COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew SC only have two strikers on their roster, but they didn’t need either of them to run up a drubbing of the NASL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies Wednesday night in a 4-0 win in their first U.S. Open Cup game of the season.
Ola Kamara has been on fire for the club, but was rested for Saturday’s match against the Montreal Impact (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE). Conor Casey would have been the backup, but was dealing with an injury.
Instead, Columbus head coach Gregg Berhalter enlisted the help of two former prolific college strikers – Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay – to give Columbus a presence up top.
The move paid off. Meram scored the game’s opener, scooping up a true poacher’s goal before being substituted for Finlay at the half. Finlay entered and made an immediate impact, delivering a gorgeous backheel assist before tucking away a penalty kick.
For Gregg Berhalter, the result – especially with his two replacement strikers – showed the Columbus attack is balanced.
“Particularly Justin’s goal from the run of play, I thought was good, a well-executed move,” he said. “And Ethan had some opportunities as well, so we’re happy with that.”
After the match, Finlay said the pair of fill-in striker performances was a confirmation of the team’s depth in attack.
“Obviously we’re a little low on the front line right now,” he said. “Hopefully [the performance] gives the coaching staff a little bit of comfort going forward.”
For Meram, who scored plenty of goals at the University of Michigan, the return to leading the line was a nice moment of nostalgia.
“You miss it,” he said. “You miss being in front of goal for most of the game. But I love being on the ball more out on the wing, so overall it’s all right.”
Berhalter even indicated that the lack of a true target forward was something he’s interested in working on, hinting that playing with a false nine moving forward could be an option.
“We still need to work on playing with no number nine,” he said. “I think it’s something we can get better at. … I think [that style] is interesting. It’s nice. It just gives us something to work on, something to challenge the guys.”
