Article by Matt Lichtenstadter
On October 17, 2017, Columbus Crew owner Anthony Precourt announced his intentions to move the franchise to Austin, Texas if a new stadium could not be found in the city. It was a shock to see an inaugural MLS club; one that had become a consistent contender along the way, thrown into such chaos. With tacit support from the league, it looked like the move was a formality. But a grassroots group of supporters started a hashtag that became reality after a grueling year of work: #SaveTheCrew. With their determination to prove Columbus was a solid soccer market, they attracted interest from people not just in Columbus but from around the country interested in helping their cause. In the end, the Crew didn’t move to Austin; they were sold to ownership who not only kept them in Ohio’s capital, but helped them build a new downtown stadium.
About three years and two months later, the Crew dominated the Seattle Sounders to win their second MLS Cup title in franchise history. In a year as difficult as 2020, watching a team play so well on the biggest stage to reward a group of fans and a city that gave them so much during equally troubling times in the past is worth celebrating. Caleb Porter’s team played as if they had something to prove and they proved it. Without two of their best players after they tested positive for COVID-19, Porter’s team was aggressive from the start, pinned back a consistent and solid Sounders team that were defending MLS Cup champions and put together perhaps the best performance in the history of the Final.
It’s hard to imagine the Crew’s previous regime spending $7 million on a Designated Player, but that’s what this group did for Lucas Zelarayán. He was a bit part player at Tigres in Mexico, but because the final piece to the jigsaw for a Crew team that had a solid foundation already around it. Zelarayán had already played a role in four straight Crew playoff goals before the Final, and he scored two in the Final itself and contributed a brilliant assist on the other. Designated Players hold so much importance for every team, and the extra brilliance of one over another can determine the outcome of trophies and seasons. Zelarayán may not have been a household name before, but he certainly is now.
But there may be no more emblematic symbol of the Crew’s transformation from that dark October day in 2017 to now than Aidan Morris. Morris is a homegrown player straight from the Crew’s academy and held up a sign during a playoff game in 2017 that said #SaveTheCrewAcademy. With Darlington Nagbe out, Morris was given the spot Nagbe would have otherwise occupied and relished the role with a star making performance of his own. He was calm and composed, help transition possession after the ball turned over and anchored a midfield that outplayed Seattle’s experienced duo of Joao Paulo and Cristian Roldan. Symbolically, his performance makes the Crew’s victory even sweeter.
Next season, the Crew will move into their new downtown stadium with a star above their crest and a silver MLS Cup shield on their sleeves. For a team that was seemingly days away from leaving town, to a MLS Cup Champion that blunted a dynasty and whose future is even brighter is a story to not only soothe weary 2020 hearts, but also shows what almost any MLS club can build with the right mix and a certain element of stubborn determination
Eight Crew players tested positive for COVID-19 during the playoffs, and two key cogs missed the Final. No one would have known any of that based on their performance. After all that club had been through dating back three years to this moment, there was no way they were going to be denied.
It was, as Crew fans would like to say: massive.
