Crew Head Coach Wilfried Nancy famously said “Impossible is an Opinion” when interviewed on the field after winning MLS Cup 2023. The phrase has since been adorned on tee shirts, flags, banners, tattoos and even song titles since. Tuesday night, the Crew will put the mentality behind that phrase to the test. 

The Crew were soundly beaten last week at BMO Field in Los Angeles.  Thanks to an uncharacteristic Steven Moreira mistake, a Denis Bouanga masterclass and some poor set-piece defending, the Crew now face a monumental 3-0 deficit in this Round of 16 matchup in the CONCACAF Champions Cup (CCC). The large deficit is even worse due to how LAFC can now approach this game. LAFC thrives off of attacking transition. Now, knowing full well that the Crew must push numbers forward to try and get back into the tie, LAFC can sit deep, defend, and wait to strike in transition. 

The Crew will need to be just about perfect Tuesday night in Columbus to advance to the quarterfinals for the second straight campaign. Nevertheless, the famous comebacks in knockout competitions all around the world always seemed impossible before kickoff and as Crew fans will be quick to tell you, impossible is just an opinion. 

LAFC at a Glance:

2025 Record (All Competitions): 4-2-0, 6 MLS points, two wins in CCC

Form: L-W-W-W-W

Leading Scorer: Denis Bouanga (2 goals)

Assist Leader: Denis Bouanga, David Martinez, Nathan Ordaz, Jeremy Ebobisse (1 assist)

Player to Watch: Denis Bouanga

If they didn’t know before, Crew fans certainly know now how good Denis Bouanga can be. His two goals last Tuesday underline how much of a terror Bouanga is for LAFC. His first goal comes from his speed,  acceleration, and determination to press and eventually dispossess Steven Moreira. His second goal would not look out of place in the Premier League. Taking the ball in attacking transition, and running at the backline before curling one into the top corner from 25 years away is not something you see every day. Bouanga’s combination of speed, strength, and power makes him a terror in attacking transitions. Bounaga can dribble past and run past (or through) opponents with ease. What makes Bouanga truly special is not only his ability to create opportunities for himself but also to set up chances for his teammates. In fact, Bouanga leads LAFC in expected assists in MLS play, which measures the quality of chances created. Bouanga’s fingerprints were all over the first leg, the Crew now needs to keep him completely under wraps in order to have any chance at advancing Tuesday.

How LAFC play: 

Steve Cherundolo got the better of the Crew and (to a lesser extent) Wilfried Nancy last Tuesday. Cherundolo’s side was perfectly set up to maximize their threat to Columbus while also almost completely neutralizing Columbus’s threat to goal. Cherundolo’s game model in LA has long been one that focuses on their play against the ball and in attacking transition. Last Tuesday, these two key areas of the game were fully won by LAFC. Thus, I’d be surprised to see many wholesale changes from Cherundolo in leg 2, especially with such a big cushion. 

Last Tuesday, the Crew had 68% possession, 1 shot on goal and zero big chances created. While there doesn’t appear to be readily available Expected Goals (xG) statistics available from CCC competitions, I would be absolutely shocked if the Crew were even close to 1.0 xG in the first leg. While there are certainly things the Crew can do better, LAFC deserves a ton of credit for their game plan and execution. 

Cherundolo uses either a 4-3-3 formation or 3-4-3 formation for his side based off of the players available to him and the opposition. I fully expected Cherundolo would employ some version of a 3-4-3 in this matchup, as he did in the Leagues Cup Final, since that was the most successful LAFC had been against the Crew in recent matchups. 

Instead, Cherundolo opted to go back to a 4-3-3. This 4-3-3 was a true 4-3-3 when LAFC was pressing, allowing the front three to go “man for man” with the Crew’s backline. The idea behind this was to create opportunities exactly like LAFC’s first goal. Force mistakes and go straight to goal. Once the Crew broke this pressure, LAFC then dropped their wingers into the midfield line to create an almost impenetrable 4-5-1 formation that clogged the midfield and limited wide space. LAFC’s change in formation and the fluidity of their defensive shape gave Columbus headaches all night last Tuesday. 

In possession, LAFC again operated out of a 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 formation is often associated with “tiki-taka” “total football” or any other cliche surrounding the modern game. However, LAFC used their 4-3-3 in a different way that pulled the Crew’s pressure apart and created space for LAFC to attack. 

Often in a 4-3-3, the outside backs shift very high up the flank as the center backs split wide and a central midfielder drops deep to pick up the ball from the backline. LAFC opted to split their centerbacks very deep and wide, keep their outside backs from patrolling too far up the flank and keep their central midfielders a bit higher in the midfield. The idea behind this is twofold. 1.) The deep backline and higher midfield pull the Crew pressure apart. The Crew forwards would travel large distances up the field to press, but the midfield couldn’t follow as they would be leaving their defensive responsibilities in the midfield. If the Crew midfield did move to support the press, LAFC now had a significant numerical advantage in the central midfield, which leads me to my next point. 2.) LAFC was looking to play directly as much as possible, so having more players further up the field allowed them to position more players to win the first and second balls and then launch attacks. 

This slight change by LAFC allowed them to create tons of space which then turned into opportunities for LAFC to attack with speed. Either by playing through the Crew’s pressure, or winning first and second balls and taking advantage of an outnumbered Crew side in defense. Look for more of the same from LAFC this Tuesday. 

How the Crew can Advance:

Just winning Tuesday night might not be enough for the Black & Gold to advance on Tuesday night, but winning is a necessity for Columbus to advance. Below are three huge keys based off of last week’s game for Columbus to improve. Before that, and perhaps most obvious, the Crew need to score the first goal in this match. Scoring just one goal starts to put pressure and fear into LAFC, as well as get the fans behind you. If the Crew can score an early goal it’ll be game on. Onto the nerdy tactical stuff.

1. Make More Runs in Behind: Aside from losing Cucho and Christian Ramirez, my working theory on the sputtering Crew attack is that they don’t make enough runs behind the backline. Obviously, making runs behind the backline is the most dangerous, as the player receiving the pass often has an unimpeded path to goal. However, these runs are necessary to create space for others as well. These runs are so dangerous that they force the opponent to respect them. Thus, as the defender drops towards their own goal, space opens up in front of them to occupy. Right now, the Crew have an absence of these runs, the vast majority of the attackers are coming back towards the ball rather than running in behind. When everyone is doing this, it’s easy for the opponents to squeeze the space and defend. Look for the wing backs and front three to sprinkle in more of these runs Tuesday. 
2. Fewer Giveaways in the Middle of the Field: The Crew are going to need to attack on Tuesday. When teams attack, they inevitably lose the ball. When the Crew attacked and lost the ball last Tuesday, it was almost always in the middle of the field. When you turn the ball over centrally against pretty much everyone but especially LAFC, it turns into a counterattack very quickly. 
3. Better Pressing: The Crew aren’t a pressing side, however, their pressure last Tuesday made it hard for them to effectively chase the game for the reasons we have outlined above. Look for the Crew to have a more cohesive plan for their press on Tuesday.