Takeaways: Darlington Nagbe excels, Columbus Crew’s growing confidence evident in Campeones Cup win versus Cruz Azul
Jacob Myers
Jonathan Mensah fell to his knees and pointed to the sky after surviving a mosh pit from his teammates on the south end of the stadium. He just gave the Crew a 2-0 lead in the 74th minute of the Campeones Cup against Liga MX champion Cruz Azul.
But the Crew had been in a similar situation before, scoring what looked like the decisive goal against a good opponent. A little over a month ago, the Crew coughed up a 1-0 lead that it took in the 77th minute, and lost 2-1 to Seattle Sounders in a rematch of the 2020 MLS Cup final — the game the Crew won to qualify for Wednesday night’s match at Lower.com Field.
But the Crew seemed to have learned their lessons. They held off Cruz Azul and kept the ball out of the net for the first time in 14 games in a 2-0 win. How they did it was what had been missing for the past couple months, but what has been growing as of late in four straight wins at home: confidence and belief they can win, rather than trying not to lose.
“That's four wins (in a row) in this building. We're starting to gain some feelings and emotions in here just like we had at historic Crew Stadium,” coach Caleb Porter said. “We knocked off one of North America's best teams.”
The Crew were fortunate to go up 1-0 a little over three minutes into the game when Cruz Azul forward Bryan Angulo scored an own goal off a free-kick service from attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan. From there, the Crew would have to defend nearly the entire game.
They would eventually switch from three players in the back to five players on the back line as Cruz Azul pushed more attacking players forward. After a little luck with Jonathan Rodriguez missing a shot right in front of the goal from about 12 yards out just one minute into the second half, and another shot hitting the post in the 52nd minute, the Crew struck again.
The opening own goal drastically swung momentum. As the Crew continued to defend well, the predominantly Cruz Azul crowd became quieter until Mensah silenced them completely.
The Crew looked as in control as they could without the ball for three-quarters of the game. Goalkeeper Evan Bush made three saves, including one in stoppage time to keep the shutout. But largely, the Crew dealt well with whatever Cruz Azul threw at them, as they believed they could.
"I think it was a very professional and business-like performance in terms of getting the early goal and then doing what we needed to do to win the game and shut the game down,” Bush said.
Here are a few takeaways from the Crew’s Campeones Cup victory.
Defense looking solid again
The most eye-popping stat line from the night was Cruz Azul’s 566 total passes to the Crew’s 197.
The Crew are used to being on the ball. They want to build an attack from the back and break down teams. That wasn’t going to be how they beat Cruz Azul. They had to rely on a defense that had 43 clearances, dealt with 11 corners, and defended 34 crosses.
Starting in a 3-4-3 (more on that in a bit), center backs Mensah, Josh Williams and Aboubacar Keita were excellent in their own box. Outside backs Pedro Santos, Milton Valenzuela, Steven Moreira (Crew debut) and Harrison Afful cut out space down the flanks, and midfielders Liam Fraser and Darlington Nagbe handled the rest.
"We can sense that we're getting back to our old form, which is being the best in the league, getting clean sheets and today was a testament to the hard work that we're putting in,” Mensah said. “We're not going to stop here.”
Cruz Azul didn’t start its top group, but head coach Juan Reynoso wasn’t conservative by any stretch. Two of Cruz Azul’s best attacking players, Jonathan Rodriguez and Santiago Gimenez, entered at halftime. He made three more attacking substitutions later in the half, but the Crew kept a clean sheet.
So, what has been the difference? How did the Crew go from a disaster defensively to looking more and more like the dominant defense of last season? To Porter, it’s more players being healthy and them simply playing better.
"We're healthy. That's the only change. We're healthy,” Porter said. “Not doing anything different. We just have Josh Williams back in, Milton Valenzuela back in. When you're healthier and you have your top guys, you're going to be better. It's that simple. The hunger, the confidence, the belief is growing as well.”
Darlington Nagbe outclassed Cruz Azul
It’s difficult to quantify what Nagbe does to help his team. To put it bluntly, he’s just a master of his craft.
He’s capable of winning duels and is an expert at getting out of pressure with the ball, as well as driving at a defense when he wants to. Wednesday, Nagbe played on the level the Crew expect out of their top midfielder against a high-caliber opponent.
"I don't think there's a better player in our league,” Porter said. “I think he continues to be underrated. You watch him today, guy can play anywhere in the world. It's no coincidence he's won as many trophies as he has.”
Nagbe won Campeones Cup with Atlanta United in 2019 by doing a lot of what he did against Cruz Azul. The Crew struggled to maintain possession, but also had to counter because of the low-block defense they were forced to play with Cruz Azul playing so many attacking players high. Whenever the Crew could get the ball to the midfield, Nagbe was excellent at drawing fouls, getting into space and attacking the defense.
Nagbe won 87.5% of his duels and completed 95.2% of his passes.
"Whenever we get him on the ball, he does things in this league that we all sometimes open our mouth and then we go like, 'Woah,’” Mensah said. “Today was one of those days. … We always want to see this (Darlington) where he takes the ball and he drive at defenders."
Formation change to 3-4-3, then 5-4-1
Porter and the coaching staff have trained the team several times this year on playing with a back three. Bush said every time they were ready to try it, there seemed to be an injury or a COVID-19 case — like this past week with center back Vito Wormgoor — that derailed the plan.
In a non-league game, Porter decided to see it in game action for the first time. For the most part, it worked well. Mensah, Williams and Keita were the three center backs. Santos and Moreira flanked Nagbe and Fraser in the midfield, and Zelarayan played on the left wing with Derrick Etienne Jr. on the right and Miguel Berry in the forward spot.
Gyasi Zardes was out with a tight hamstring as a precaution, a Crew spokesman said before the match.
"The three center backs I think were animals today," Porter said. “Then, obviously, in the low block with the five (players on the back line), that gave us better pressure on the ball and better numbers to defend their direct play and the crosses."
As Cruz Azul pressed for the tying goal and were in desperation mode after the Crew scored a second goal, the Crew packed it in with five players on a back line and the line of four positioned closer to goal.
"I'm not sure we win the game if we don't play a back five,” Porter said. “As many crosses as they got in, as many numbers as they throw forward, and we knew it would be that type of game."
It ended up being the right call, and it could be another look the Crew decide to throw at teams in the final seven games of the MLS season.
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