Columbus Crew SC and MAPFRE Stadium take the national stage Saturday as the Crew battle for the most-coveted trophy in American professional soccer. It鈥檚 hard to imagine a bigger turnaround from 2017, when the club appeared likely to move to Austin, Texas.
Saturday鈥檚 final
The Crew host the Seattle Sounders FC inside MAPFRE in what is a send-off of sorts for what was once a trend-setting stadium in American sports. The team moved into MAPFRE, the country鈥檚 first soccer-specific professional stadium, in 1999. In 2021 they鈥檙e expected to move into the
If they win their second MLS Cup in club history, the Crew will have to do it without midfielders Darlington Nagbe and Pedro Santos. The club says neither has been medically cleared to play. Columbus also announced it had a player test positive for COVID-19 in testing results received Thursday. It鈥檚 the second player to test positive this week, but the Crew have not announced who the players are.
鈥淭hey just need to play their game. It鈥檚 been successful all year,鈥� says Pat Murphy, who covers the Crew for the website Massive Report. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been a very good defensive team, one of the best in the league.鈥�
Seattle is the defending MLS champion and are playing in the Cup final for the fourth time in five years.
Ups and Downs of 2020
Like all Major League Soccer teams, it鈥檚 been a wild 2020 for the Crew. They played two matches before the league halted the season last spring to limit the spread of coronavirus. They returned for a 鈥渂ubble鈥�-style tournament in Orlando last summer and played well before eventually losing.
MLS returned to regular season play two weeks later. The Crew finished the season 12-6-5 before defeating the New York Red Bulls, Nashville FC and the New England Revolution in the playoffs to reach the Cup final.
A run that nearly didn't happen
The success of 2020 is a far cry from October 2017, when Crew fans were reeling from the announcement by then-owner Anthony Precourt that he was . Precourt cited corporate sponsorships and poor attendance as reasons for looking into relocating. A series of lawsuits and a massive grassroots effort helped a year later when a new ownership group including team physician and Jimmy and Dee Haslam stepped in to buy the Crew.
鈥淚t鈥檚 certainly in a better place than it was under Anthony Precourt鈥� Murphy says. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 there鈥檚 just been more effort put into making this team sustainable in Columbus, and it will be up to the fans and needs to continue to be a growing fanbase to make this work.鈥�
The future of the Crew will play out in the , which is expected to open during the summer of 2021.
While it might not be a nice stadium in a trendy neighborhood, Murphy says fans will miss MAPFRE.
鈥淚t was something American soccer fans had never really seen,鈥� Murphy says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be sad to say goodbye.鈥�
MAPFRE won鈥檛 be going away entirely. The stadium and surrounding area will become the club鈥檚 practice facility.鈥�
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