Monterrey

The Crew can advance to the club’s first-ever continental championship on Wednesday night in Mexico. After a thrilling and intense first leg in central Ohio, the Black & Gold travel to Monterrey to face CF Monterrey in the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinal. The Crew holds a 2-1 aggregate lead over their counterparts thanks to goals from Cucho Hernandez and Jacen Russel-Rowe last week. The Crew now travels to Mexico in hopes of advancing to the CCC final, by whatever means necessary.

It won’t be an easy task for the Black & Gold as they face a Rayados side that hasn’t lost at home in this competition yet. Monterrey will have a large crowd behind them urging them onwards with the hope of a chance at their 6th continental title. 

Last week’s game showed us a glimpse into what this match could hold on Wednesday and how the Rayados will look to beat the Crew, and vice-versa.

Monterrey at a glance:

Record: 9-5-3, 32 points

Recent Form (All Comps): W-L-L-D-W

Leading Scorer: Sergio Canales (7)

Assist Leader: Sergio Canales, Jorge Rodriguez (4)

Player to Watch: Sergio Canales

The leading scorer and tied leader in assists for one of the best teams in the region is certainly a player that the Black & Gold will need to keep an eye on. When you add in Canales’ pedigree and his usual location on the pitch, the Crew will have to be at its very best to stop Canales in this match. The 33-year-old Spainard joined Rayados last summer and has been the main man in the Monterrey engine room ever since. Before joining Rayados, Canales had spent the entirety of his career in his native Spain racking up over 400 appearances in La Liga with the likes of Valencia, Real Sociedad, Real Betis, and Real Madrid. Canales is no stranger to the big stage and will be more comfortable than most in the atmosphere in Estadio BBVA on Wednesday. Canales is a central attacking midfielder by nature and one of the best in the region. While Canales is not as much of a 1v1 dribbler as he was before, he still has the ability to unlock even the stiffest of defenses with his passing. His ability to accurately connect passes, combined with the vision to see the correct pass before the space even opens up makes him second to none left in this competition. Canales operating in the central part of the field makes him an even bigger worry for the Black & Gold as they struggled to defend in this area of the pitch last week. Watch out for Canales on Wednesday as his performance could be the difference if the Crew let him wiggle free too much.

How Monterrey plays: 

Monterrey boss Fernando Ortiz has played a variety of formations over the course of the year and in fact used a variety of shapes last Wednesday in Columbus. Ortiz prefers to play his side in a 4-2-3-1 formation and I expect he will use this same formation, at least to start the match, on Wednesday night. However, his side’s shape fluctuates in different moments of the game, which we will touch on below.

When in periods of sustained possession, Rayados will ditch their 4-2-3-1 shape and opt for a more attacking shape with a few player movements. Namely, a central midfielder will drop down the field to move in between two splitting center backs to make a back three. This allows the Rayados outside backs to move further up the pitch to act as wingbacks. Simultaneously, the wingers will move a little bit higher up the field and inside to try and stress their opponent’s backline. These wingers have the ability to alternate their starting position between on the opponent’s last defender or in the gaps between the opponent’s backline and midfield. When it’s all said and done, the Rayados shape in possession looks much more like a 3-4-3, similar to Columbus. 

It is worth noting that last Wednesday Rayados were looking to play direct balls in behind the Crew’s backline, and specifically the Columbus wingbacks. This was largely done in the first few moments after Columbus lost the ball as Rayados looked to catch them out of position in attacking transition. When Rayados had extended periods of possession, they switched their focus to progressing the ball and attacking through the central areas of the field. Raydos’ best attacking moments came when they were able to find a winger or Sergio Canales in between the Crew’s midfield and defensive line in possession. 

Defensively, Rayados rely on being solid in their defensive shape, limiting space in behind and in between their defensive lines and opening up space to counterattack when they win the ball. Last Wednesday, Raydos used a 4-4-2 defensive shape against the Black & Gold, with one slight wrinkle. When possible, Rayados left one central midfielder in a deeper position than the other, about 5-10 yards in front of the backline, instead of higher up the field with his central midfield partner. Presumably, this was to limit the Crew’s ability to find Cucho and Diego Rossi in possession. It will be interesting to see if this same tactic is used on Wednesday and if Wilfried Nancy and company have an answer for it.

 Regardless, Monterrey’s usual tactics in CCC play have been to defend in a mid-block about ¾ of the way up the field and frustrate their opponents by limiting space and time to play. However,  I wouldn’t be surprised if Rayados extended their line of initial pressure higher up the field to try and put the Crew under pressure in this match. This added pressure up the field, combined with the atmosphere and the pressure that is inherently on Columbus when playing in Mexico could be enough to give Monterrrey the upper hand early on in this match.

How the Crew can advance:

The Crew are 90 minutes away from more history in this competition and the first continental championship appearance for MLS’s oldest club. The task is pretty simple: win, draw, or lose by one and score more than one goal. Statistically speaking, the Crew are in a great position to go through. In reality, however, this task will be incredibly tough for Columbus. However, this is a team that has been in this position before, in the same city, literally weeks ago. The Crew will have to use some of that experience and execute in a few crucial areas in order to advance to the CCC final. 

1. Start Well: Rayados and their supporters will be up for this match right from kickoff. The atmosphere will no doubt be a bit intimidating for the Black & Gold and Monterrey will be looking to capitalize early and put the Crew under pressure. Crew fans will remember the disastrous start the Black & Gold had on the road to Tigres in the last round. The Crew were 1-0 down but easily could and probably should have been 2 or 3 nil down after the first half. The Crew can’t afford to have a repeat of that start in this match. Look for Columbus to handle the pressure in a smart way early and look to build rhythm and confidence as the half wears on. 
2. Defend the Central Areas: The Crew’s midfield line was left chasing shadows in behind them last Wednesday at times. Monterrey succeeded in getting the ball into central areas behind the Crew’s midfield often last match. This is a dangerous area of the field and one that the Crew need to protect better on the road. Look for the Crew’s forward line to clog the middle a bit better by positioning themselves a bit further inside and deeper defensively. 
3. Score a Goal: Duh, pretty much anyone could have included this but there’s a few reasons for this maddeningly obvious key. 1.) The Crew’s best form of defense is attacking and putting the other team under pressure. Columbus isn’t built to defend marginal leads for long periods of time. 2.) A Crew goal wipes away Monterrey’s biggest advantage heading into this match as each side will have an away goal. Obviously, if the Crew gives up 5 goals, scoring one won’t matter much, but you get my drift. 3.) For me, this match will pick up intensity and pace after the first goal goes in. If it is a Crew goal, Monterrey will need to win by two, which will cause them to push forward and press, opening space for the Crew in behind. If it’s a Monterrey goal, the onus would then be on the Black & Gold to go find a goal. Obviously, the Crew and their fans would much prefer the former.