This year, the Columbus Crew offseason has arrived slightly earlier than all Crew fans would like. It will be a dark and cold winter without the Black & Gold dazzling the fans with their onfield beauty. In these dark times, it is important to spend your spare time wisely, take up a new hobby, visit family, or winterize your home.

Or if you are like any number of Crew Sickos you might enjoy rewatching an entire game from the previous season! Much has been said about the new partnership between MLS and Apple. The new MLS Season Pass has its downfalls, but one very nice feature is the ability to rewatch any MLS game dating back to 2019.

To fans who have loved the Crew for years, this is a phenomenal perk, and for any new fans that have joined the party, this is a great way to get caught up on any big important moments you may not have witnessed in real-time

The 2024 Crew season was full of highlight-worthy goals and breathtaking moments. There is no shortage of moments to relive. This article hopes to provide a road map of games worthy of your full attention on a rewatch. Matches whose full 90 minutes keep you on the edge of your couch or have so many impactful moments that the standard highlight reel cannot grasp the game’s magnitude.

Sit back, load up Season Pass, and enjoy the best Crew games to rewatch this off-season.

June 22nd Columbus Crew 4 Sporting Kansas City 0

This was supposed to be the first home game following The Crew’s historic victory in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Instead, it was the last home game for homegrown midfielder Aidan Morris.

Columbus came up short in that CCC final, and one of the MLS games after that final was a hard-fought loss at Miami. Crew fans needed some positive momentum. The Black & Gold responded with four goals, three from Cucho Hernandez, and it finally felt like the Crew was back on the right track toward league domination.

Draped over all of this though, was the departure of Morris. Give Me Sport’s Tom Bogart unofficially announced the sale to Middlesboro on June 11th. No departure date was set then, and the agreed-upon details between the clubs allowed Crew fans one last viewing of one of their favorites.

Keep the tissues close by when re-watching this one the energy and emotion of the crowd jump through the TV screen and punch you right in the heart.

Best Moment: Nearing the 60th minute Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy subs Morris off for another homegrown midfielder Sean Zawadzki. The crowd serenades Morris with cheers and the cameras follow along as he hugs every one of his teammates, culminating with a teary-eyed kiss of the badge and an embrace with Nancy.

Just when you think the moment could not get any more cinematic, Cucho Hernández buries a free kick and extends the Crew lead to 3-0

Bonus Points: Longtime Crew play-by-play announcer Neil Sika called this game. I’m not sure if that was a conscious effort by the powers at Apple to do this match justice but it was a phenomenal decision if it was. Sika narrates the departure of Morris from the match in a way only someone who has covered much of Aidan’s career could. His voice is synonymous with Crew history, and this match was another important chapter in that catalog.

July 13th Columbus Crew 5 LAFC 1

Remember in the mid-2000s when Tom Brady and the Patriots would match up with Peyton Manning and the Colts in like week 13 and both teams would fighting for the 1st overall seed in the AFC, and the entire sporting world called it “Game of the Decade” or something equally as corny. That’s what this game felt like before kickoff.

The entire MLS media apparatus was pushing for this game to be a dogfight between two top teams with the home side looking for revenge after last year’s MLS Cup.

For 36 minutes that is exactly what we got, until the Columbus Crew cut the LAFC defense to pieces and Christian Rameriz got on the end of a Max Arfsten cross and tipped the scale overwhelmingly towards the Crew side. 

Savor every second of this one it might honestly be the best the Black & Gold (the real Black & Gold from the 90s not the new knockoff version in LA) has ever looked.

Best Moment: Cucho Hernández’s goal in the 56th minute is something special. If you are ever feeling sad about the way this season ended just watch that goal and remind yourself how special it is that we all collectively get to watch him play for our favorite team. 

August 13th Columbus Crew 3 Inter Miami 2

This game had it all. A passionate mid-week home crowd, trophy implications, Starpower…sort of. It was everything positive about Leagues Cup. As the minutes ticked on and the moment began to build the match felt like a playoff game.

