Preview: Defensive prowess hopefully has placebo effect on offensive end for Columbus

Photo Credit: Charlotte Thomas

Philadelphia Union (2-4-2, 8 points)versus the Columbus Crew (4-3-3,15 points)

May 9th, 7:30 PM EST, ESPN +

“I’m proud of the guys,” Berhalter said. 

Pedro Santos was shown a red card in the 15th minute of Saturday’s contest in Seattle; as a result Columbus played with 10 men for over 75 minutes!

Columbus reshuffled into a five man back line, inserting Alex Crognale for Cristian Martinez.

The reshuffle worked as Columbus gained a clean sheet shutout via phenomenal defense. 

“I think it was an outstanding effort. The way we organized ourselves, defended and stayed disciplined with the defending was excellent. Under difficult conditions, on turf, pretty warm, down a man, I think the guys did a great job.”

In a defensive sense, perhaps Columbus should play with ten men more often. ?

On the other hand, Philadelphia were pummeled by Toronto FC 3-0 on May 4th and have lost three out of their last four.

The two sides played to a 0-0 draw the last time they met this season on March 17th in Philadelphia.

Crewture’s projected Crew lineup:

Dealing with three games in a week.

Berhalter left Mensah, Afful, Artur and Niko Hansen back in Columbus, while starting Josh Williams, Hector Jimenez, Ricardo Clark and Cristian Martinez in Seattle.

So, I would expect to definitely see Mensah, Afful, Artur, and Hansen all starting tomorrow. 

As well as Mike Grella for a red card suspended Santos. 

Grella made the trip to Seattle but stayed on the bench.

In the standings, as we get into the Summer months, I think this depth will begin to become critical for Columbus.

As a lot of MLS teams can’t just swap 4 or 5 players between games and get results.

Philadelphia’s projected lineup:

On the other hand, with one days more rest in between, Philadelphia didn’t leave any players home from Toronto.