September is a crucial month in the MLS season. For the most part, all 19 teams have ten or fewer games remaining at this point, and in a league that prides itself on parity a majority of the teams cling to playoff chances however slim. Going into the weekend’s slate of matches, only three teams are eight or more points out of the fifth and final postseason spot in their respective conferences.
Boon or Swoon For Columbus Crew In September?
The Columbus Crew are currently in the middle of a veritable logjam in the Eastern Conference standings, where three has become quite a pervasive number upon viewing the table. A trio of teams, Columbus alongside Toronto FC and Philadelphia, sit on 33 points and each of them has had varying runs of form lately.
Philly appears to be the hottest team, going 4-1-3 over their past eight games. The Union haven’t lost at home since May 17 and get to play five of their final eight in the friendly confines of PPL Park. Despite being in the sixth spot due to tiebreakers, their schedule as well as their overall play favors them to move up.
On the other side of the coin, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the bottom has fallen out of Toronto FC’s season. A season that started so promising with the signing of high-profile designated players Michael Bradley and Jermaine Defoe has quickly turned south. After going 1-3-2 at home since July, the Canadians decided to clean house, firing manager Ryan Nelsen along with the entire coaching staff.
Then there’s the Black and Gold, probably the most up and down of the teams deadlocked at 33 points. When they can regularly find the back of their opponents’ net, they’re tough to beat with a combination of solid back line play and good midfield distribution into the attacking third. The problematic aspect of this team’s play is their tendency to go cold at times from a goal-scoring standpoint.
With the regular season winding down, a good run in the month symbolized by summer’s end and the inevitability of winter for us Northeast folks can position a team favorably in the playoff race. However, a September swoon has the potential to take the wind out of your sails at the time of year when you need as much positive momentum as possible. The Crew have experienced both of these situations during two key seasons which ended quite differently from each other.
In 2008, Columbus boasted one of the league’s most talented sides, led by Argentine striker Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The season started with a bang, as the Crew were able to get the full three points from six of their first seven games. They cooled off mid-season, though, and found themselves only two points ahead of New England for the Eastern Conference lead come September.
It was then that the Crew proceeded to turn on the proverbial jets to close out the year, going undefeated in September and finishing the season with only one more loss in their final eight games. It was a perfect example of a hot team riding their high-flying ways to the pinnacle of the league. Columbus would win MLS Cup 2008 with a 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls.
Three years later, the Crew found out what can happen when bad results pile up during the penultimate month of the season. Once again, they found themselves on top of the Eastern Conference as August concluded despite a 6-2 drubbing at Seattle to close out the month.
Unfortunately, that loss turned out to be a harbinger of what was to come as they would drop four of five in September. Limping into the 2011 playoffs as a four seed, Columbus would lose in the wild card game 1-0 to Colorado, thus ending a campaign that for a while resembled the 2008 championship year.
As I mentioned above, this side has looked like a legitimate playoff contender during some games yet has also looked alarmingly terrible in others. What troubles me is their recent 2-0 road loss to Montreal last Saturday in which attacking acumen dried up and sloppy play in the opponent’s middle third of the field led to the chances where both goals were scored. Still, if you’re a Crew supporter you can’t look at their upcoming schedule without saying to yourself, “We’ve got this.”
Not only are three of Columbus’ four September matches at Crew Stadium, two of those three involve opponents with no postseason prospects whatsoever, including Sunday afternoon’s meeting with dreadful Chivas USA. They get to host the suddenly scintillating New England Revolution, feeling good after scoring Jermaine Jones via Don Garber’s lucky hand picking their envelope in the now-infamous blind draw. The only road trip of the month is to Houston to face a Dynamo side they lit up 3-0 two weeks ago.
Even though the malodorous effort in Montreal last weekend is worrisome, the September slate of contests is so ripe for the taking that it’s difficult for me to figure out a scenario where Columbus completely plays themselves out of playoff contention. When this month’s ledger of MLS action concludes, I see the Crew still fighting New England, Philadelphia and New York for the all-important third spot in the East, avoiding the 4-5 knockout round game and likely facing a Sporting Kansas City team that suddenly looks beatable.
The league schedule makers have smiled favorably upon Columbus in 2014. The only thing left is for this franchise in the midst of a new era to take the bull by the horns and make the postseason for the first time since that lackluster 2011 finish. If you want notoriety in November you had better win in September.
Game notes for Sunday’s Chivas USA match:
- The Crew are 6-3-3 all-time in the regular season vs Chivas, going 4-1-3 at home; they’re only loss at Crew Stadium came during Chivas’ inaugural season of 2005.
- Midfielders Wil Trapp and Tony Tchani are suspended for the game due to yellow card accumulations.
- Chivas ended a six-game scoreless streak that dated back to July 25 in their 4-2 defeat to Seattle on Wednesday night.
- 2013 Crew SuperDraft pick Ryan Finley returns to Columbus for the first game against his former team since being dealt to Chivas in May.
- Team-leading goal scorer Erick Torres should be back in the lineup for Chivas after serving a red card suspension on Wednesday.
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