Columbus Crew Vs Minnesota United: 3 things to watch for – Cup contenders clash
By Harvey Cruz
1. Caleb Porter vs. Adrian Heath
The two managers involved are two of the most experienced in all of MLS. This will be the sixth MLS meeting between Adrian Heath and Caleb Porter, the former going 4-1. Heath has also fired a jab for this much-anticipated game:
"“Well, we probably won’t turn up because everybody’s crowned them champions already, so we’ll give it to them. I know they’re a very good team, they’re well-coached, they’ve got good individuals, spent a lot of money on a lot of players. And they’ve been very impressive. But I also know that Caleb [Porter] will have enough respect for this group to know that it’s not going to be, probably, as easy as a lot of people think.”"
On the flip side, Porter isn’t buying into Heath’s apparent mind games:
"“He likes to sandbag his team a little bit and take the attention off them and put it on the other team. The problem with that is everybody knows they have a good team. If you look at their record, they’re now unbeaten on the year. If you look at where they’re at in the Supporters’ Shield, they’re third-best in the league. So everybody knows they’re a good team. This is the best team we’ve played so far this season.”"
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It will be interesting to see how each manager approaches this game. You would anticipate Columbus being the instigators and Minnesota sitting deep, relying on their excellent defense and breaking forwards on the counter-attack. However, should Heath set his team too pragmatically, the Crew’s building pressure will eventually pay dividends. This, then, is set to be a tactical battle and tantalising contest, one that could be a terrific watch indeed.