Columbus Crew's congested schedule continues with CONCACAF Champions Cup play vs. Houston
This stretch has been far from easy for Crew players, especially as they have been working their way back from a short offseason.
Less than a month into the 2024 season, the Crew are in the thick of a 15-day stretch with five games on the schedule between the MLS regular-season and CONCACAF Champions Cup play.
"I think it can be tiring on the body and on the mind," the Crew's Sean Zawadzki said. "But I think whatever the schedule is, I think speaking myself and for the team, we're ready for it and we'll put everything out there that we can."
Set to face the Houston Dynamo in the second leg of the Round of 16 of the Champions Cup on Tuesday night at Lower.com Field, the Crew hold a slight 1-0 goal lead in the series after their first match Wednesday in Houston.
With the Crew picking up a goal in the first leg while shutting out Houston, a draw Tuesday would be enough to advance Columbus to the quarterfinals due to the aggerate score format. If the Dynamo tie the goal total, the game would go into extra time and possibly penalty kicks, since the two teams would have scored the same number of road goals, which is the usual tiebreaker.
While Houston had the weekend off from MLS play, Columbus will be going into the upcoming match three days removed an MLS match against the Chicago Fire that went more than 100 minutes due to added stoppage time.
Despite the short amount of recovery time, Zawadzki feels the team is mentally prepared to go as long as necessary to pull out the series victory, but Crew coach Wilfried Nancy recognizes that it will be a challenge.
"It's not easy at the same time, knowing that when we were playing, they were watching us," Nancy said. "This is the beauty of the schedule. ... Every game is a new game, it's a new chapter and it's a new day. So, the idea is to focus on that, obviously we know that we will face a good team, they're going to be fresh."
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Tied 1-1 toward the end of their match against Chicago on Saturday, Zawadzki could feel the impact of the more than 20,000 fans at Lower.com Field.
"Late in the game, you see us on the counterattack, you hear the fans start cheering," Zawadzki said. "You see little things, they're cheering defensive actions, so I think feeding off of that energy, you can hear it on the field, and I think it gave us that extra boost."
Columbus fans have been showing up for their home team throughout 2023 and continuing into 2024. The latest Crew match was the 19th consecutive sellout at Lower.com.
With the Champions Cup matches taking place on weekday nights rather than during the weekend, teams have been seeing smaller crowds for those game.
Houston, which averaged more than 17,500 in attendance over the course of the first two home regular-season games, had just over 4,300 at the match against Columbus on Wednesday, according to ESPN.
Looking to continue their 10-game undefeated streak and six-game winning streak at Lower.com Field, the Crew might have to mix the boost they usually get from more than 20,000 people with the momentum from their finish against Chicago. As the game neared the final whistle with the score 1-1, Columbus' Mohamed Farsi broke the tie to pick up three points rather than one.
"We might not have started the game how we wanted this last weekend," Zawadzki said. "But I think the way we responded the second half and the way we continue to fight playing 100+, and I think everyone kind of carries that feel we have (into the next match)."
Will Alex Matan be available for Columbus Crew?
Much like Farsi on Saturday, forward Alex Matan was the last-minute hero in the Crew's win at Houston. A late-game substitution, Matan scored the lone goal.
Following that matchup, however, Matan was ruled out for Columbus' latest match against Chicago with a thigh injury and has also been ruled out for Tuesday.
"I don't know how long it's going to take but for a moment, he cannot play," Nancy said.
Matan's thigh injury comes shortly after a preseason in which he was dealing with a quad issue that limited some of his training.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew remain busy with CONCACAF Champions Cup match vs Houston
