Post-match: Wet Run - Crew v NYCFC - LHUSOC Quarterfinals - 5/20/26 7:30 PM

Certainly not scintillating stuff, but it was professional, competent, and confident.

 

Get gud

 

I will say he 100% plays up to his size, Schulte never plays big at all

 

If he became our starter, his home fans would be even more insufferable than they already are.

 

Have to say that Hagen looked terrific tonight. A commanding physical presence in the box is something we haven't seen in these parts since Steffen left.

One's enthusiasm is tempered a bit by memories of Hagen looking not so good, but it was sure nice to see tonight.

 

Nice job closing one out for a change. And I'm fine with letting them have the recent league win on a foosball table, while we get to march one step closer to Cup glory (with at least one more home game) by winning an actual soccer game.

I still haven't forgiven myself for not getting off my couch back in 2002. So if they should happen to make it one round further, I'm absolutely there.

 

I liked the subs. The team made sense, and played competently.

 

Just like riding a bicycle. Too bad we don’t have our number 9 now

 

He's more confident coming off his line.

 

Yes. Bangoura as a starter is the right call. He was trending that way under HR. Farsi back helps. Front 3 helps. Having one pess defender on the field helps, we don't have 4 good ones atm.

NYC losing Morales helped us.

But having said all that, we played much better and were deserved winners. Much closer to 2-0 than 1-1.

 

The Freddie Garcia USOC SF win at CCS is still a top 10 Crew game for me. And USOC is weirdly rowdier. Random chants sometimes. No capos. No fair weather fans at all.

 

Looking like Colorado will beat San Jose. If we get past Orlando, I actually think we have a shot at winning.

 

Parks also being out helped us tomight, too.

NYC really only had one clear chance. Ourlt of a silly play by Zawadzki at around 11:00.

Interesting Gazdag did not even make the bench for us. I have to take that as a sign we move on in summer? Unless he has a knock?

 

STL v Coloado is the other SF.

We have a shot..We are at home as long as we keep winning..

And we have time to make some upgrades.

Gomes was good tonight also.

 

Lucky Camacho handball not called in the 54th

 

So the semis are Columbus v Orlando and Colorado v St Louis.

Looking a bit ahead here (miles ahead actually, with how far away the semifinals are), I remember the last time Colorado came to Columbus for an Open Cup final.

 

Just took a look at the standings, none of those 4 teams are currently in a playoff position in MLS. And keep in mind, MLS playoffs is 18 teams!

Of course, a lot can change between now and September. Maybe all 4 will be in the playoff positions by then.

 

What did HR do to these guys

A special delivery 📦

Our Captain delivers the match ball to Laurent Courtois for his first win as Interim Head Coach 🙌 pic.twitter.com/30Fos8Yyh5

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) May 21, 2026

 

This graphic might be just a tad bit more helpful if the teams were identified. I take it Columbus is green?

 

Yes. The home side is on the left and away on the right

 

1) Maybe it's just me, but that is a really ugly ball.

2) I'm also interested in how it is that they've implied that the players really, really hated that assistant coach (whose name I neither know nor care to know)

How does an AC get so disliked?

 

Forget where I saw it, but rumor is he was a giant know-it-all. And I'm assuming if HR was the good cop, then Olson was the bad cop.

 

Olsson. Yeah, it seems that way.

It's not time well spent, but the autopsy on HR's tenure here would reveal several early warning signs. One, of course, is the sum total of his entire experience playing and coaching soccer having been in Sweden.

Another was the small and weird crew he brought along with him. Just HR and two other guys, one of which wasn't a coach but a video strategist or something similar who was originally from Thailand (?). The Olsson who HR seems to rely on to check his impulses, the yin to his yang, the Robin to his Batman, blahblahblah. Just three guys who don't come close to constituting the core of a coaching staff.

Then there was the comment, early on, HR made about never really playing much of a role in player acquisitions. I get it. Teams have different roles and structures. But there was an implied lack of interest that perhaps I was reading into the statement. We're past the days when Berhalter was head coach and chief scout. But any head coach should care deeply about talent identification and player acquisition. It was as though we went from one guy (Nancy) who was overly involved in the process to another (HR) who was too passive about it.

In the end, though, for me, it boils down to #1. he had his way of dong things in Sweden and had never tried it out anywhere else. Turns out the process didn't translate to MLS. The state of the roster didn't do him any favors. Nor did Abou Ali's injury.

 

I got the invite to the Open Cup match from my ticket rep this morning. A few days later than would have been ideal to get me to buy a ticket.