There are plenty of questions about the Columbus Crew heading into the 2026 season: How will the team adjust to new head coach Henrick Rydström? How will Rydström adjust to MLS? What tactical carryover will there be from Wilfried Nancy?

One major question that lingers from last season concerns the attack. After leading MLS with 67 goals in 2023 – the year the Crew won MLS Cup – and finishing with 72 goals, second most, in 2024, the Black & Gold saw offensive production fall off last year. Following the departure of leading scorer and perennial MVP candidate Cucho Hernandez just before the start of the season, Columbus scored only 55 goals in 2025, 26 fewer than champions Inter Miami.

Hernandez’s loss contributed to the Crew’s offensive decline last year. But so too did tactical decisions and injuries.

Rydström hopes his philosophies, similar yet not identical to Nancy’s, can help return the Black & Gold to one of MLS’s highest-scoring teams in 2026.

Any improvement will begin with the attacking players. 

After Hernandez left the club on Feb. 3, 19 days before the start of the 2025 season, Nancy, general manager Issa Tall and the staff took their time finding a replacement, preferring to land the right striker rather than any striker. When the opportunity arose to sign Daniel Gazdag, one of the league’s most creative attacking players during four-plus years with the Philadelphia Union, in April, the club pounced. The club finally signed 26-year-old forward Wessam Abou Ali for a reported $7.5 million in late July.

Unfortunately, injuries to attackers Diego Rossi, who led Columbus with 16 goals, and Abou Ali limited the ability of this attacking trio to reach its potential. 

Rossi suffered a hamstring injury on Sept. 13 against Atlanta United, missed three games, and returned on Oct. 4 against Orlando City SC. He didn’t play again until the MLS Cup playoffs began at the end of October. Abou Ali suffered a fracture in his right ankle in the Sept. 20 game against Toronto FC and missed the rest of his debut season. 

In total, Abou Ali started four of the five games he played after arriving from Egyptian club Al-Ahly, scoring three goals and adding one assist. The Crew’s three Designated Players played a combined 150 minutes together in 2025, combining for five goals and three assists. The bulk of that production came in 42 minutes against Atlanta United, when Rossi scored a hat trick, Abou Ali had a goal and an assist, and Gazdag had two assists, putting Columbus up 5-0 in the first half on the road.

“I think that it’s good that we started the season together, that we have the preseason also together,” Rossi said in late January. “I think that game that we were the three of us there (against Atlanta), I think we do it great and trying to prepare ourselves (for) the season. That is very important for everyone and (we’re) working on that.”

Despite playing under a new head coach, the Black & Gold’s attacking play has been clicking early in preseason. Columbus scored 10 goals against NPSL side Naples United and then defeated the Colorado Rapids 4-1. Wednesday brought a 1-0 defeat to Nashville SC, but the Crew gave several younger players minutes.

Preseason scrimmages (like against semi-pro Naples) or friendlies aren’t always reliable indicators of what will happen once the regular season begins, but teams would rather score goals early than try to figure out how to get the ball in the net. 

The Black & Gold have particularly been pleased with the connection among the attacking players, including Ibrahim Aliyu, Hugo Picard and young players Taha Habroune and Chase Adams. The chemistry between these players and their teammates continues to grow as they learn a new system under Rydström.

“I think my job as a coach is a lot about creating that connection and the relationship between players,” Rydström said earlier this month. “I try also to help them a little bit with decision-making. Because if a player in every situation must try to make his own decision from like, you have thousands of solutions in that situation. And if you’re going to cooperate with some other players, it’s good that we try at least to think a little bit the same things. So that’s why we have our principles. We have some methods when we attack, for example. But then, it comes down a lot to how can I create a situation where the players’ ability, creativity, joy also almost creates a new solution of that.”

Similar to how Columbus played the last three seasons under Nancy, the Crew wants to control possession and pin teams back in their defensive third. However, Rydström wants to add to a Black & Gold attack that dropped off in 2025.

Columbus’ new head coach identified counter-pressing as an area where the Crew could improve in 2026 after seeing the tactic diminish last year. Because Rydström’s system focuses on players operating closer together to combine when they have the ball rather than creating space, it makes winning the ball back in advantageous positions easier and helps create more chances.

He has also spoken about being more direct this season. This is not to say the Black & Gold will abandon build-up play in favor of kicking the ball long; instead, they will look for more opportunities to move the ball into scoring positions more quickly than in the past.

“I think last year there was a lot of times when we’d have the ball the majority of the game,” left back Max Arfsten said. “And sometimes we’d go side to side too much or maybe not be as threatening as we’d like. So I definitely think there’s an element of we can attack quicker when we have the ball and have more of a purpose with the ball. So I think that’s kind of what he’s alluding to (when talking about playing direct).”

Massive Report understands that Rydström is excited to work with Rossi and believes there’s even more to unlock in his attacking game. A healthy Abou Ali should be the central striker Columbus lacked a year ago and has already proven to be a problem for MLS defenders, with a goal contribution (goal or an assist) every 76 minutes of his brief career in the league.

The key to the Crew’s attack returning to elite status may be Gazdag.

After contributing 59 goals and 20 assists in 125 MLS appearances with the Union, Gazdag had just eight goal contributions in his first season with the Crew in 2025. As with all players, it was expected that the attacking midfielder would take time to adjust to Nancy’s system, but Gazdag rarely looked comfortable last year. He was hampered by unrealistic expectations, as Black & Gold fans looked for a Hernandez replacement – Gazdag was never intended to be that – and the pressure clearly got to the player, who was used to playing off a striker rather than as part of a free-flowing front three that often lacked that type of player.

Gazdag finished the 2025 season with three goals and two assists in his final eight MLS regular-season games, but was relegated to coming off the bench for the final two games and in Columbus’ first-round playoff loss to rival FC Cincinnati.

A new coach, a different system and a fresh start could unlock Gazdag’s ability with the Crew and bolster the Black & Gold’s attack.

“He came from another type of football where it’s more direct, counter-attack focus,” Rydström said of Gazdag. “One thing is that we, again, we will not change our style, but hopefully we can take some more situations where we actually can counter-attack against the opponent. So I think that would be one thing. 

“Then I think the other thing is more psychological. I think he’s more used to everything now. When I have talked to him, I notice a person that is really reflecting and he knows what he should have done better last season. Of course, it’s maybe the difficulties with the new style of play, but he also knows that he should have taken more responsibility when it comes to the attacking part, because it comes down to that. If you are skilful, you start the game for Columbus Crew and you’re an attacking player, you must take ownership. That’s what we demand from our players and he is the first to also raise his hand and say that he didn’t do that fully last season. So I hope those two things, but especially this last thing that he felt he could have done it more and he will do it now.”

After two weeks in Palm Beach, Florida, for the final stage of preseason, the Crew returns home on Saturday to begin preparations for the regular season, opening the year at the Portland Timbers on Saturday, Aug. 21. Following six weeks of working together in the Sunshine State to understand what their new coach requires and to build their on-field relationships, the Black & Gold hope to bring some offensive heat back to Columbus to start 2026.