Philadelphia Union have been looking up at Columbus Crew all season. The Crew had six points when these teams first met — a 0-0 draw — and they have remained in the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference all season. But little by little, the Union have hauled in their Ohio-based rivals.
Now, with only four matches remaining in the season, Philly can climb into the top four places in n striking distance of the conference and plant themselves firmly in the driver’s seat for a home playoff match (while moving within striking distance of third place NYCFC as well). But it will not be easy.
Ruin the Rhythm
Both the Union and Crew succeed when they establish attacking rhythms. Move the ball around, do it quickly, and put it on the feet of your dangerous players in especially dangerous areas. For Columbus this means finding Federico Higuain around the box and Gyasi Zardes in the box.
But how do they do it?
Passing patterns. Repeatable, incisive, and difficult to stop. The Crew build out of the back relentlessly and use goalie Zack Steffen to instigate the attack. When opposing teams pressure Steffen, they leave gaps elsewhere on the pitch. Steffen can play simple passes wide to his center backs, lift balls over defenders to his fullbacks, and play between the lines to Wil Trapp and Artur if they are left unmarked. This puts a question to Columbus’ opponents: Sit back and let the Crew bring the ball forward? Or press high and try to organize in a way that prevents Steffen from finding players in space beyond the first wave of pressure? There’s no right answer; it depends on the resources at your disposal.
The Union have an incredibly athletic and mobile front three, and both CJ Sapong and Fafa Picault have proven excellent high pressers around Cory Burke. Philly will likely come out and try to disrupt the Crew’s buildups so Higuain cannot get on the ball in dangerous positions. The Argentine playmaker is very willing to drop deep to help with buildups, but this can make Columbus’ passing more ponderous unless they get appropriate movements from the wingers to fill space behind their central attacker.
Gregg Berhalter clearly recognizes that when Higuain drops, the wing players will need to come inside and advance the ball with their feet. Both Justin Meram and Pedro Santos are strong on the ball and unafraid to dribble through the lines. The Union will need to do their best to keep both guys from turning when they collect the ball in the center. Once either one faces up to a defensive line, they can look for Zardes or the fullbacks streaking behind the defensive line.
Organized pressure
Up front, the big question for Philly is this: Leaving Higuain to the side for a moment, how do you press the Crew’s inevitable attempts to build from the back? Columbus is likely to start Lalas Abubakar and Jonathan Mensah at the center back positions, and Philly will try to split those defenders to force the Crew to favor one side of the pitch. Mensah is prone to the odd big error (a change from last season when he was prone to many big errors) and has a lower pass completion percentage than Abubakar, but forcing Columbus to the right means allowing them to play through Harrison Afful, and it means moving the ball away from Philly’s right, which is often their stronger side.
Union method of attack
Philly is likely to attack the Crew by trying to create separation in Columbus’ back four and move Wil Trapp out of the center. To do this, the Union will need to transition quickly off Crew turnovers so Artur and his endless stamina can’t recover and help guard the back line. When Trapp and Artur are in place, Columbus becomes extremely difficult to penetrate, and Philly will need to spend more time on the flanks.
One of the interesting things to watch in this showdown will be how the Crew handle the Union’s right-sided attacks. Trapp often plays to the left of Artur, but Columbus won’t want him pulled out of the center too often. Justin Meram can drop deep, but this makes it more difficult for the Crew to move the ball forward after they win it, since they’ll need to wait for Meram to recover his position. This could lead to the Crew themselves having a right-sided lean in attack, and if that happens Philly will need Haris Medunjanin to be at the top of his game defensively both tracking Higuain and recognizing when to hold his position when the Argentinian drops deep.
Small things to watch
Zardes triggering the press. The Union are patient moving the ball out of the back, and they will often try to move an opponent around so Haris Medunjanin can drop deep and get on the ball early and with time. Gyasi Zardes and, at times, Higuain like to press horizontal passes between the center backs because this can force the player receiving the ball to put his head down. If Zardes presses, he will try to get into the lane between CBs and push the ball wide, and the Crew can then push forward and trap on the wing. NYC often had an extra man on the wing, but the timing of that Crew pressure made it difficult for the center backs to find the open player.
Returning to the scene of the press. One intriguing tactic the Crew have used in the past is to return the ball to the area from which pressing recently came. For instance, if pressure forces play back to Steffen, he may actually try to return the ball to the side of the pitch it came from instead of looking the other way. The idea is that once pressure is broken, the pressing players may be disorganized and planned patterns of passes can quickly break them down.
Dribbling wingers. When Columbus is dangerous, they have multiple routes through which to go back-to-front. They can go through advanced fullbacks, play into Higuain’s feet in the center, or find their narrow wingers and let them dribble at a defense. This last one is important this season since the Crew have gotten very little goal output from the wing positions. That means both Meram and Santos — the two most likely starters — will need to be involved in progressing the ball.
The Union and Crew face off with fourth place on the line at 7:30PM EST at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, OH.
