It’s in the title, folks. Every week during the MLS season, Backheeled will dive into the biggest Winners and Losers from around the league. This week, the Crew played an “away-home” game, a pair of struggling Eastern Conference teams gave themselves a chance to breathe, and the LA Galaxy found themselves inextricably tied to the league’s least enviable club.
Loser: Columbus Crew
Wilfried Nancy called it an “away-home” game.
When the Columbus Crew hosted Inter Miami on Saturday afternoon, they weren’t suiting up in their own locker room at Lower.com Field. They weren’t even suiting up in their own city. With ownership keen to capitalize on the Lionel Messi ticket bump, the Crew’s home game was held in Cleveland at the Brown’s Huntington Bank Field. More than 60,000 fans took in a matchup between the final two undefeated teams in the league — and in that way, Saturday was a success for the Crew, if not for Columbus.
When the final whistle blew, though, only one undefeated team remained: Inter Miami.
With home field advantage historically carrying more weight in MLS than in Europe’s biggest leagues, the Crew didn’t have the luxury of a familiar atmosphere. Two hours north on I-71, they lost 1-0 in their first regular season defeat of the year.
