Post-match: Megabus(t) Revenge Tour - Crew vs Almada-less Atlanta - Match 5 - 3/25/23 7:30 PM

You don't. Ramirez is a bench player/sub. Spot starter. But he and JRR are nice alternatives to the Lollipop Guild front 3 of Cucho, Lucas, & Matan.

 

Insane #Crew96  stat: 8 of the 11 starters last night were 23 or younger, and 4 of our 5 subs were 23 or younger. The kids can ball.

— Chance Stoodt (@clstoodt) March 26, 2023

Matan is tied for the league lead in assists, and Morris is leading the league in tackles.

There will be games we lose by 4, but a few more where we win by 4. #JoyIsBack

 

I keep reading in here about how bad Atlanta is but the announcers on the Apple TV broadcast kept telling me they were the hottest team in MLS coming in and are leading the east.

Yes, they were missing players, just like we were.

Truth is, we made them look bad. They aren’t actually bad.

Enjoy it. We blew the doors off the early conference leaders.

 

Always and forever.

I really, really, really hope to stand with you and your crew sometime this year. I hope that does not make me sound too stalker-esque nor desperate.

Big J, scriptwriter, I wish. I will be lucky if we make a 1/3 of the home games.

That was all Jules. I mentioned that we should give Connor some chips, and of course, that sweet boy put it into action. Connor is an absolute doll, by the way. You did well!!

It is good to read you, my dear friend.

I truly hope my comments are not considered a 'Nordecke lack of chant creation' post. I was reflecting on past experiences of being away from the section. Not as long as 20-22. Heck, I remember really pushing things around to make the final game of the '16 season (Tal was born that year) because I did not want to go a whole season without being at Crew stadium (I can laugh a bit now..). Between not having money, energy, time (all three, one, whichever), we have had gaps in attendance over the years (pre-2020). I remember standing in the section (I want to say it was the end of 2017 - right after the Austin news hit?), and we only knew a few of the chants. Thankfully (or not), we knew the chants last night. The section felt like home....

... and hearing this guy chant all night probably had a little bit to do with that feeling. Thank you for taking the time and the thoughtfulness to say "hello stranger" and stand near my crew. For what it is worth, we tried to chant along with your Sherman song. Great stuff.

Thanks, Bill. I wondered if that would be the real answer. In all honesty, I need time to explore the stadium. I hope to do so this season.

 

The good news is that if you leave the stadium via the west concourses/path one game and the east concorses/path the next, that's basically the whole thing that the general populace is allowed in. Everything is on one level which makes things really easy. (Yes, there is an upper concourse on the east side, but it's just one concession stand and some bathrooms. It's really not worth the trouble unless you have a ticket up there.)

The people who designed it did good by putting everything on one concourse. They may have had an assist by having the river right there, but whatever.

What you really should do is figure out how to come down to the STM party or the preseason Nordecke stuff when the premium area is open. That's the real eye-popping stuff. Besides, if you can make the party, assuming the locker room is open again, the kids would go bonkers with the photo ops.

 

Almada has saved them twice already this season. They ain’t all that.

 

Yes, Caleb won us our second MLS Cup. Years from now, when that team gets honored, I hope Caleb comes back and enjoys every bit of it, just as I hope Robert Warzycha enjoyed his visit to LDC. (Yes, he's been there.)

But...to see all those young/new players score was refreshing. Those three points last night are, well, massive.

 

We can revisit this in a couple months. Almada also got the assist in their 1-1 draw with Toronto.

They haven’t beaten anyone good yet.

It was a good win for us. And I don’t think Atlanta is all that. This is a two things can be true at the same time situation. There is a difference between saying they are shit versus saying they ain’t all that and their league position (5 games in) is false.

 

Boy am I glad I went to that game.

Same starting 11 for RSL, right?

MOTM was easily Matan, though Morris and Quinton were great too. (As was pretty much the whole team of course.)

Compared to our old stadium, it's real convenient to be able to do a complete lap around the stadium and hit all the major concession/CrewGear areas without having to take stairs to a different level. If you spent the whole game last night in the Nordecke part of the stadium, there are a few interesting food options in the south end too.

