Following Saturday night’s 2-1 win over CF Montréal at Lower.com Field, Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy spoke of his pride and happiness with the Black & Gold collecting three points.
The win pushed Columbus atop the Eastern Conference standings and secured a seventh-straight unbeaten match. This has only happed one other instance in Club history: 2010.
But Nancy also spoke about the difference between good and great. And if anything was learned Saturday night, it’s that the Crew are trending on the right side of that spectrum.
Both goals came early. AZ scored his first goal of the campaign in the 11th minute through a long-ball counter that sliced through the Canadian opposition.
Fifteen minutes later, Jacen Russell-Rowe doubled the lead through a smashing, low-range strike to give the forward his third MLS goal this season.
The first goal stands out for how it happened, though.
Crew supporters are used to their side passing through opponents routinely. But Nancy wanted something different. Something fast and clinical.
“The action leading to the goal, I was really proud of that,” Nancy said. “We had a discussion [Friday] because I was not happy about during the practice, during one play because we didn’t try to do something; we refused to try; and I was not happy with that.
“I told them the difference between being a good player and being great. For me, the good player is the player that when he has success, okay, this is good; but when this is a bit difficult, he doesn't want to try. The great players, they are able to manage the success and the failures.
“This is what we want to achieve. This is the direction that we want to go. The goal that we scored was exactly the discussion about yesterday. Don't get me wrong, it's not about me. I’m the coach, and they are on the pitch and they play. AZ, good composure to finish, but the way we unbalanced the opposition was also outstanding for me.”
Sticking with the good vs. great margins, the visitors put the ball into the Columbus net three times. But only one counted. The others were ruled offside.
“It means that under the fatigue when we didn't control this moment, we were able to have the lucidity to stay with a good line,” Nancy said. “This is not by luck that they were offside. This is the mindset that we have. …I'm really happy, really proud. Really happy for them because they deserve it.”
But as everyone knows, greatness doesn’t mean settling.
Even if Nancy was pleased with the three points, center back Yevhen Cheberko was more critical and demanding of his backline.
“We can do better. We can improve a lot,” the Ukrainian said. It's a good lesson for us. We won the game, but we were on the edge, you know, of not getting three points, and they pushed in the last maybe 20 minutes, you know, so we had difficulties. But again, every game is a new lesson.”
There will be plenty of future lessons as the season unfolds. But now one-fifth through the season, it’s clear that the Black & Gold are forming a new identity that grows from previous campaigns under Nancy. The faces are similar, but how wins are earned is different.
Saturday night was a reminder that good teams make mistakes; great teams remain stout. Perhaps that’s why the Crew deservingly lead the conference and are a point back of leading the league.
