Columbus Crew SC (2008, 2020, 2023 MLS Champions)

[BuckTwenty]

Hmmm.

What makes that even more interesting is that Portland traded Findley's rights to RSL last night for allocation money. I'm not sure what to think of this potential trade yet...


In other news, the Superdraft was today. Columbus took F Ryan Finley (Notre Dame) in the 1st round, 9th pick and D Drew Beckie (U of Denver) in the 2nd, 28th pick. The links have their bio and a short highlight film at the bottom of the page. Finley plays target forward and Beckie could play either center back or right fullback, but will likely play on the right for us.

I think both players are great gets for this team. I'm particularly excited about Beckie. I think he's going to turn out to be a great steal in this draft. He reminds me quite a bit of Frankie.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Dilly Duka for Robbie Findley? I wasn't happy about Duka being shopped, initially. But if that's what the Crew get in return, by all means.

The Crew would be relying on him returning to his old form... that's why I'm unsure about the trade. Robbie scored 3 goals in 25 league games (10 starts) at 2nd tier Nottingham Forest and had 0 goals in 7 games on loan with 4th tier Gillingham. link

 

[TooTall]

The Crew would be relying on him returning to his old form... that's why I'm unsure about the trade. Robbie scored 3 goals in 25 league games (10 starts) at 2nd tier Nottingham Forest and had 0 goals in 7 games on loan with 4th tier Gillingham. link

He wouldn't be required to score goals in Columbus, though. If he ended up with 2 goals and 10 assists, I'd be ecstatic.

 

[ochre]

Glauber Berti signed with the Crew today.

 

[TooTall]

Glauber Berti signed with the Crew today.

The legend of Glauber continues in Columbus! But he'll actually play, so will he live up to his legendary status? :tongue2:

 

[BuckTwenty]

The legend of Glauber continues in Columbus! But he'll actually play, so will he live up to his legendary status? :tongue2:

We shall see! I'm just glad to see we're spending some money on the back line. Haven't heard any updates about the left back we've been been trying to sign, but he's supposed to be a good one with some experience.

Also, read this interesting bit from Warzycha today:

Crew coach Robert Warzycha (above) told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday that there will definitely be one more signing and likely at least two.

The team is targeting additions at left back and forward and have also shown a renewed interest in obtaining Argentine holding midfielder Matias Sanchez since releasing midfielder Milovan Mirosevic on Sunday.

"With [Mirosevic] gone, we now have some money so we can search," Warzycha said. "We aren't done shopping yet. We're definitely looking at Sanchez. He's a good defensive center midfielder. He's playing in a good league and he's relatively young. That would be somebody who would definitely help in the middle of the field."

Here's a little bit about Matias.

We drafted 2 defenders and a GK in the supplemental draft today. Sound like nothing better than depth, but again, glad we're addressing our back line finally.

Sounds like Robbie Rogers is out of contract and talking an MLS comeback. Columbus has his rights, thanks to a qualifying offer in 2011 before he left. Nice to have a bargining chip like that if he's not in our immediate plans.

 

[TooTall]

We shall see! I'm just glad to see we're spending some money on the back line. Haven't heard any updates about the left back we've been been trying to sign, but he's supposed to be a good one with some experience.

Also, read this interesting bit from Warzycha today:



Here's a little bit about Matias.

We drafted 2 defenders and a GK in the supplemental draft today. Sound like nothing better than depth, but again, glad we're addressing our back line finally.

Sounds like Robbie Rogers is out of contract and talking an MLS comeback. Columbus has his rights, thanks to a qualifying offer in 2011 before he left. Nice to have a bargining chip like that if he's not in our immediate plans.

Ask, and you shall receive!

http://www.thecrew.com/news/2013/01/crew-signs-agustín-viana

Agustin Viana, 29, was signed as a Discovery Signing (not sure what that means). He plays LB and Central Midfield. Which is absolutely ideal to what the Crew have been looking for. They'll be able to move him around a bit and place him in the midfield, and hopefully give Anor more experience at the LB position as well. I'm not saying throw Anor out there to someone like LA, but if we were to have a mid-week matchup against Toronto or Chivas, I wouldn't mind seeing Viana playing CM and Anor or even Williams at LB. I'm just glad the Crew finally have some flexibility on the back line.

