Confounding Crew controls playoff fate in Decision Day duel in Orlando. Draw!
Sunday is Decision Day, an ersatz soccer holiday not unlike the Campeones Cup, only way cooler. It’s what MLS calls the last day of the regular season, when unique scheduling compresses playoff seeding into four hours titillating hours of action.
All seven Eastern Conference games begin at 2:30 p.m., which means the East playoff bracket will be set before 5 p.m., which is when all seven Western Conference games are scheduled to kick off.
The Crew will be in Orlando, at Exploria Stadium, for their regular-season finale. This is one of those big-stakes games for which Decision Day was made.
The Crew (46 points) sit in the seventh and final playoff spot in the East and a victory or a tie will clinch a playoff berth for the Black & Gold. Orlando City is a point behind the Crew in eighth place. If the Lions win, they’re in, but if they draw, they’re going to need help.
If there’s one thing the Crew know how to do, it is tie. They lead the league with 16 draws, which is two off the league record for a season (held by the 2014 Chicago Fire and the 2021 Nashville SCs). The Crew have had good ties, where they’ve come back to salvage points. Mostly, though, they’ve had ties like they had Wednesday, when they blew a two-goal lead and let two points slip away in second-half stoppage time in Charlotte.
Yet, here the Crew are, one point away from clinching a playoff berth. Sure, they’re on the road, but they’ve been pretty good away from home. They've tied 10 of their 15 road games. Not bad.
It’s a chic thing to say that Crew could be a very tough out in the playoffs. There is a ring of truth to this. Talent abounds on the Crew’s roster. And when they play with any kind of pace, they look like one of the best teams in the league, not the 13th-best (which is where their 10-7-16 record places them).
Caleb Porter touts his team’s toughness, and there is something to these regular pronouncements as well. Scoring is up in the league. Every week, there are victories four-, five- or even six-goal margins. Not with the Crew. Every game is either a tie, a one-goal victory or a one-goal loss. Watching them is like waiting to get a Nerf dart in the eye.
They are as exciting and tough to watch as Sisyphus. Yet, here they are, on Decision Day, with their playoff fate in their own hands. Good for them.
For their fans’ sake, one hopes the Crew are in fine form on Sunday and draw into the tournament. With help, they might even move up in the standings, and into the 4-5 game in the first round. Anything can happen, right?
Coach Caleb Porter’s fourth season in Columbus is coming to an end and, basically, his teams have been most comfortable when they’re at around .500. While they’ve intermittently had the air of dominance about them, they have been, in the main, good at not losing. “Spectacularly average” is the appropriate phrase used by television play-by-play man Neil Sika.
Porter is 45-42-37 with the Crew in MLS regular-season play. His term here has been quirky. For instance, in 2020, amid the madness of the pandemic and a disjointed, 20-game schedule, he did a terrific job in marching the Crew to an MLS Cup championship – without a single road victory. Then, in 2021, when the new stadium opened, the Crew failed to make the playoffs and missed the opportunity to defend their title.
Quirky. This year, the Crew have yet to win two games in a row. Maybe they’ll get over this in the playoffs. Maybe they’ll get hot, win four in a row and hoist another Cup. Anything’s possible, right?
Quirky. The Crew are an excellent defensive team. Or, are they? While they’ve allowed the fourth-fewest goals in the league (39), they’ve conceded nearly half that count (16) after the 75th minute, including seven goals allowed after the 90th minute. They’ve set a new league record for points dropped in second-half stoppage time (11).
Does that mean this talented team, which has not been mentally tough enough to nail down results, has made the playoff race inordinately difficult on themselves? Or does it mean that, because they’re still alive, they must be on the razor’s edge of greatness?
The Crew’s 49 goals for (No. 18 in the league) and differential (plus-6, No. 9 in the league) make them an average offensive team. But when they go forward with speed and conviction, they’re as dangerous as any team in the league. But they rarely find that gear. Does that make them dangerous?
Quirky. They’ve only won three games in three months. They’ve only lost two games in five months.
They’re in if they don’t lose Sunday.
After that, anything can happen. Right?
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: A lot riding on last day of season for Columbus Crew, Orlando City SC
