The 2014-15 offseason has proven to be a significant opportunity for players on MLS rosters to make their mark at international level. There have been a handful of regional tournaments around the globe while other national sides have been actively evaluating talent via friendlies. Through it all, players from Columbus Crew SC have played a part.
As the United States prepares to face Panama on Sunday in the second friendly associated with Jurgen Klinsmann’s first camp of 2015, it makes sense to profile the members of the Black and Gold who’ve appeared for their respective national sides recently. In total, five Crew SC players have figured prominently in both forms of competition mentioned above. Let’s have a look at how them as well as their teams fared on a wide variety of stages as you will see.
Crew SC’s Recent Presence on National Teams
Wil Trapp, midfielder, United States
Trapp was among 28 invitees to US men’s national team camp in Carson, CA and made the cut of 23 who traveled to Chile last Wednesday and will face Panama at the StubHub Center this coming Sunday. The talented Crew SC defensive midfielder earned his first ever cap for the Red, White and Blue when he came on in the 60th minute, replacing Mix Diskerud.
There’s no doubt that Trapp has thrived in Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter’s 4-2-3-1 formation where those two anchoring midfielders play such a huge role in kickstarting chance creation further down the field. It will be interesting to see over time how he transitions to Klinsmann’s 3-5-2 when called up to the national team. Our own Eric Walcott has written a piece on Sunday’s upcoming match with Panama where he offers his suggestion on how to use Trapp in this formation.
Justin Meram, midfielder, Iraq
Meram joined Iraq for the 2015 Asian Cup which took place in Australia from January 9th-31st. Paired into Group D of the 16-team tournament with Japan, Jordan and Palestine, the Lions of Mesopotamia finished 2nd in the group, qualifying them for the quarterfinals. There they would play arguably the most memorable match of the event against arch-rivals Iran. The game would finish 3-3 after 120 minutes of play and the Iraqis would advance to the semifinals in a nail-biting 7-6 penalty shootout. The run would come to an end in the final four via a 2-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea and they would lose to the United Arab Emirates 3-2 a few days later in the third place match.
Meram came on as a substitute in Iraq’s first two group games which were twin 1-0 results, a win and loss, to Jordan and Japan respectively. He started both the preliminary round finale, a 2-0 win over Palestine, and the aforementioned quarterfinal classic with Iran before getting subbed out in the second half of both games. His playing time was quite limited afterwards, not appearing in the semifinal loss, and coming on as an 86th minute sub against the UAE.
Cedrick Mabwati, midfielder, DR Congo
The latest signing for Crew SC, Mabwati won’t join the club until summer when his loan stint with Osasuna by way of Real Betis in the Spanish league wraps up. Much like Meram, he was part of his national team’s run to the semifinals of a major regional tournament, in this case the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. The Leopards were part of a Group B where five of six matches ended in draws, including all three of theirs. Nevertheless, the side progressed to the knockout stage and dispatched Congo 4-2 before falling to Yaya Toure of Man City fame and Côte d’Ivoire 3-1 in the semis. They face host nation Equatorial Guinea in the third place game on Saturday.
The diminutive 5’6″ midfielder started every game for DR Congo even though he was subbed out in the second half of all but one. He tallied one assist during the tournament in the opening game against Zambia.
Kristinn Steindórsson, midfielder, Iceland
Iceland narrowly missed out on World Cup 2014, losing in the playoff round to Croatia. With 24 teams set to qualify for Euro 2016 in France, this team should be expected to take part and Steindórsson has his chance to contribute.
The team recently faced Canada on January 16th and 19th in two friendlies that were played at the UCF Soccer and Track Complex in Orlando, FL. Steindórsson earned his inaugural cap for Iceland in the first match and had to have made co-coaches Lars Lagerback and Heimir Halgrímsson very happy when he scored right off the bat in the 6th minute of a game where Iceland triumphed 2-1. He was taken out due to an apparent injury during the contest and didn’t play in the second match.
Romain Gall, midfielder, United States under-20s
The United States U-20s started off slow in Jamaica at the qualifying tournament that determined the four teams from CONCACAF who would be going to New Zealand over the summer for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. In many ways, the problems they faced during the 1-1 draw with Guatemala and 1-0 defeat to Panama mirrored that of the senior side. Namely, it’s been this maddening trend of giving up late goals.
That said, Gall and company finished strong. They would win their next four games, including the playoff match with El Salvador that would clinch a spot in New Zealand. Gall showed his ability both as a potent goal-scoring weapon in the attacking midfield and at the penalty spot. He had a hat trick in a 8-0 pasting of Aruba and scored both U.S. goals against Jamaica via penalty kick. His five goals won him the tournament Golden Ball which he shared with Mexico’s Hirving Lozano and joined defender Shaquell Moore as the only two Americans named to the Best XI of the competition.
Since Gall recently turned 20 I’m not sure he will be eligible to participate when the team goes down to New Zealand in a few months time, but there’s no doubt his efforts were essential to getting the US where they want to be.
With 2018 fast approaching and all five of these players relatively young, expect most if not all of them to not only aid in Crew SC’s year-to-year playoff aspirations, but to make a mark on their national sides as they attempt to qualify for major tournaments including the World Cup. I for one am really sold on both Trapp and Gall as players having immensely lofty ceilings with the US going forward. It will undoubtedly be exciting to track their development as well as the other three talents in our story, both for Crew SC and for their countries.
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