This team is shaping up quite nicely. I was very worried with the direction the team was headed, the departing players opinions of the coach (not surprising) and FO. One thing you can say about this FO, is they found some very nice transfers last season. They look like they've done the same this season. Here's to hoping this team can develop some chemistry a little earlier in the season than last year. I think they will with Arrieta and Higuain having some games under their belt. Toward the end of last season, Gaven and Higuain seemed to be developing a nice connection. It'd be nice to see them build more off of that as well.

 

[BuckTwenty]

Ask, and you shall receive!

http://www.thecrew.com/news/2013/01/crew-signs-agustín-viana

Agustin Viana, 29, was signed as a Discovery Signing (not sure what that means). He plays LB and Central Midfield. Which is absolutely ideal to what the Crew have been looking for. They'll be able to move him around a bit and place him in the midfield, and hopefully give Anor more experience at the LB position as well. I'm not saying throw Anor out there to someone like LA, but if we were to have a mid-week matchup against Toronto or Chivas, I wouldn't mind seeing Viana playing CM and Anor or even Williams at LB. I'm just glad the Crew finally have some flexibility on the back line.

This team is shaping up quite nicely. I was very worried with the direction the team was headed, the departing players opinions of the coach (not surprising) and FO. One thing you can say about this FO, is they found some very nice transfers last season. They look like they've done the same this season. Here's to hoping this team can develop some chemistry a little earlier in the season than last year. I think they will with Arrieta and Higuain having some games under their belt. Toward the end of last season, Gaven and Higuain seemed to be developing a nice connection. It'd be nice to see them build more off of that as well.

For the little I know of Viana, I'm excited to bring him into the fold. He's likely going to be a nice step forward from Vukovic at left back for us. Viana is not the same player we were pursuing back in December for the left back slot and I'm not sure what happend with the negotiations there with the other guy. Just hope our defenders can stay healthy this year *crosses fingers*

Also, according to Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch (via twitter), the Duka for Oduro trade is final. Speed, speed, and more speed with Oduro. I think he's going to be a fantastic compliament to Higuain and Arrieta up top.

 

[TooTall]

For the little I know of Viana, I'm excited to bring him into the fold. He's likely going to be a nice step forward from Vukovic at left back for us. Viana is not the same player we were pursuing back in December for the left back slot and I'm not sure what happend with the negotiations there with the other guy. Just hope our defenders can stay healthy this year *crosses fingers*

Also, according to Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch (via twitter), the Duka for Oduro trade is final. Speed, speed, and more speed with Oduro. I think he's going to be a fantastic compliament to Higuain and Arrieta up top.

Him and Arrieta up front with the pure speed, and Higuain orchestrating things from the CAM position would be absolutely lethal, but who knows what RW will run formation wise.

 

[TooTall]

Viana is not the same player we were pursuing back in December for the left back slot and I'm not sure what happend with the negotiations there with the other guy.

The Columbus Crew has agreed to terms with Argentine midfielder Matias Sanchez as a Discovery Signing, the club announced Friday. Sanchez will be officially added to the club?s roster pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 Visa.

I believe this is the guy that they had been in negotiations with for quite some time. I LOVE the signing of yet another Argentinian on the team. Bliss has done a great job this off-season with bringing more international players in.

 

[scarletmike]

From what I saw they looked pretty good in their match against Philadelphia down here at the Pro Soccer Classic, beat them 4-0 Thursday. They play Orlando City tomorrow night, so I'll be rushing over for that match after I get off at 5:30, but given how Orlando City looked on Thursday night I'm not expecting much of a fight for the Crew (however the official in the Toronto/Orlando match was horrible).

 

[TooTall]

From what I saw they looked pretty good in their match against Philadelphia down here at the Pro Soccer Classic, beat them 4-0 Thursday. They play Orlando City tomorrow night, so I'll be rushing over for that match after I get off at 5:30, but given how Orlando City looked on Thursday night I'm not expecting much of a fight for the Crew (however the official in the Toronto/Orlando match was horrible).

While it is promising to see the Crew in the win column early in the pre-season, it was the Union whom had an absolutely brutal year last year. Here's to hoping both teams have improved significantly. The East could use these two teams at the top of their game.

 

[RocketBuckeye]

The new season is about to start for the Crew, on the road tonight against Chivas USA.

 

[Merih]

Higuain!

What a goal...beautiful way to start the season!

 

[RocketBuckeye]

Williams scores a great goal off a set piece, then new boy Oduro finishes it off. Great game for the Crew.