2022 MLS Season Previews: Columbus Crew, Inter Miami CF, Nashville SC
/We’ll be publishing three team previews every weekday until the MLS season opens on Saturday, February 26, 2022. You can find all of them here!
_________________________________________________
Columbus Crew: Berry with the good Hair-ston
Going into 2021, the Crew were touted as potentially the strongest and deepest team in MLS history. As it turned out, they were not. Injuries ravaged the squad and Caleb Porter’s inability to make the playoffs in consecutive years led to a massively disappointing season.
Columbus returns most of the core that won the MLS Cup in 2020 and finished 8th in the East in 2021 hoping that last year was just an aberration.
2021 in Review
2021 was a season mostly best forgotten. Aiden Morris tore his ACL in CONCACAF Champions League play before the MLS season even started, setting the tone for the rest of the year. The team never really kicked into gear once the season started and spiraled down to eight losses in nine games over the summer during which Artur, Perry Kitchen, Kevin Molino, and the best logo in the league were lost to injuries and a catastrophic rebrand, respectively. Results improved toward the end of the season, though the underlying numbers didn’t. Even so, it was too late, and the Crew missed the playoffs by one point.
It wasn’t all terrible. The Crew opened a new stadium, won the made-for-TV Campeones Cup (check out the MVP trophy), Lucas Zelarayan scored some bangers, and the club discovered the next great American striker in Miguel Berry.
Offseason Roster Changes
While Tim Bezbatchenko kept most of the oldest team in MLS intact, the defense has undergone a renovation and the squad has gotten a bit younger. Gone are tricenarians Bradley Wright-Phillips, Harrison Afful, Vito Wormgoor, Waylon Francis, and Saad Abdul-Salaam. Aboubacar Keita was traded to Colorado. Liam Fraser and Milton Valenzuela were not re-signed. Australian Miloš Degenek was signed to start alongside Jonathan Mensah at center back with Jalil Anibaba as a backup. Columbus paid $2m to Wisla Kraków to terminate their contract with winger Yaw Yeboah in order to sign a new one with the Crew. Columbus picked up some veteran depth at central mid by signing James Igbekeme on loan from Real Zaragoza as well as a plethora of prospects in the draft and via homegrown signings.
One Big Question: Can the Crew get any production from the wings?
Since Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay left Columbus, the team has been looking for reliable wingers. The combined xG+xA per 96’ of the Crew’s wingers was only 0.28, lowest of any Columbus winger corps since 2013, and third lowest of any team in 2021 (Miami and Cincinnati were lower). Over the course of the season, the wingers contributed 4.9 fewer goals added compared to a league-average winger. Despite this being a known problem to the front office, the Crew are returning every winger from 2021. Pedro Santos has been a steady contributor, but will be 34 in April and is slated to be the starting left back, barring any new additions. Kevin Molino can be a game changer, but he will be coming off his third ACL injury and it remains to be seen how much he will be able to contribute this year. Luis Diaz’s speed can change games, but too often his final touch and decision fail him. To make matters worse, he hasn’t really improved on this since he arrived in 2019. Derrick Etienne Jr. is solid but unspectacular, with some notable exceptions. Last year’s Young-Money signing, Alexandru Mățan, showed flashes, but was largely inconsistent. Enter Ghanaian international Yaw Yeboah. He’s been a journeyman after joining Manchester City from Right to Dream Academy, with the Crew being his seventh team in as many years. Coming from the Polish Ekstraklasa, we don’t really have a lot of data on Yeboah, but his flame-enhanced EDM highlight video sure looks tantalizing (as they all do). If the Crew’s wingers can put up average numbers, it will go a long way in taking the team back to the playoffs.
2022 Prognosis
Given this is an even-numbered year and Caleb Porter is the coach, the Crew will definitely make the playoffs. If their aging spine (Room, Mensah, Nagbe, Zelaryan, and Zardes will all be at least 30 during the season) can stay healthy, the Crew should be a solid team, although unlikely to be challenging for the Supporter’s Shield. One player to watch is Miguel Berry. The 7th overall pick of the 2020 MLS SuperDraft was something of a revelation, leading the league in goals per game and coming in second in xG per game. This season will tell if he deserves a call up to the USMNT (or Spain), or if he was just a flash in the pan. The Crew are a team built for the playoffs because Lucas Zelarayan is a big-game player (see 2020 MLS Cup, 2021 Campeones Cup, 2021 CCL vs Monterey) and if the team gets there, they’ve got a chance.
_________________________________________________
Inter Miami CF: Say hello to my little rebuild
By Simon Thwaits
2021 Recap
Inter Miami CF was terrible in 2021. They were also pretty terrible in 2020, although they did sneak into the playoffs that year (but, really with 10 of 14 Eastern Conference teams making the playoffs that year, that wasn’t much of an accomplishment). I should also bring up the fact that they cheated on the roster rules in 2020 and are still suffering penalties related to that incident. The only real positive is that they haven’t been FC Cincinnati.
2022 Roster Status
Take a look at the bottom of this chart, courtesy of Eliot McKinley:
YOWZA! On one hand, that’s a lot of turnover. On the other, calling last year’s Inter Miami a dumpster fire would probably be generous, so the turnover might be a good thing.
