Crew Open 2017 Season

Federico Higuain turn.

The 2017 Crew season opened with a 1-1 draw, at home, to Chicago. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first half via a beautiful cross from Justin Meram to Ethan Finlay's head, Chicago were able to level the match in the 2nd half (nifty footwork by David Accam).

This would be just another game were it viewed on its own, but it dropped a stink bomb on the opening week fanfare because of the issues Columbus had with closing out games from leading positions last year.

Good performances were turned in by new signing Jukka Raitala, as well as Justin Meram. Both commanded the left side for and owned the first half for Columbus.

For Chicago, it was the David Accam show. He was everywhere. Notable, however, was also goalkeeper Jorge Bava who made a handful of difficult saves taken by Crew players in and around the six-yard box.

Final Thought:

Columbus was the better of the two teams, but Chicago played the kind of game that neutralizes Gregg Berhalter's style. The secret to bottling him up has been out for over a year now, it's just a matter of whether or not opposing teams bother to shut it down or just play their own game.