Preseason Look: Columbus Crew

Here's an early preseason look at the Columbus Crew. The team, so far, remains largely unchanged from last season, which saw them comfortably in a playoff position for most of the year. As you can see, they are solid across the board. A testament to Gregg Berhalter's director skills.

It's interesting to see Pedro Santos at a 72, a team best. Fans directed a lot of bad vibes his way due to lack of performance. Some of that deserved, most of it not. If you watch him play, you can see the quality. Vision, positioning, passing, quickness with the ball. He has a lot of good attributes.

Something that will hurt Columbus come summer will be Zack Steffen leaving for England, but his replacement is a solid Joe Bendik (69). I would not be surprised if he got more games as the summer approaches and Columbus decides to keep Steffen healthy.

Rating	Name	Position	FM19	FIFA	WS
72	Pedro Santos	AM RL	72	75	70
71	Zack Steffen	GK	71	75	65
70	Federico Higuaín	AM C	70	77	69
70	Jonathan Mensah	D C	70	71	69
70	Gyasi Zardes	AM RL, ST	64	73	70
70	Justin Meram	AM RL	70	72	66
69	Joe Bendik	GK	69	69	64
69	Gastón Sauro	D C	70	69	68
69	Harrison Afful	D/WB R	64	73	69
68	Wil Trapp	DM	66	73	68
68	Lalas Abubakar	D C	65	69	68
68	Milton Valenzuela	D/WB L	68	71	68
67	Artur	DM	66	71	67
66	Ricardo Clark	DM	66	67	66
66	Patrick Mullins	ST	66	67	63
65	Alex Crognale	D C	64	67	65
65	Jon Kempin	GK	64	65	65
65	Josh Williams	D RC	65	68	64
64	Héctor Jiménez	D/WB RL, M RL	64	67	64
64	Robinho	AM RL, ST	64	0	67
64	Eduardo Sosa	Attacking Midfield	64	66	64
64	Luis Argudo	AM R	62	64	64
63	Niko Hansen	AM RL	58	63	65
61	Connor Maloney	D/WB RL	59	61	66
60	Edward Opoku	AM R	53	60	63
0	Ben Lundgaard	GK	55	0	0
0	JJ Williams	Forward	0	0	0

A couple of other players to keep an eye on in regards to leaving are Wil Trapp (let's say, 30% chance of leaving) and Gyasi Zardes (51% chance). The latest addition to the team this year is Robinho, a mid-20s Brazilian midfielder. I don't have a lot of info on him outside a mediocre FM rating. I'm sure he was brought in to pair with Artur (whose name I misspelled in the graphic! but leaving it) a bit. Not just on the pitch but have a buddy off it. 

Another couple notes one what Columbus has going for them: 1. Their bench is strong and filled with MLS experience, and 2. Carry-over minutes from 2018 is a good predictor of success in 2019. 

I'm looking for Columbus to be a motivated side this year because of new ownership. While they've lost a good MLS coach, they've gained a stable one in Caleb Porter. I expect Columbus to finish closer to the middle of the Eastern Conference than last year, however.