Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑4 to FC Cincinnati, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Cincinnati have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout12 May 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Éric Bailly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 May 2031
Raised voices on the training ground at Columbus Crew
It involved André Gomes, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Columbus Crew lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Colorado Rapids had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wessam Abou Ali provided it, and the 8.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It had gone 9 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
Columbus Crew close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Éric Bailly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Columbus Crew interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Columbus Crew lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Columbus Crew this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atletico Nacional have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Columbus Crew lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑4 to Philadelphia Union, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Out, 0‑1 to San Diego Football Club, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Columbus Crew, and it is not being withdrawn.
Day 37 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
André Gomes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Columbus Crew have done the hard part with Boca Juniors, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Columbus Crew offered $600.0K; FC Cincinnati said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 97, against Inter Miami CF, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
André Gomes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Columbus Crew can pretend not to have heard.
Éric Bailly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Columbus Crew will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Darius Randell has written the date down.
André Gomes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Columbus Crew has been clear about where Darius Randell stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ignacio Copetti is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Columbus Crew will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Columbus Crew, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Julián Fernández may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Luis Barraza is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Columbus Crew this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Wessam Abou Ali is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sam Bradley has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Connor Ferreira is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tim McKennie has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Christian Brooks has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julián Fernández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jonathan Filipe has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Columbus Crew have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Justin Reyna could afford to be generous.
Nobody at Columbus Crew will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Éric Bailly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Columbus Crew, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Justin Reyna after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Columbus Crew will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Columbus Crew, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom5 Aug 2030
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Columbus Crew until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Éric Bailly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Columbus Crew offered $86.0K; Charlotte Football Club said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Philadelphia Union have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Columbus Crew have gone to Charlotte Football Club with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 Jul 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Justin Reyna left the room before anybody could ask which.
Columbus Crew have made the call to Club Brugge. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brandon Bradley and Columbus Crew agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.96 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have shaken hands with Los Angeles Football Club; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Columbus Crew this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Charlotte Football Club wanted more than $19.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Fernández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Columbus Crew asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Columbus Crew, another week without a signature from Marco Farfan.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Justin Reyna left the room before anybody could ask which.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Columbus Crew can pretend not to have heard.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Éric Bailly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Columbus Crew, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.67, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Éric Bailly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Renato Tapia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Columbus Crew told Renato Tapia something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout6 May 2030
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Justin Reyna left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutPatrick Schulte has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutMarco Farfan knocks on the manager's door
André Gomes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Columbus Crew asked and New York City said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrés Herrera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad22 Apr 2030
5 new faces, and Columbus Crew are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Wessam Abou Ali is on it.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings8 Apr 2030
A brace, and Juan Villordo takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juan Villordo provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Crvena Zvezda keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Columbus Crew and Philadelphia Union, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
In brief
SquadAndrés Herrera falls out with a teammate over standards
Columbus Crew asked and Inter Miami CF said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Éric Bailly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
$340.0K was the most the club would pay and FC Dallas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Óscar Perea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A loan enquiry to Charlton Athletic: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boca Juniors have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paul Walters was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Patrick Schulte is on it.
Nobody at Columbus Crew will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Turner is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Columbus Crew than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Farfan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chris Durkin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Columbus Crew is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Columbus Crew this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Farfan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Columbus Crew that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
0‑3 to New York City, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Martínez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Columbus Crew, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against DC United; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Marco Farfan falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Óscar Perea
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Columbus Crew can pretend not to have heard.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Columbus Crew this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Farfan is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Óscar Perea’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Columbus Crew.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Óscar Perea was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Martínez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York Red Bulls have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Columbus Crew rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and New York Red Bulls had no answer to any of it.
Two goals and a mark of 9.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Éric Bailly and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vancouver Whitecaps have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Éric Bailly was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Farfan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Seattle Sounders have kept their man, and Columbus Crew go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A point taken on 89 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.