PORTLAND, Oregon – They were facing the defending MLS Cup champions – the very team that beat them three months ago to the day – on their own turf, but Columbus Crew SC had no intention of straying from their tried-and-true game plan.
And despite a 2-1 loss to the Portland Timbers at Providence Park on Sunday afternoon – the same scoreline from their previous two meetings, including MLS Cup – Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter said he was happy with how his team responded to what he called a “very hostile environment.”
Columbus controlled possession and fired off 19 shots in a performance only lacking a bit of “precision,” according to their head coach.
“You get to see where you are right away,” Berhalter said of a MLS Cup rematch between two teams that underwent very little offseason change. “We had intentions to come control the game, and for the most part we accomplished that … It’s a good mindset, the guys were proactive, they wanted to play, they wanted to push the tempo, and I’m happy with that. It’s not easy to do that in Portland, but we certainly did.”
Where Columbus fell short was dealing with Portland’s counterattack, an area of the game they’ve now effectively exploited in their recent matchups. It resulted in the opening goal on a Diego Valeri free kick following a foul just outside the penalty area and then the ultimate game-winner from Fanendo Adi in the 79th minute.
“We knew that they liked to play on the break, and that they’re strong on offensive transition,” Crew SC midfielder Wil Trapp said. “But when we lose the ball in bad spots you have to try to play damage control a little bit at that point.”
And Crew SC’s four shots on goal may not have painted a complete picture of how dangerous they were in the build-up, but Berhalter said some rough edges around goal are to be expected in preseason. One player who certainly didn’t show early season rust was midfielder Federico Higuain, whose 68th-minute equalizer came off a perfectly executed bicycle kick.
“We had a couple of opportunities in the second half that could have been played out better, should have been played out better, and some of the precision that you would expect early in the season,” Berhalter said. “But in terms of the attitude, in terms of the thought of what we wanted to do, I was happy.”
