Columbus, Ohio is not the first place that springs to mind as a soccer capital of North America. Mexico City has the Estadio Azteca, U.S. cities big and small have treasured venues and long histories with the sport. For a while, Columbus was more likely to be wiped off the soccer map entirely rather than convert into a city habitually welcoming the biggest contests the game has to offer.
Yet, here we are. Again. Columbus is hosting one of the most important matches in the region, welcoming LAFC for the Leagues Cup final on Sunday.
To thank for that? The passionate fans of the club, the players on the field, a new ownership group and a French coach named Wilfried Nancy.
As the fans and owners have provided the culture and infrastructure, Nancy - along with former President and General Manager Tim Bezbatchenko and current GM Issa Tall - set about building a winning team. With a chance to lift the Leagues Cup trophy months after lifting the MLS Cup and making it all the way to the Concacaf Champions Cup final, it’s clear Nancy has been successful.
“We are proud,” Nancy said. “This is something we tried to put (in place) when I took over the team, to have a vision but also to think big and to achieve small things, to write a legacy.
“It was confusing in the beginning because it was about mindset, the way we want to play, the day-to-day work, but the small steps we’ve put in along the way, and are still doing, is why - for the moment - we are a winning team.”
As Nancy nodded at, no team stays on top forever, but landing in the Leagues Cup final is a clear sign the Crew have staying power. The 3-1 semifinal win over the Philadelphia Union qualified the Crew for a spot in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup just months after they made a run all the way to the final of that tournament. They have played fewer Leagues Cup games than their rivals thanks to a bye, earned by winning the MLS Cup final at Lower.com Field in December 2023.
That is the most finals in such short succession of any team in MLS, as the team noted on social media with a graphic that declared “First MLS Club to reach 3 Finals in 9 months … & only the sixth to do so in a 12-month span”.
The Crew also hosted the All-Star Game and a number of friendlies this summer, leading plenty of supporters to wear a well-trod path to Lower.com Field as big matches continue to take place there.
In a league that prizes parity, the Crew have achieved a level of staying power at the top that few others have, especially as the league continues to evolve. That has helped them get to this place where they’re ready to host a second final and contest a third one in a short period of time.
“It's really good because it's something that you work for, to again be in a final and competing in a high level,” said forward Diego Rossi, a Leagues Cup golden boot candidate after his semifinal double took his tally to six in the tournament and tied him with LAFC’s Denis Bouanga atop the scoring charts.
With all the work the Crew have put in preseason, during and after the CCC run, and now in the Leagues Cup, their feeling is that they must take advantage of the opportunity and claim their reward.
“They don’t take this final for granted,” Nancy said. “They know what it means, the work that they do every day. Now, (it’s about) being ready for the final.”
One challenge is avoiding taking on too much of the weight of being a fixture in important matches. Too many big teams crumble under the expectation of victory. So far, the Crew have continued to play loose, to be confident in their system and to continue to play in their style whether they’re ahead or if they conceded early.
“Wilfred mentioned he knows we're going to compete on Sunday, but he wants us to enjoy it and play with joy,” Crew forward Christian Ramirez said. “So that's all we can do, not put any extra pressure on ourselves, which we didn't this whole tournament, and it's been elimination games every game. So, we'll be ourselves, be confident in ourselves, respect our opponent and get after it.”
After seeing the previous body of work, no one will doubt that Nancy and Co. will be ready for Sunday night’s title-decider, taking place in a city that has become the unlikely soccer capital of the region.
