For this week's Prep Talk, I spoke with Craig Merz, who has covered The Crew since their inaugural season in 1996.
What's been the key to Columbus' success (wins in four of their last five matches) under interim Head Coach Brian Bliss?
"They are 4-1 with their only loss being in Kansas City, since Brian Bliss took over. I think one thing is they are more relaxed. There was a lot of pressure there with Robert Warzycha and whether he was going to get fired, whether wasn't going to get fired, or what would the new owners do. I think maybe his last month there, the team was really stressing out to be honest with you. They weren't playing freely. They weren't playing relaxed. They weren't having fun. Brian came in and said you know it's a tough road ahead of us but let's have a clean slate. They've relaxed. Tactically, I thnk he's had them play a little quicker, move the ball quicker. This team's a little more aggressive than what they were under Warzycha. They get the ball and go so really they are just playing with a lot of confidence right now."
In addition to scoring goals and providing assists, what makes Federico Higuain one of the best players in MLS?
"He really makes everyone around him better. I think we saw that at the end of last season. Eddie Gaven scored four or five goals late in the season after Higuain joined the team. Eddie had nine goals last year, which was his career high. Higuain was a part of that with his assists. Bernardo Anor, a third year player who has had two goals lifetime coming into this season has got four this year now playing behind Higuain on the left side. Again, Higuain makes the players around him better. He distributes the ball really well and especially his free kicks. They're always dangerous. If they can get the fouls and get into a good spot with a corner kick or a restart, they've got a good chance to score a goal. He's provided leadership on and off the field and that's really good for The Crew. He's learned English since the year he's been here. He can now do some interviews in English, not really well but he's going to get better at it. That's one of the things he's done. He wants to be a leader on this team and in the community so he took it on himself to take classes and now he's learning the language. He's been a big addition to The Crew."
What do you expect to see from Saturday's match?
"I think it's playoff time. Sporting KC has a chance to catch New York and trying to fend off Montreal and Houston. I love MLS at this time of the year when you're getting into the final month. These are high tempo matches. These are very intense. Usually the weather is nicer. It's not 95 degrees and draining the players so they can go up and down the pitch. It's going to really be a back and forth match. The Crew would like that, I think more than Sporting KC would. I think The Crew would love to get into a little bit of a run and gun because I think now they feel have the players that can score the goals. "
