Football Season Guide

A season of uncertainty off the field ended with Columbus Crew achieving their minimum aim of making it to the playoffs but failed to progress beyond the Conference Semifinals stage where they lost out to New York Red Bulls. A change in ownership and confirmation of their stay in Columbus has been accompanied by the news that their long serving coach Gregg Berhalter has left the club to take over the USA national team. Former Portland Timbers coach Caleb Porter has been announced as his replacement and the 44-year old will be taking over a roster that will be fully aware of its strengths and weaknesses. There has not been much movement in terms of player turnover during the off-season though the likes of Adam Jahn, Mike Grella and Cristian Martinez have left the club which slightly hits the depth for Porter. Joe Bendik has been brought in from Orlando City as Columbus prepare for Zack Steffen' departure to European shores in the summer while Waylon Francis will also improve the options across the defense for Porter, especially with Milton Valenzuela out for long term Porter is expected to stick with the system that has provided Columbus with decent success over the last few years and it will be a very familiar lineup that will be taking to the field when the season kicks off and they do have enough quality to finish in the top six once again this season Columbus though are yet to find a reliable backup for Federico Higuain who forms a key cog in their offense but has struggled for fitness in the last couple of seasons. Berhalter did try out both Eduardo Sosa and Luis Argudo in the position but the duo have struggled to convince and it will be interesting to see how Columbus react should Higuain suffer another injury setback this season