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Darlington Nagbe leads the Columbus Crew against Pachuca in search of glory in the Concacaf Champions Cup

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1 month ago

June 1, 2024

Darlington Nagbe leads the Columbus Crew against Pachuca in search of glory in the Concacaf Champions Cup

Saturday evening the Columbus crew are given the opportunity to make history as they face it Pachuca in the Concacaf Champions Cup final in Mexico. With a place in the Club World Cup and continental glory at stake, this is a moment that shows what Wilfried wants Nancy has built in such a short time in Columbus, as he has the opportunity to follow up a first season in which he won the MLS Cup with an even bigger prize: becoming only the second MLS team to ever win a Champions Cup won the final.

MLS has gotten better in the league. The previous three finals were played between MLS and Liga MX teams, one of which was won by MLS. It’s something that Columbus Crew midfielder Darlington Nagbe recognized in the run-up to the competition. With players like Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in Major League Soccer, the league has come a long way from the level it was when Nagbe joined in 2011, but one constant is that he is adding to his trophy cabinet.

“It shows that the league is growing, which is not only great for MLS but also for the players, so it’s definitely exciting,” Nagbe told CBS Sports.

As captain of the crew on this trip, there is a certain zen that comes over both Nagbe and the team, because they have been here before, but also because Nancy knows how to prepare his teams down to the smallest detail. Since the Crew will be playing at Estadio Hildago, which is located at an altitude of 2,000 meters, they have prepared by doing altitude training before traveling to Mexico. From masks during training to simulate the lack of air, to players sleeping in height tents, there isn’t a detail that hasn’t been covered and that’s before you get to Nancy’s tactical setups on the pitch.

“[The altitude training] is trying to get used to those circumstances as best as possible. Everything helps, so a little bit that you can do here even if you can’t get the exact same feeling, a little bit that you do to adjust your body and get used to that feeling when you go there helps, Nagbe said about how the training helps the team acclimatize.

“It’s just to mimic the kind of air you breathe in and out while you’re there.” I think the mask and the things they put on for us should reproduce that as best as possible. You should ask the scientists that.”

Knowing that Pachuca will put pressure on the crew and do their best to tire them out, the crew prepares to be pressured at high altitude and having a midfield with Nagbe and Aidan Morris is quite an advantage. The duo have already won the MLS Cup together and Morris has grown as a player since having to fill in for Nagbe in the Crew’s midfield as Nagbe missed the 2020 MLS Cup due to Covid. Now together again in midfield, these are two players who know what is expected of them.

“My role now is to be available for the next pass, not just on attack, but when we win the ball and it creates turnovers by being there and being able to put pressure on them to win the ball back. is the biggest thing myself and Aidan want to do well by being close to each other,” Nagbe said. “We’re trying to give the team a chance to play out and break the press and get it to the key guys so they can. can try to play for us.”

Although Nagbe makes things sound simple because of his experience, if the Crew can win the midfield battle by keeping the ball away from Oussama Idrissi and Salomon Rondon, they have a great opportunity to pacify the Pachuca fans and to push for a victory. Of Diego Rossi And Cucho Hernández When leading the Crew offense, one Pachuca turnover could prove fatal if executed well in the match.

This is why mapping out the details, but keeping things loose, is so important in preparing for it. There’s no right way to prepare for a cup final, but there’s always the chance that a team will feel the nerves that could cause them to fall apart in a big moment. The Crew is not one of those teams. On the threshold of the most important match in club history, they behave like a team that has already been there, because they have done that under Nancy. Now it comes down to execution, but knowing who they are will only make taking on a tough challenge like Pachuca easier.