OBETZ, Ohio – Gregg Berhalter has instilled a one-game-at-a-time attitude in his team since the first day he arrived in Columbus. His approach has been that every game matters the same as every other game, and that none are more important than the next.
But Berhalter’s club sit seven points out of playoff position and play a direct competitor in the New England Revolution this weekend (Saturday, 7:30 pm ET; MLS LIVE). And while he won’t say the season would be over without a win, the Crew SC boss is finally ready to call the match a must-win.
“I’m not sure how much a point helps us. [A draw] won’t be the worst, but we’re looking at this as a six-point game,” Berhalter said at Crew SC training Thursday.
“We talked this morning about what this game means, exactly what this game means, and there being a lot of implications behind this game. If you win it, you’re back in it. If you tie, it doesn’t help much, and if you lose, it’s tough.”
The change in tone has been relayed to the players, and Ethan Finlay said they’ve taken note.
“[The media] has obviously caught on to it, and it’s alarming as well to us,” he said. “It’s not in a bad way, but it says, ‘OK, here we go.’ If we didn’t feel the pressure before from outside people, this is your leader saying, ‘OK, this is it.’”
Finlay said the team has had a particularly intense week of training, and are treating the match in New England as if it were a playoff game.
“It’s your wild-card game,” he said. “It’s win or go home, in essence, and I think we have to have that mentality. We can’t accept anything but three points. I don’t think, mathematically, with one point we’re out of it, but you’re way behind the 8 ball. And that’s not something we’ve been very good at as of late.”
Wil Trapp said Columbus’s “backs are against the wall,” and agreed the intensity of the week has been “ramped up.” He said the team plays its best when they’re the most focused, and that’s what practice has indicated.
“It’s different, compared to what we’re used to,” he said of Berhalter’s message. “We know the situation, and that, in and of itself, is the motivation. All of us have to take a long look at ourselves in the mirror and know that we are the ones that caused this situation to happen.”
But while Trapp and his teammates are looking in the mirror, Berhalter is looking for answers.
He still doesn’t believe his team has played poorly in most games, and has instead failed to capitalize on their chances.
“It’s a season of missed opportunities, to be honest,” he said. “When I look at these games at home and some of these games on the road, to think that we’re winless on the road and that we’ve tied our last six home games is unfathomable. It’s really hard to come to terms with because of the way we’ve played in a lot of these games.”
