COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew SC haven’t lost since Aug. 5, and their recent hot streak and vault into the Eastern Conference playoff picture can be attributed – in part – to diversifying their attack.
Even when that attack isn't always clicking.
For much of the season, Columbus have been riding the momentum of whichever attacker was particularly in form. For stretches, Justin Meram, Federico Higuain and Ola Kamara have all been the go-to offensive weapon for Columbus.
But with the arrival of Pedro Santos, Columbus have become more consistent and more balanced, adding a weapon on the right wing to complement Meram on the left, provide more options for Higuain in the center and draw defenders away from Kamara up top.
That attacking prowess wasn’t always on display in the club’s 1-1 draw with Sporting Kansas City on Sunday, however. Columbus created chances, but had issues executing in the final third.
And after the match, coach Gregg Berhalter said a two-week break had a lot to do with the result.
“What I would say is that the rust that you guys have been warning us about was certainly evident,” he said. “You can tell that we hadn’t played in a couple of weeks; you can tell that we were a little bit leggy today. I thought the first half was a good half, a lot of give and take in terms of us attacking and them attacking us and in the second half we lost movement, we gave balls away too easily. When you look at 71 percent passing accuracy in the second half, it wasn’t good enough.”
Last week, Kamara said the group had “a lot of firepower” in attack and was working on chemistry.
For his part, Kamara wasn’t able to develop much of that chemistry in the weeks leading up to the match. He started and played about 60 minutes on Sunday, but the striker was dealing with a lower-leg contusion that kept him almost entirely out of training, according to Berhalter.
“Ola these past two weeks has basically trained in full one day,” Berhalter said. “So we knew that he was going to struggle. He was a guy that we identified before the game that might have some difficulties.”
In spite of the difficulties surrounding the game, Columbus showed signs of working a new weapon into their attack.
Santos was largely contained from the run of play, but whipped in the inch-perfect corner kick that led to Kamara’s game-tying goal. Berhalter has acknowledged Santos’ dead-ball abilities in the past, but said he put special emphasis on set pieces in training to prepare for Kansas City.
The Portuguese winger knows his abilities well, and seemed confident that if the Columbus attack can get on the same page from free kicks, they can become a potent weapon.
“It’s important in the game because if we do well in set pieces, we can score many goals,” he said. “We train every week. I think it’s important for us, corner goals or set pieces, because when we have difficult games, we can score goals from set pieces.”
After the match, Santos said he was “very happy” to get another assist, and seemed hungry for more chances to put goals on a platter for his teammates.
“We need to know where I can put the ball,” he said. “I think everyone knows where the ball goes (now) because we scored a goal.”