Head coach Wilfried Nancy started a lineup with some fresh faces, opting to use this moment to acclimate a couple of summer signings, but with Miami in the lead and the Crew facing elimination, Nancy went to his bullpen and pulled out his closers. 

Prior to that moment, it wasn’t obvious how the Crew would approach Leagues Cup but when Rossi’s second goal found the back of the net it was clear this competition would mean something this year.

Best Highlight: Rudy Camacho makes an absolute game-saving slide tackle in the box on Luis Suarez late in the game. All year Miami would find a way to win games like this, usually because of world-class players like Suarez.

Not on this night, not in front of the Nordecke, not with the game hanging in the balance, and not with Rudy Camacho standing in the middle of the 18-yard box.

Camacho leaves his feet and slides right through the ball sending it out to Jacen Russell-Rowe. The whistle didn’t blow for another few minutes but this tackle right here was the exclamation point on a game that reminds you why you love the sport. Take it all during this rewatch, it’s as sweet the second time as it was the first.

August 25th Columbus Crew 3 LAFC 1

As a soccer fan, it often feels like certain matchups with specific teams create a tapestry of events that flow into one another with each added game. One 90-minute segment is an extension of a previous meeting, setting the table for the sequel that cannot be too far around the corner.

Crew vs LAFC games uniquely capture this feeling. 

In the 2023 MLS Cup, Patrick Schulte rose from the ground in the 80th minute after first saving a Denis Bouanga shot with his face and then, being unable to stop the rebounded effort. 10 minutes stood between Columbus and their third MLS Cup.

Those 10 minutes were orchestrated perfectly by Wilfried Nancy. A series of substitutions and minor formation changes carried The Crew to the promised land, led by their brilliant head coach who pushed every button correctly from the sidelines.

The resulting win never felt in the balance, there was no heightened moment of anxiety in the air like there so often is in football. The Crew were in control for every second.

The 2024 Leagues Cup did not feel that way.

After new LAFC signing Olivier Giroud equalized the match in the 57th minute, LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo had his opportunity to orchestrate a Cup victory. Nancy spoke after the game that in this moment he reeled the team in and witnessed them not playing true to themselves.

Rewatching this Cup final some months later you can feel this Crew team relinquish control over their opponent in an uncharacteristic way. You feel the game tip towards LAFC. 

The Crew ultimately lifted the Leagues Cup, in this rewatch you feel how one game against a familiar opponent fits into a larger story.

Best Highlight: In the previous round of this tournament The Crew beat the Philidelphia Union 3-1. Columbus star Cucho Hernández scored the last goal. After the game Union head coach Jim Curtin, an MLS stalwart, bestowed the term “killer” onto Cucho, mentioning that any cup contender needs a player like him to be successful.

With the Crew just taking a late lead, and smoke in the air from the north end, the ball bounces off of Diego Rossi’s head to an awaiting Cucho Hernández. There is half of the field between him and the goal and nothing but open space. 

The crowd’s emotion rises, Cucho sprints down the field aims for the goal, and dishes a beautiful pass to Jacen Russell-Rowe. With the pulsating rattle of the jackhammer in the background Russell-Rowe buries the third goal of the night for the Black & Gold and sends the Lower.com crowd into a fever pitch.

After this game, was asked why he, the star, the designated player, the man who has scored against the top teams in the world chose to pass the ball to Russell-Rowe. Hernandez’s answer; he knew Jacen would score, he’s a killer.

Bonus Points: If you have watched these games in order you’ll remember from the Miami game how Russell-Rowe and Hernández had an opportunity to ice the game against Miami in added time. Russell-Rowe opts to shoot himself instead of passing to Cucho, Callander makes a save but the rebound is still in play, Hernández does not notice, he’s frustrated with Jacen’s decision to shoot.

There is beauty in watching this game, seeing the two link up successfully and put the game away. The moment is a testament to a team that is constantly learning and bettering itself.