COLUMBUS, Ohio – After a week of turmoil, Columbus Crew SC will take Saturday's 1-1 draw, earned against the Supporters' Shield-leading Colorado Rapids at Mapfre Stadium on Saturday.
Columbus traded star forward Kei Kamara midweek amidst a flurry of drama after he had argued with teammate Federico Higuain over which of them should take a penalty kick in what ended up being a disappointing 4-4 draw in Crew SC's last game, against the Montreal Impact. After that match, Kamara made some unflattering remarks about Higuain and the team; on Tuesday, coach Gregg Berhalter suspended Kamara.
The star forward was sent to the New England Revolution Wednesday night, the deal announced Thursday morning. That meant Crew SC had to adjust their lineup on the fly for Saturday's game against the Rapids. MLS newcomer Ola Kamara started up top, and Berhalter benched US national team winger Ethan Finlay in favor of Cedrick Mabwati, shaking up the lineup further still.
With all that going on, Berhalter said that despite playing at home, he wasn’t too disappointed with the draw.
“These guys had a tough week. You could see it. You could see that we were tight. It wasn’t us.”
Berhalter said he didn’t think the team’s offensive focus “was much different,” but admitted that he asked a lot from Justin Meram in particular in adjusting to the new look.
“It was a little uncomfortable for him,” Berhalter said. “That’s [Higuain's] normal space to operate in, and you could see the spacing wasn’t great. We tried to address that at halftime and I thought it got a little better in the second half.”
Meram was hard on himself in the locker room, but didn’t blame the change in style.
“It’s different,” he said, “but you’ve got to adapt and kind of see what the game gives you and move forward.”
Ola Kamara had dangerous moments in the match, but couldn’t find the back of the net. He said he felt like he got into the flow of the game quickly, but would have loved to score.
“I wanted that dream debut for the 90 minutes with a goal and a win,” he said. “But unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
Crew SC only created one goal on the night, but Berhalter isn’t worried about the offense.
“We’ll get there,” he said. “I think Ola’s movement is exceptional. [He has] very good movement off the ball, and it’s up to us to start finding him on crosses, in the run of play because he will stretch defenses. He will get in behind.”
For the players, a week without moving pieces or practices filled with media will be a nice return to normal.
“Everything is past us now,” Meram said. “It’s about us and this group. It’s good to have a normal week.”
