From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Nov 2026
Amar Sejdic has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Columbus Crew they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
153% of the income goes out in wages at Columbus Crew
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rudy Camacho, and the manager let it.
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From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Luke Pruter
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luke Pruter will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Columbus Crew the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Clint Irwin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
Zach Zengue has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Columbus Crew they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Oct 2026
Nicholas Hagen has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Columbus Crew they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Oct 2026
André Gomes in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
266% of the income goes out in wages at Columbus Crew
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
André Gomes in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dániel Gazdag 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Wessam Abou Ali
“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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Columbus Crew needed to.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
8 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Columbus Crew man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Brais Méndez was the best thing in any of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 32, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught André Gomes yet — 8.27
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.27 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market14 Sep 2026
Only the photograph left for Nicholas Hagen
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicholas Hagen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Columbus Crew the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.47 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over CF Montreal, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brais Méndez named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Brais Méndez has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Columbus Crew training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evan Bush 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match5 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Sean Zawadzki took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Columbus Crew tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught André Gomes yet — 8.78
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.78 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market7 Sep 2026
Amar Sejdic has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Columbus Crew they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 9.08 — 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 246% of everything Columbus Crew earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Jack Lynn conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Chiapas will make the call about Jack Lynn this week. Columbus Crew have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
André Gomes in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Wessam Abou Ali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Steven Moreira, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Wessam Abou Ali to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FC Cincinnati, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Zach Zengue
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zach Zengue will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Columbus Crew the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Luke Pruter has agreed terms with FC Dallas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.41 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Nashville SC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nəriman Axundzadə 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Aug 2026
St. Louis CITY SC ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match15 Aug 2026
Wessam Abou Ali had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and New York Red Bulls were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Wessam Abou Ali takes the afternoon — 9.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Wessam Abou Ali provided it, and the 9.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Wessam Abou Ali has come up in conversations Columbus Crew were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Rudy Camacho yet — 7.81
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nicholas Hagen has agreed terms with Orlando City for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Aston Villa for Wessam Abou Ali was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Malte Amundsen delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Malte Amundsen scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Amar Sejdic
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amar Sejdic will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Columbus Crew the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brais Méndez and Columbus Crew agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Amar Sejdic has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Match8 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Columbus Crew and Toronto FC, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad10 Aug 2026
André Gomes in a row with a teammate
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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jules-Anthony Vilsaint 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Dániel Gazdag at his very best
Marked 9.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Columbus Crew.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Porto for Brais Méndez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wessam Abou Ali and Columbus Crew agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dániel Gazdag 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Columbus Crew have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brais Méndez. 2‑1 against Orlando City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Wessam Abou Ali
“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.