To say that the past week has been busy from the standpoint of shoring up the roster for Columbus Crew SC going into the 2015 season would be a gross understatement. The 2015 MLS SuperDraft, which finished up on Tuesday with the third and fourth rounds conducted via conference call, was just the tip of the iceberg. The club has also been a major player on the acquisition front in recent days.
All in all, Crew SC will have brought in seven players via both avenues. Five were selected in the SuperDraft and an additional two were acquired via the transfer market.
Columbus Crew SC SuperDraft, Acquisition Roundup
Chronologically speaking, it all got started last Thursday when the Colorado Rapids expressed their desire to move up in the draft. In the end, Crew SC traded the 14th pick to Colorado to move down to 19 along with ‘future considerations.’ When Columbus’ name came up, they ended up selecting UConn center back Sergio Campbell, a towering 6’4″ defender who fits in well with the identity head coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter is trying to build on the back line.
Berhalter has continually stressed the importance of adding depth to this squad at certain positions as the 2015 regular season approaches. Both selections on day one of the SuperDraft had this objective in mind. Having addressed defense in round one, Crew SC looked to add some attacking firepower in the second round, picking forward Sagi Lev-Ari of Cal State Northridge with the 35th pick. Lev-Ari showed a ton of athleticism during the MLS Player Combine and likely brings a great deal of toughness to the table considering he served in the Israeli military before coming over to the States to play collegiate soccer.
No more than 24 hours after the first two rounds of the SuperDraft were completed did we know the details of those ‘future considerations’ Crew SC were going to receive from the Rapids. Late Friday afternoon, it was announced that defender Chris Klute had been acquired from Colorado, a versatile player who led the team in tackles won in 2014 and was voted the Rapids Defensive Player of the Year the previous year. Though Klute played the same position on the back line that Waylon Francis currently occupies, it’s expected that he’ll be able to make a smooth transition to the right side of the field.
The Black and Gold completed their 2015 SuperDraft with three more selections, picking forward Robert Kristo out of Saint Louis and goalkeeper Tomas Gomez from Georgetown in the third round while going with defender Kalen Ryden of Division II Midwestern State in the fourth. Both Kristo and Lev-Ari are similarly built and have demonstrated the ability to put the ball in the back of the net with regularity. Kristo had 70 goals, 12 assists and a .494 shot-on-goal percentage during his career with the Billikens.
To put the proverbial cherry on top of all the talent acquiring activity, reports surfaced on Monday night that Argentinian right back Hernan Grana, currently on loan with Boca Juniors , was on the club’s radar with his signing by the end of the week a virtual certainty. Grana would join central attacking midfielder Federico Higuaìn in adding more South American flavor to the team. His style of play is also very similar to Francis’ in that he’s not afraid to push down the field and contribute to chance creation in the attacking third, further cementing the identity Berhalter wants for this unit.
The biggest concern going forward is getting all these new parts to gel together, especially the two established players in Klute and Grana. Both will likely play in that right wing slot on the back side of Berhalter’s 4-2-3-1. One of the benefits of having depth is the ability to make subs knowing you’re not just bringing in fresh legs but also a solid player who can contribute late in the game. That said, I think both these players will be expecting to help the Black and Gold achieve its goals in a starting capacity.
There also remains the issue of all the non-domestic players selected and acquired. Of the seven new faces, three would inevitably take up international roster spots including their first two draft picks with Campbell hailing from Jamaica and Lev-Ari being an Israeli national. Even Kristo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Gomez (Mexico) were born outside the US though I’m pretty certain both have dual citizenship at the very least. With Crew SC already at nine foreign players on the team, being able to incorporate all these recent arrivals without trading for extra international spots could be a challenge.
Coach Berhalter’s first opportunity to evaluate these players and where they fit into Crew SC’s 2015 season gets started this coming weekend. On Saturday, the club’s preseason camp gets underway down in Lakewood Ranch, FL and will continue until February 6th when they return to Columbus.
One week later, they travel to Austin, TX for the inaugural ATX Pro Challenge, a three-day single elimination tournament hosted by the team’s new USL Pro affiliate, the Austin Aztex. Also taking part in the competition will be two playoff teams from 2014, D.C. United and FC Dallas. The games take place from February 13th-15th.
The final leg of the Black and Gold’s preseason activity includes a trip back to Florida, in this case Bradenton, for the IMG Suncoast Pro Classic. This event will get started on February 18th and last throughout the rest of the month. The club will be joined by a host of other MLS sides as well as a few others from leagues around the world, the identities of which will be announced at a later date.
This club, like many others throughout the league, has been involved in a whirlwind of activity bringing in talent this offseason as a means to the end of putting a competitive product on the field. These previously mentioned events will give Berhalter and his staff a chance to further make adjustments to the roster ahead of the season opener.
I envision the five players picked up via the SuperDraft, especially those acquired in the later rounds, spending a great deal of time honing their skills with Austin. This is probably a primary reason why there wasn’t much concern in drafting too much non-U.S. talent. It will be exciting indeed to see how this new partnership dynamic with USL Pro evolves not just from Crew SC’s perspective but for the league as a whole. It’s certainly an innovative new avenue the league has in developing talent that will compete alongside the emergence of individual clubs such as Seattle, Portland, and Toronto among others fielding their own reserve sides in the lower division league.
With the SuperDraft behind us and the season a mere month and a half away, two key issues remain unresolved. The first is the consolidation of teams’ rosters which will take place between now and then. The second and perhaps most crucial is the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement, the negotiations of which continue to take place. Let’s hope the latter is finalized as smoothly as possible so that the tireless efforts associated with the former continue to have their chance to shine on the biggest stages in North American club soccer.
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