. (Courtois put it more elegantly in the video below.)
Tonight, the Crew's MLS season resumes with a game against visiting New York City at Fertilizer Field. It kicks off a huge two weeks for the Crew (4-7-4, 16 points, 10th place in the East). Saturday, they'll host the Hell is Real derby-darby against archrival Cincinnati (20 points, seventh in the East). Then, after a full week of practice, they'll jet south to play Lionel Messi and the eight DPs at new Nu Stadium in Miami (31 points, second in the East).
Max Arfsten (USMNT) and Steven Moreira (Cape Verde!) have returned from World Cup duty and are available for selection.
Incoming transfers Brais Mendez, a DP midfielder, Lautaro Giaccone, another attacking mid, and Andres Herrera (the Crew finally bought him from River Plate) are still working through their visa paperwork and have yet to arrive in Columbus. They'll likely be here by the end of the week; as for their fitness/availability, that is TBA. Center back Eric Bailly, the most recent signing, is going to take longer to get the rubber stamp on his red card.
Courtois, who is 1-0-1 since taking over after the trebucheting of Henrik Rydström, is facing some iron as the league kicks back into gear. He has been a portrait of calm confidence this week. At his press conference on Monday, he recalled how he felt that the 2023 team was locked and loaded for a run at a trophy, and he said he feels the same way about this 2026 team.
And he doesn't even have the whole gang together yet. The Crew's roster has been evolving for seven months and, given that the latest incoming transfers have yet to arrive, it's still not set.
"Time will tell, but we're exactly where we want to be. I'm really pleased," Courtois said about the state of the team as it emerges from its midsummer minicamp.
"How do we heal, or build the new phase of this club together?" is something to work on, Courtois said. "But I don't see any limit with this group of players. I think everything is attainable. So, we don't have any specific goal, except ... the main priority is, game after game, to be ourselves, and to enjoy."
To warm up for the restart, Courtois is worth a listen.
Hot stove heats up with more reports about Tapia to CBus
La Pagina Millonaria ("The Millionaire's Report"), a website that tracks news regarding the Brazilian powerhouse River Plate, sites an outside source and says the transfer of forward Gonzalo Tapia to the Crew is done. At the time of this writing, the Crew had yet to confirm (or shoot down the report as fallacious).
A headline from yesterday:
Former River Plate player: Gonzalo Tapia leaves São Paulo to play in Major League Soccer
After a year playing in Brazil, the former River Plate striker will play in the United States. He will be teammates with Andrés Herrera, another player who wore the River Plate jersey.
Juan Ignacio Barbieri
The Disrespected has been tracking this story under the directin of Naastradamus, of course. (There's video in the link below!)
Michael Arace
Here is the story from The Millionaire's Report, the Buenos Aires answer to the Massive Report:
Gonzalo Tapia was one of the many players who arrived at River Plate as a reinforcement during Marcel Gallardo's second stint as manager and his time there was largely unremarkable. After playing a handful of matches for River Plate during the first half of 2025, he was transferred to São Paulo, a club he will leave after a year to join MLS in the United States.
According to journalist Uriel Lugt, the São Paulo club has reached an agreement with Columbus Crew to loan the 24-year-old Chilean striker for one year with an option to buy. He will be teammates with Andrés Herrera, who was sold by River Plate during this transfer window after two consecutive loan spells.
(DM: According to Brazilian outlets, one-year loan for Tapia has an option to purchase for $1.5 million.)
Tapia played just 200 minutes across seven matches for River Plate. He arrived for nearly a million dollars and left in the 2025 winter transfer window on loan to São Paulo along with Enzo Díaz.
In Brazil, he saw more playing time and even scored goals: eight in 48 matches. However, it wasn't enough for him to secure a regular starting position, and therefore he will continue his career in the United States, pending an official agreement between the two clubs.
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Michael Arace
