Preseason Blues

March 19th marks the start of the 2011 MLS season for the Columbus Crew and for neurotic fans, like myself, this is both an exciting and stressful time. It's a time when we start to find out what this team is really like, and if what we've seen up to this point in preseason really matters.

Now normally I'd say preseason results are largely meaningless in any sport, and even more so in MLS. The games are played by weird grab bag rules with unlimited subs, 30 to 60 minute periods and all sorts of guest and trail players. Usually this makes the preseason nothing more than glorified try outs. This year though feels a bit different. Perhaps its because of the massive roster overhaul,or perhaps it's because it was early start back in the CCL, but this year preseason feels like it matters. The new look Crew of 2011 has no real identity, and it would seem these preseason games would be the time to establish one.

The trouble has been a plague of injuries sweeping through the locker room. Having key guys like Marshall, Hesmer, Gaven, O'Rourke, Francis and Gruenebaum out means that the new guys are left on their own to figure out who this team really is. This of course isn't exactly groundbreaking news, but it's exactly the kind of stressful situation that makes preseason so draining. Crew fans are notoriously bi-polar (spending just a few weeks on the bigsoccer.com message boards can show that to anyone)and having your team get beaten repeatedly with a corps of new players is no help for our fragile psyches.

Couple these beatings with a miserable away leg in the CCL and a lack of any signings that are known commodities and a dreadful outlook tends to sneak in.

The only saving grace maybe in the knowledge that this has happened before. In 2008 the team had a average to sub-par preseason, and had just come off three straight disappointing seasons. Yet that Crew was able to rally and become one of the best teams in MLS history.

Do I think this year will be a repeat of that magic? Of course not.
But I can hope that some sort of middle ground is found and this team can prove that I had no need to worry or have these preseason blues.

-Ultra

Going over the top: Columbus' set piece battles

Over the last few seasons there has been one main way for The Crew to net goals: set pieces. Back in 2008 the service of Schelotto and the Ariel prowess of players like Chad Marshall and Alejandro Moreno made corner kicks and final third fouls a dangerous proposition for those opposing the Black and Gold. This high flying attack wasn't the only means of production though. The Crew could still count on goals from the run of play to keep teams honest and prompt those dangerous fouls. The Crew could keep the game moving but still hit hard when the opposition forced a stoppage. In 2009 this fell off but did not entirely disappear letting the team scrape out another supporters shield despite a poor finish to the season. Year two of the Robert Warzycha project though saw the well all but run dry. The Massive club became almost entirely reliant on set piece goals to keep them in matches as the team struggled to find the net from the run of play. This predictability became a major liability, in 2010 if you could stop the set pieces you could stop Columbus.

Since the end of last season the team has undergone a major overhaul. Warzycha is no longer looking to be pegged to lining up in formation and charging headlong for the cross the way he had in season past. The plan is to switch from the classical set piece engagements that got the team bogged down to a more rapid war of movement. Think of it as going from WWI to WWII, from trenches to blitzkrieg. The problem however will lie in it's implementation. Switching styles is never an easy task, the culture of lining up and waiting for the whistle to send you up and over an opponent may have taken too deep of root to work out quickly. The result of which could be a slow and painful start to the season for fans of the Massive club. Given the early results in the preseason many fans may begin to wonder if we're adapting properly. In the first two matches all the Crew's goals have once again come from Set pieces. The question then is when will we see the change in style that was promised after the off-season purge. With limited time and options before the first match against Salt Lake it is unlikely the teams new tactics will be on full display. Warzycha will likely have to "attack the enemy's strategy" as Sun Tzu would say. He'll have to tailor the Crew to take on the Royals before he can tailor the Crew to be the Crew. Something that maybe a problem given his desire to totally shift the team's style and the limited time before First Kick. The good news things are still in their very early stages. The Crew won their third preseason match 3-0 with both Mendoza and Cunningham scoring. Not to mention that often times preseason is a poor indicator of how a team will actually play during the season. However given the frustration last year and with the first Champions League match less than two weeks away people are understandably nervous. They don't want to see another season stuck in the trenches and being forced to go over the top.

-Ultra

The many faces of Jeff Cunningham

One of the Crew's prodigal sons, Jeff Cunningham has returned home. Signing a few days ago with the club to a multi-year deal that will undoubtedly see him break not only the Crew scoring record but that of Major League Soccer as well. Over on the Columbus Crew offical website they have a lovely story and a lovely picture of our boy Jefro. But seeing how Jeff is a many of many faces, (and lately many clubs) I figured It'd be worth posting several more pictures of the soon to be record breaking striker so we here in the Capital City can get acquainted with our favorite love him or hate him striker.


Here's Jeff back in the good old days and one of his many attempts at unpowered human flight


Jefro looking thrilled as can be up in Toronto; a club known for their goal scoring prowess.


Jeff using his superman like powers of freeze breath. He was given a second yellow and 3 match ban for use of superpowers.


