Aidan Morris bids farewell to Columbus Crew in 4-0 victory over Sporting KC | Arace
The Crew went 41 days without playing a game in their new stadium. What can happen in 41 days? A Johnny Cash song.
They saw Montreal, Chicago, Orlando − then Pachuca! − then New York City and, last, Fort Lauderdale. They won four MLS games in a row by a combined score of 11-4 before they wrapped the roadie with a 2-1 loss to Lionel Messi-less Miami. In the middle of it all, they got food poisoning in the mountains of Mexico and their historic run in the CONCACAF Champions Cup went down the toilet in the title game. Then it was announced that team president/general manager Tim Bezbatchenko − the front-office genius in the post-Save-the-Crew era − had taken a job in Europe. And Willie Mays died.
Saturday night's homecoming was something else, as well. The new GM, Issa Tall, a Bezbatchenko protege, was formally introduced to fans before the game. Then, Aidan Morris, who has been sold for around $4 million to Middlesbrough of the English second division, said goodbye.
Morris is a homegrown player who came up through the Crew's academy system. He was the youngest player to start an MLS Cup −19 years, 27 days on Dec. 12, 2020, when the Crew dispatched a heavily favored Seattle team 3-0 in the old Crew Stadium.
"I never go a day without loving the game," Morris said afterward. That night, he stepped in for Darlington Nagbe, who was on COVID-19 protocol. Then he became Nagbe's wingman in what was the best central midfield machine in Major League Soccer. Nagbe was the GPS, and Morris was the motor. They got to lift the MLS Cup together in December. They'll never again be in a place quite like it.
The opponent Saturday was Sporting Kansas City. In the eighth minute, in honor of Morris' No. 8, fans in the sweat-soaked Nordecke borrowed a chant used by fictional AFC Richmond fans to honor Roy Kent: "He's here, he's there, he's everywhere.: Ai-dan, Mor-ris." There was a word with a hard consonant stuck somewhere in there for Ted Lasso verisimilitude and metric balance. The fans followed that up with a simple chant of "Thank you, Aidan."
Morris launched a right-footed bullet on goal in the 45th minute but was thwarted by diving SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp and his fingertips. In the second minute of first-half added time, Morris dropped a cross onto the right foot of Cucho Hernandez, who had a half-volley tap-in for the game's second goal.
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy trotted out Morris for a few minutes at the start of the second half, then subbed him out in the 60th minute for one final curtain call. Once again, the Nordecke chanted the thing about being everywhere. Then, all 20,818 joined in on a "Thank you, Aidan."
And Morris wept.
The Crew went on to post a 4-0 victory. Hernandez had a hat trick and conjured Lucas Zelarayan, a beloved attacking mid who moved on last summer, by scoring his third on a free kick.
It will be a trivia question for hardcore Crew fans: Who subbed in for Morris in his last game in Columbus? It was Sean Zawadzki, 24, another homegrown player who came up through the Crew's academy system. Zawadzki has played all over the field − center back, wing back, midfield − and impressed at every position. But his natural spot is in the middle of the park. Might he be Morris' successor?
Also in the conversation are a couple of players who will suit up in Columbus when the summer transfer window opens July 18 − Aziel Jackson, acquired from St. Louis City for general allocation money, and Dylan Chambost, a free transfer who played last season with Saint-Etienne of France's Ligue 2. Jackson, 22, may or may not be ready to play in Nancy's system, but it is said he has a Morris-like tachometer that hits the red numbers. Chambost, 26, is more of an attacking midfielder.
Tall might have something else brewing, as well. After a 41-day road trip ended with the departures of Bezbatchenko and Morris in short order, perhaps another acquisition is in order. We shall see what Tall does in the coming weeks.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew, fans send Aidan Morris out in style
