Columbus Crew use Campeones Cup loss, trip to White House as motivation
After a 5-4 loss in penalty kicks to Liga MX's Club America for the Campeones Cup on Wednesday, Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte would have preferred for the MLS Cup playoffs to start the very next day for an instant chance at redemption.
"This one definitely stings," Schulte said. "I'm definitely hungry and eager to be lifting the trophy after falling short."
There is still a little less than a month until the start of the MLS playoffs, and in that timeframe Schulte and the Crew have five regular-season games left, starting with a road match against D.C. United on Saturday.
With only two days of training between the Campeones Cup loss and the upcoming game, Crew coach Wilfried Nancy had a small window to evaluate the Club America game and prepare for D.C. United.
More Campeones Cup: Columbus Crew evaluate the 'fine line' of loss vs Club America in PKs
That window included little flexibility for coach Wilfried Nancy, as the starters from Wednesday participated in limited training on Thursday and the Crew visited the White House on Friday, meaning they had to travel a day early. But Nancy scheduled a long team meeting Thursday and saw the positives in a quick turnaround, specifically in flipping the player's focus from the loss to the D.C. match.
"I just showed them facts and also (how to) move forward," Nancy said. "What is coming next in terms of the five games coming and what we achieved already and where we are now and what we want to do in the future. Just to put clarity regarding the number of the games that we have, what we want to achieve, in terms of the way we play.”
The last time the Crew faced D.C. United was in April, during their longest winless streak of the season. The 1-1 draw was the fourth of seven draws or ties for the Crew in that stretch.
The Crew sit high above D.C. in the standings with a record of 16-5-8 and 56 points, good enough to tie FC Cincinnati for second. D.C. is in 13th with an 8-13-9 record and 33 points but also has the league's leading scorer in Christian Benteke. Benteke has recorded 19 goals, including one against the Crew.
As the battle for second between Columbus and Cincinnati comes down to the wire, Nancy has to keep lineup rotation in mind each game to ensure the Crew are picking up as many points as possible. Even against Club America, Nancy felt it was necessary to take out forward Diego Rossi, who has scored 11 regular-season goals this season, before penalty kicks because Rossi was running out of energy.
"I take the big picture first, and after that, go into details," Nancy said. "Analyze the game that we played before, because it’s all about the intensity, if the game was intense or not. And after that, when I’m going to scout the opposition, I’m going to be able to have more clarity regarding what type of player profile I need on the pitch."
A trip to the White House leads to motivation for Columbus Crew
According to Crew general manager Issa Tall, the club is at a point where it didn't need any more motivation to be on the right track for another MLS title, but a trip to the White House added another boost for Columbus.
"It's true, once you see this place, you obviously want to come back," Tall said. "The fact that we were able to do it at least once is something incredible, and if we can do it multiple times, it's something that we would welcome, for sure."
More: Columbus Crew visit the White House, second gentleman Doug Emhoff delivers remarks
The Crew made the trip to the White House to celebrate their 2023 MLS Cup title, and had the opportunity to meet President Joe Biden before a ceremony for the club was hosted by second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
In line with Tall's comments, Schulte confirmed that the trip to the White House was impactful for the team.
"We would love to come back here," Schulte said. "You look at the Kansas City Chiefs, for example, and how they've had three opportunities in the last couple years to come here. So, definitely you look at that and you get to experience stuff like this ... I'll definitely use this as extra motivation."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew look to move past Campeones Cup loss to Club America
