Inside the Crew - September 2, 2026

In contrast to that Nashville performance, which was pretty good for about 90 minutes, the Columbus crew really turned things around against Club America.

They traveled 1,200-plus miles in a midweek game.

It was their ninth game in 31 days.

I mean, just an incredible test.

And yet they showed up against Club America.

I know they conceded two, but they found 18 shots, eight on frame.

And I asked interim head coach Laurent Courtois how he can justify that and then look at that New England performance on the weekend, and it just doesn't feel really good.

It doesn't feel like

it's even the

same team.

Just reflect on the version of us that we can be when we're all on the same page.

and we were obviously really pleased with the performance, the attitude and the picture that we wanted and the mentality.

It was also one of the most aggressive and intensive teams that we played so far.

So for a lot of reasons that you just mentioned, we were in a good spot.

And then this is why the past game, and when you look at kind of the opposite, when we looked hesitant and not up to the challenge, knowing the context was disappointing.

That is interim head coach Laurent Courtois talking about the two performances, in particular the Club America game, and that game for 90 minutes against Nashville, where you've got two of the most powerful teams right now in the continent, and you're competing with them, and you're just not able to get the result for a couple of different reasons.

I'm glad the crew can look back on those games.

It does, however, make the result against New England that much more sour.

But I really have got to believe that this is a timing thing with the roster flip, as well as a game every 2.8 days, essentially, is what we were dealing with over the last month.

And so three days of training this week and Colorado on the weekend, and we're off and running for the last dozen games in the regular season.

But don't overlook the fact that we've got a semifinal in the U.S. Open Cup, and that's coming up on September 16th.

In fact, it's the first time in 16 years that the crew are in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.