Following Sunday's Major League Soccer regular season finale at Yankee Stadium against New York City FC, Columbus Crew SC's technical staff — led by Sporting Director and Head Coach Gregg Berhalter — had already initiated preparations for 2017. The final whistle blew to close one season while opening another full of promise and a calendar flush with time to recalibrate, refine and hit the ground running.
"For us, it’s starting to solidify the roster," Berhalter said. "We know it’s not going to be complete in just two or three weeks. But we want to make some strides toward improving the roster while also maintaining the core that we think is so important here. The first thing is notifying the players of where they stand. We have some players with options, so we want to give them the information so they can plan accordingly.
"As far as training, this first week [of the off-season] is going to be individual training followed by a week of team training — where we can really give some advice and set the tone for what the off-season's going to look like."
Crew SC concluded it's 2016 with a surge, finishing the second half of the season winning five and drawing five. Since August 1, Crew SC's 20 points rank fifth in MLS as they've scored 24 goals in that span. The final three months of the long 34-match season show that Berhalter and Co. have electric attacking pieces that are capable of creating and contributing back-of-the-net bulging bursts.
The Black & Gold teamsheet and starting XI that concluded 2016 is much different than the one that kicked off the MLS regular season in March. Ola Kamara didn't start a match until May 14 — seeing the pitch for just 50 minutes of game action prior to that — but led Crew SC with 16 goals in 25 appearances.
Crew SC's longest-tenured player, midfielder Justin Meram, contributed a career year with the League's third-highest assist total (13) — with the Black & Gold going 6-2-3 in games that he has an assist — while earning three international caps with Iraq.
Midseason acquisition Adam Jahn played just 459 minutes over 12 appearances (four starts), but scored five goals with Crew SC. Jahn's previous club — the San Jose Earthquakes, where he played 62 matches since 2013 — saw leading-scorer Chris Wondolowski finish with 12 goals in 30 games, but Jahn's 1.01 goals per 90 minutes since the July 30 trade that brought him to Columbus more than quadruples Wondolowski's 0.25 goals per 90 minutes. Jahn tallied a goal with San Jose in 2016 before joining Crew SC, totaling a career-best six this season.
“I don’t think we played necessarily terribly this year," Berhalter said. "There were some good games and I think we’re a good team. I think that what we want to do is change the mentality a little bit. I think 2017 will be crucial in doing that. We have a good group and we shouldn’t be in the position we were in.”
Defenders like Harrison Afful (30 appearances — all starts — with three goals and three assists), Nicolai Naess (13 matches — all starts — with two assists) and Corey Ashe (18 appearances — 14 starts — with four assists) have each contributed in transition from defense to the attack. MLS All-Star, Crew SC Homegrown Player and defensive midfielder Wil Trapp has grown into the Club's Vice Captain while helping anchor the midfield as the League's second-ranked possession passer (1,963 passes completed, minimum 100 attempts) and seventh-most accurate passer (88.06%, minimum 100 attempts).
With the foundation laid through the transition from 2016 to 2017, Berhalter and Crew SC's technical staff know what they're searching for and which needs must be met.
The first destination to scout for talent: Europe.
It's a continent that's produced results for Berhalter; he played in Holland, England and Germany before coaching Swedish side Hammarby IF before coming to Columbus in 2014. His European success stories in Columbus include Norwegians Kamara and Naess, Swedish midfielder Mohammed Saeid and goalkeepers Steve Clark and Zack Steffen — both American, but were acquired from European clubs.
"I’ll be taking a trip to Europe and scouting," Berhalter said. "One of our goals is to improve our player pool.
"One of our goals is to add quality to our squad. So we have the opportunity now with some time, and we’re going to go over to Europe and see some good games and good players hopefully."
For Berhalter and Crew SC, 2016's early conclusion is much more of an initiation toward progress in 2017.