Here he is upon viewing the "crowds" for the FCD playoff game



Cunny seen excitedly recounting a fishing
tale

-Ultra

Who are the Crew?

A whimper not a bang.
That was how the 2010 season ended for the Massive Club. Brian Carroll's tragically missed PK sent the would be champion Rapids onto the next round and left the black and gold faithful in stunned silence. The off season however would be a completely different story. The Crew Front Office hit the ground running and have totally blown up the roster that brought them an MLS Cup in 2008, having sent more heads rolling than the french revolution.(though the FO promises us this isn't a rebuild) While many aren't happy with the way the team went about the process of gutting the club, the simple fact is that many of our beloved legends such as Guillermo, Frankie and St.Duncan weren't what they used to be. Our judgment on their playing abilities is forever compromised. Our heads are full of moments like Duncan's Bike ride up in Rochester, or Frankie's MLS Cup goal off that Magical Guille pass, we're fatally biased. What happened in many ways needed to happen, though that doesn't mean the problems left behind aren't worth getting upset over.

The biggest problem in their departure is less about what they brought on the field and more about what they brought off of it. Those three men were the face of the Columbus Crew. They made the Massive Club, massive.
The new band of players that will take the field for Columbus next year seem to lack that same soul that had been present in those men. They brought passion and leadership to the team, they were Icons. Frankie, Guille, Dunc's and BC were the four men who regularly wore the armband when they were on the field and now they're gone. Add to that the fact that an emerging fan favorite and face of the team, Lenhart, is now gone as well. [Say what you will about his finishing, but the man was active in the community and was a boon the the Locker Room] The old guard of leaders and the identity that the team had formed around them has left, and The 2011 Crew right now are shaping up to be a rock group without a frontman.

Not all is lost though, The Crew as a team still have a solid core to build around. Guys like Hesmer, Marshall, Gaven, Rogers, Ekpo, and Francis are all players good enough to keep the team going. The problem is that everyone of those men is a humble team player. I know that sounds strange but it's true. The players left at the core of the team lack the panache that we all knew in loved in our fallen legends. Guillermo was a crafty puppet master who could do anything with the ball, Frankie was the never say die surfer who could run for days, and St. Duncs was the Comic Kiwi and longest tenured veteran. They were the guys the team built it's identity around. The ones who people came to see and the community associated with this team.

There are still some players left who have the potential to step into the spotlight and grab the Mic. Guys like O'rourke, and Renteria have the personality, but aren't as universally loved. Also New players like Heinemann seem to have the personality that can quickly endear a player to fans. New players are still yet to be acquired as well The Crew are still far from having filled out it's roster for the start of the season and someone will have to step up to fill the void. The test will be time. Results speak volumes, and for a team that's being put back together like the Crew a new identity has to emerge. For the sake of the fans hopefully it emerges quickly and we find an answer to the question, Who can make Columbus, massive again?

-Ultra

Delusions

Now if we would all look just above we will see one of my hopeless fantasies.
No it's not Isla Fisher wearing little more than a jersey. No this hopeless fantasy has to do with a downtown stadium for my beloved crew.

Whilst in a state of extreme boredom earlier today i had the question of what would that stadium look like pop into my head and this is what came out the other side.

Now what happened is i busted out my good old friend google earth and used the wonderful measurement tool. From here i figured out roughly how many yards wide and long the stadium itself. What startled me was that when i checked it against the arena district it was about the same as nationwide arena. So I used that as my model for this fake little stadium. Now this fake stadium isn't without its troubles, to find space within the arena district i had to eat up the on-ramp and shuffle around railway lines that buzz right by.
Now the Highway exit shouldn't be to tough to fix, just flop it to the other side of the highway or put it a little up or down the road. (of course i say this in delicious ignorance to the enormous costs and gripes this causes) the rail lines could be a problem and i can honestly say i have no idea how to fix that. But hey who cares this is my fantasy and how god damn cool would this stadium be.
and here is my list of delusional perks.

1.) guaranteed a second MLS cup in the new ground
-this equals money money money
2.) Attractive to foreign players who might not want to play in an erector set by the filthy old fairgrounds.
3.) huge publicity for the team plus naming rights, which as we all know equals more of that tasty money.
4.)NIGHT OUT! people come to blue jackets games right now who dont give a damn about hockey. Why you ask, well its simple, its a night out. It's something to do, ya dont just go to the game and go home. No! you go get dinner then see a game, then maybe go to a club or bar and most importantly hang out in one of the coolest newest places in the city. This is huge! besides all the new people you see who will come to see the new stadium, you now get people who come out to make an evening out of the games


But, as we all know CCS will be around for a long time to come, it's an old pioneer who just got a new look. However it can't last forever, nope all things must come to an end and when that happens I'm thinking a certain district in the downtown will need a new touch to bring the hip edge to its now midlife stadiums. So when that day comes I dont care if i have to draw up the plans myself I want a stadium in the Arena District.

okay well thats enough madness, I'm off to do other equally useless things.
thanks for reading

-Ultra