Columbus Crew failed on all fronts in Champions Cup final loss to CF Pachuca: 2 takeaways
PACHUCA, Mexico - The Crew failed to live up to the moment.
With the chance to make club history and bring home a CONCACAF Champions Cup trophy, the Crew did more than just fall to CF Pachuca 3-0 in the final. They failed to show any life on the field for nearly all 90 minutes.
There were some elements of the match that were out of the Crew's control, such as the fact that a majority of the players and staff were sick with what is believed to be food poisoning, or that they were playing in an unfamiliar atmosphere at nearly 8,000 feet altitude.
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That makes little difference in the overall reason Columbus lost the match. Pachuca outplayed the Crew.
"We were not clean," said Crew coach Wilfried Nancy. "When we attacked the box, we had possibilities. When we started the game, we had a few opportunities that we could have done better. ... In terms of the goals that we conceded, could have been avoided."
It took little time for Pachuca to prove itself as the better team, but there were many self-inflicted issues for the Crew, including missing open shots, failing to connect on passes and allowing Pachuca's attack to slip past the back line.
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Following the match, when Nancy was asked by CONCACAF officials what the team wanted to do during Pachuca's trophy ceremony and celebration, he opted to have the Crew remain on the field and watch.
"We have to respect the situation," Nancy said. "We win well, we have to lose well. And losing is a part of football. So, it hurts a lot. It was difficult to see that. But at the end of the day, we have to respect. We won last year, and this year we have to be a good loser."
Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte managed to have the best performance for Columbus Crew, despite conceding three goals
Patrick Schulte had far from his best performance, as proven with Pachuca's three goals. There were glaring mistakes that the 23-year-old goalkeeper made, starting with the first goal he conceded to Pachuca striker Salomon Rondon in the first half.
"He (Rondon) made a good run behind Rudy's (Camacho) shoulder, and I saw the space, so I tried to come out and close," Schulte said. "I slipped a little bit. So, once I was going down already, I just tried to make myself as big as possible and cover as much space as I can."
Still, Schulte finished with five saves, and he made four of those within the first 20 minutes of the second half.
Without the back line having that same urgency, and the offense failing to connect on the few good looks Pachuca's defense was allowing them, Schulte's faith in the Crew to make a comeback ended up being misplaced.
"I think they're good offensively," said Crew midfielder Mo Farsi. "I feel there was a bit too much space between us. So they had a lot of space to attack, and when you leave space like that to a team who have (good) qualities, they're going to punish you."
Wilfried Nancy waited long to make substitutions
The Crew fell behind by two goals in the first half, but there was still time to make something happen.
But instead of subbing in players such as Jacen Russell-Rowe, who could bring energy to the offense and had scored two goals for the Crew in the semifinal series against CF Monterrey, or Sean Zawadzki, who Nancy could have slotted in anywhere from the back line to midfield, Nancy ran out the starting 11 to start the second half.
When asked his reasoning for this decision, Nancy explained that he wanted to make substitutions "without making substitutions" and went with changing elements of the formation rather than players.
"The message was to adjust certain thing defensively," Nancy said. "Because they were doing well on certain movements, so the idea was to shift and to adjust a little bit more defensively. And after that, the idea was to attack in a different way, and that's why I wanted to see before making any type of changes."
Pachuca had eight shot attempts compared to the Crew's one in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
After Rondon scored his second goal at the 67-minute mark to make it 3-0, Nancy made three substitutions, which included Russell-Rowe and Zawadzki.
"I just think we needed, from the players side just a little bit more to give," said Crew captain Darlington Nagbe. "Unfortunately, we couldn't give it."
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew fall to CF Pachuca 3-0 in Champions Cup final: Takeaways