By the way, while I'm on the subject, perhaps one of the more informed locals can tell me what happened to the food trucks. I used to love the cheese curds one. Are they gone for good?

Also, while I'm on the subject, did prices go up this year? Both for food and for shirts? I feel like hot dogs and brats each went up a dollar. And most shirts/jackets/whatever now seem to be over $100. They had player jerseys of Lucas/Cucho/Morris etc in there priced at $210.

 

The second half of last night's game was a ton of fun - because we did it to Atlanta, rather than them doing it to us. But let's face it, that wasn't an MLS regular season grade of play by either team, and nobody should draw any conclusions about how either team's first team will do as the season goes forward. In my perfect world MLS would observe a week off for these FIFA windows, but I understand tickets sell much better on weekends and the TV people have a time slot to fill.

And it is time for Brad Guzan to retire.

 

I didn’t say they were but you can’t deny two multiple goal wins out if 4 games and their spot in the table either.

 

Here you go! "Mr. Numbers Nerd: Crew's Firehose of Firsts vs ATL"

https://sirkbook.com/2023/03/26/mr-numbers-nerd-crews-firehose-of-firsts-vs-atl/

 

Somewhere between Giants Causeway and Galway today i got an email that Chelsey had tagged me in a post on BigSoccer and I immediately knew it was the post giving your thoughts after last night's match. I waited all day to read it, wanting to be somewhere that I could give it the attention it's due.

@Ch(Elsey), I'm telling you, I'm sitting in a hotel in Galway choked up at this recap and this photo. I can't express how effing happy I am for you and your family.

 

St Louis must be the best team in the league based on that logic.

 

Thats to build consistency.
And we had our first home opener sellout since *checks notes* 1996 this season, isn’t that the fact I heard?

v DC - 20,391 / 102% capacity
v Atlanta - 19,249 / 96% capacity

39,640 after two games, average capacity of 99%.

Attendance seems ok so far.

 

There was a game a couple years ago where the Sounders were so gutted by callups and injuries that they had to literally start an academy roster against Austin. Schmetzer guided them to a workmanlike 1-0 win with five teenagers in the starting XI.

To your point, the hallmark of great coaching and culture is the ability to plug and play. Instead of making excuses and trying to bunker out draws, good coaches and clubs play the best lineup they have available, put those players in a scheme and system that they can handle, and then turn them loose.

It is so refreshing to watch this brand of soccer that Nancy and Courtois play. Push the ball forward, play with pace, attack and press to force turnovers, send multiple players on runs into the box, and get the ball into dangerous areas where your forwards and trailing midfielders can pounce.

Beyond it being more fun, quality soccer for us, it builds a culture that players can develop and thrive within and that can attract people to come play in this market. We have a pair of coaches now that build players up and encourage them to play with confidence instead of being crippled by the fear of never seeing the field again if they make one mistake.

This is a team that no one in MLS is going to want to play in a few months, especially if Cucho can get going, and a team that could be scary good next year as some bad contracts fall off the books and spots open up for new signings. It's an exciting time to be a Columbus Crew fan.

 

Well that was a fun night. Kudos to you Chelsey. After hearing how bad this game might be, you still came and were rewarded with one for the ages! Was great fun to see how the youngsters played when the game opened up and they could continue without the worry of protecting a slim lead. No pressure, no expectations ... literally felt like a different team evolved in the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half. Quite a sight.

 

I don't think Levy was so much a fan of the food trucks. I was, but they were a year one only option. Didn't have them for any games in 2022.

 

They are right now.

 

That was an absolutely amazing match. I was all set to see our young, inexperienced roster get blown off the pitch by the first place team in the conf., even though I knew that Atlanta would be missing key players as well. It's been a long time since The Crew scored 6 goals in a match.

It was shocking to see how lazy Miguel Berry still is. He put absolutely no effort into anything last night.

One major thing to note is what last night's miraculous performance did for our goal differential. We went from -2 to +3. This could Really help us at the end of the season as we are battling for a playoff position, and tied for wins with another club.

 

Well we have 34 games and a playoff where they don’t do playoffs in Europe . How many league games do the others have ?