In terms of major moves, it’s easier to list the players staying than the ones that have departed. Gregore will still be holding down the defensive midfield and Gonzalo Higuain will be playing somewhere in the attacking half. Otherwise, returning outfield players with significant minutes are Brek Shea and Robbie Robinson. Everyone else returning played less than 1000 minutes.
So, you want to move to Miami?
I hear that people like the idea of living in Miami. Probably good for Inter Miami, because if we’re being honest, the on-field prospects aren’t a great recruitment tool so far.
With so many roster spots to fill, Inter Miami has added a lot of players, despite being financially hampered by the allocation money penalties from their cheating scandal. These include backline additions in USA international DeAndre Yedlin, Jamaican international Damion Lowe, and U22-initiative attackers Emerson Rodriguez and Leonardo Campana. They’ve also added a second Brazilian midfielder in Jean Mota. There have been several other additions from within MLS, likely to be reserves, in Bryce Duke, Mo Adams, and Ariel Lassiter.
It’s hard to say what other moves will be made, but Inter Miami should have two open DP spots due to the departure of Rodolfo Pizzaro and the likely imminent departure of Blaise Matuidi.
What will 2022 look like?
Given the sheer amount of roster turnover, this is a tough one. However, we have a couple of data points to look at. Preseason isn’t a great one, but it does give a look into some basics. On February 12th, Inter Miami played against Columbus and ran out a 5-3-2 with a midfield of Jean Mota, Gregore, and Victor Ulloa. Gonzalo Higuain and Leonardo Campana started up top, with Higuain taking a lot of playmaking responsibility and eventually setting up Ariel Lassiter for Miami’s only goal in a 1-1 tie.
Another data point is Higuain’s performance in 2021.
The first thing I take away from this is that if Higuain is playing on the forward line, Miami is probably going to have a difficult time pressing effectively. The second thing is that he was actually solid at providing assists, if not elite. So, what does this mean for Inter Miami in 2022?
The 5-3-2 formation that they rolled out in their first preseason game might be a good fit, as they’ll need to be solid at the back with Higuain not contributing much defensively. If I were an Inter Miami fan, my hope for the team would be that they spend the first part of the season getting cohesive as a defensive unit, then manage to squeak into the playoffs based on that. It’s not the most exciting prospect, but there is hope for Inter Miami, at least in that they seem to have invested more in central midfield and the backline: two places that should help them be less bad than they were in 2021.
_________________________________________________
Nashville SC: Livin’ la vida Loba
By Ben Wright
Nashville SC exceeded expectations again in 2021. The second-year side qualified for the playoffs for the second-straight season, putting them in rarified air in MLS.
With the bulk of the squad returning, and some key new additions, Nashville appear to be in good position to qualify for a third consecutive year, albeit in a new conference.
2021 in Review
Nashville finished 2021 in third place in the East, tied on points with second-place Philadelphia Union. The Coyotes lost just four times all season, and were undefeated at home, but drew a stunning 18 matches, poetically tying the single-season record.
Hany Mukhtar led the league with 31 combined goals and assists, and free-agent acquisition CJ Sapong’s 12 goals kept designated players Jhonder Cádiz and Aké Loba on the bench. Nashville also finished with the joint-best defense in MLS, allowing just 33 goals.
Despite all of this, it still felt like a season of ‘what ifs’ for Music City. They conceded 12 times from set pieces, including twice in the playoffs. Ten of those goals resulted in dropped points. They took just 24 of 42 possible points from the bottom five in the table. And they conceded first in half of their home matches. Needless to say, Nashville left a significant number of points on the table.
Offseason Roster Changes
Mike Jacobs has kept the bulk of his squad intact, bringing back the second-most minutes of any squad from last season. Defender Alistair Johnston was traded to CF Montreal for $1 million in GAM, but the rest of the core is back.
They’ve added to their core as well. Midfielder Sean Davis was widely viewed as one of the best options in free agency, and looks likely to earn starting minutes from the get go. Teal Bunbury and Ethan Zubak were added to bolster the attack, as well as defensive depth pieces like Josh Bauer and Ahmed Longmire.
One Big Question
Aké Loba was signed last summer for a club record $6.8 million, but managed just 478 minutes and one goal. He’s had a full preseason to adjust, and has drawn rave reviews from Nashville’s staff in preseason. If his second-season improvement even dimly mirrors that of Hany Mukhtar, Nashville’s attack is in good shape.
Nashville pursued Loba for over two years, and spent big to get him. They can’t afford for him to be anything other than one of the better attackers in MLS this season.
2022 Prognosis
The schedule has plenty of challenges for Nashville. MLS pushed them to the Western Conference, setting them up for the most travel in a single MLS season. Their new stadium won’t open until May, either, meaning that they’ll start the year with an eight match road stretch.
Still, this has proven to be one of the better squads in the league over the past two years. Mukhtar has evolved into one of the most dangerous attackers in the league, and they’ve added pieces that should improve the rest of the attack. Despite the new conference, this Nashville side should be firmly in the mix for a top-four spot at the end of the season.