Last Saturday’s slate of MLS action was characterized by goals. Lots of them. 39, to be exact, which turned out to be the most on any one day in league history.
Neither Columbus Crew SC nor the Colorado Rapids were particularly potent on the day in terms of finding the net. Rather, they were regularly on the receiving end of the goal fest that ensued. The two teams conceded a total of eight goals in twin defeats. Columbus fell 5-2 on the road to Orlando City SC, while Colorado dropped a 3-1 decision to the suddenly surging Los Angles Galaxy.
Ultimately, 41 goals were scored on the weekend by the 18 MLS teams in action on both Saturday and Sunday. These two squads conceded nearly a fifth of them.
Columbus Crew SC and Colorado Rapids Focus on Defensive Additions
Heading into their looming clash in the altitude of Denver on Saturday, both Crew SC and the Rapids have made some midseason additions this week in the hopes their defensive issues evaporate into thin air. The situation is even more crucial for a Black and Gold team with a -2 goal differential despite having scored the second-most goals in the league (36). It seems fairly apparent that the front office realizes this unit could be the weak link that sabotages their playoff contention hopes if not adequately addressed.
Two transactions in the summer transfer window were made with that in mind.
The first came last Friday when Columbus acquired Ghanaian right back Harrison Afful from Tunisian club Esperance. Afful had two impressive outings in last year’s World Cup for his country, the details of which I explored in a previous column which you can read here.
Following the disaster of a performance in central defense at the Citrus Bowl where Orlando City rookie Cyle Larin regularly feasted on poor marking, a reinforcement was brought in there as well. The club announced the signing of Argentine center back Gaston Sauro from Swiss club FC Basel on Thursday. He had previously been loaned out to Italian Serie B club Catania.
It is hoped that these two new acquisitions rectify a few issues dogging the Crew SC back four.
In Afful, the club hopes to have the multi-faceted outside back that was missing since Hernan Grana left the team. His presence up and down the right flank will look to complement Waylon Francis’ activity on the left as head coach Gregg Berhalter’s system places added emphasis on having your wing backs push forward during attacking opportunities.
Sauro will be tasked with adding some stability in the middle of the back four. It’s been a “one step forward, two steps back” kind of season at times in that area of the defense. The previous four games are as glaring an example.
The pairing of Michael Parkhurst and Tyson Wahl had two impressive outings in their home-and-home series with the Chicago Fire in mid-July. Not only were the Black and Gold able to get their first road win of the season against their biggest rivals in shutout fashion that Wednesday, they obtained maximum points by virtue of their emphatic 3-1 win the following Sunday.
Then came the second half against Toronto FC and it’s been downhill ever since.
Crew SC let a 3-0 lead slip away as their Trillium Cup rivals would score three unanswered in the final 45 to escape MAPFRE Stadium with a point. It began when Parkhurst somehow forgot Toronto’s maestro Sebastian Giovinco was on the field. You can’t do that, as you can see from the highlight I’ve linked here.
The negative momentum from that game would follow the team to central Florida in likely the worst performance of the year from a defensive standpoint. Once again, it all started with a failure on the part of the central defenders to give adequate respect to one of the most dangerous goal-scorers not just on his team, but in the entire league in the prolific rookie Larin. His reply to Federico Higuain’s opening goal of the game was just the beginning. A veritable comedy of errors from the Crew SC back line throughout the remainder of the game would lead to four more when the dust cleared.
Clearly, this squad has to be better at the back if they want to be relevant come playoff time and the signings of Afful and Sauro are a means to that end.
For Colorado, they were also fairly active adding help in defense. They made two acquisitions that were announced after the closing of the transfer window, claiming Sean St. Ledger off waivers after he was let go by Orlando City. They also added Maynor Figueroa, who started and played the full 90 in all three of Honduras group games at the recently completed Gold Cup. Figueroa spent the last two seasons with Hull City of the English Premier League.
The Rapids have ground to make up. Currently last in the Western Conference, they find themselves eight points behind the Seattle Sounders who occupy the sixth and final playoff spot. Their defensive play hasn’t been horrible. They’re currently conceding just 1.05 goals per game. Even chance creation in the attacking third has been a strength as they’re top five league-wide (10.14 per game).
The problem is finishing. Colorado is the only team in the league that is averaging less than a goal per game (0.90). If that doesn’t improve the Rapids can expect to continue languishing in the basement of the Western Conference standings.
Can Crew SC take advantage of this perceived lack of attacking acumen and turn in a full defensive performance over 90 minutes? Or will we see more maddening mistakes that have cost this team a great deal of points in the table over the 23 games they’ve already played in 2015?
We shall learn soon enough when the two clubs do battle in a Saturday night Rocky Mountain showdown.
Crew SC News and Notes
– Saturday’s meeting in Commerce City, CO (9 PM ET, MLS Live) is the 39th all-time between these two MLS charter clubs with Colorado enjoying an 18-11-9 advantage in the series.
– Crew SC has played the Rapids 19 times on the road and have only been able to come out victorious on three occasions.
– This is the second consecutive season the lone regular season meeting between the two clubs is hosted by the Rapids.
– The Black and Gold are in search of their first win over a Western Conference opponent on the road since a 2-1 victory over Seattle on March 29th, 2014.
– Columbus left back Waylon Francis, who leads all MLS defenders with six assists, will miss the game due to yellow card accumulation.
– After spending most of the season as the league’s leading goal-scorer, Black and Gold forward Kei Kamara was overtaken by Toronto FC’s Sebastian Giovinco on Wednesday, as the Italian tallied a hat trick in the team’s 4-1 win over Orlando City.
– Kamara and Giovinco are the only two players in the league to have recorded 100 shots so far this season, with the former becoming just the second player in Crew SC history to do so. Stern John had 116 in 1998 and 104 in 1999.
– Both teams are among the league’s leaders in chances created per game, with Columbus second in MLS (11.09) and Colorado fifth (10.14).
– The Black and Gold are second in passing accuracy per game (80.57 percent) and fifth in average shots on goal percentage (38.29 percent) while Colorado are last in both categories (72.48 percent, 30.42 percent).
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