2021 Columbus Crew season
# 2021 Columbus Crew season

The 2021 Columbus Crew season was the club's twenty-sixth season of existence and their twenty-sixth consecutive season in Major League Soccer, the top flight of American soccer. The season covers the period from December 13, 2020, to November 7, 2021. It is the third season under head coach Caleb Porter.

The 2021 season sees Columbus defending their 2020 MLS Cup championship, as well as the opening of Lower.com Field, the club's new downtown stadium. They hosted the 2021 Campeones Cup against Cruz Azul, the winner of the Liga MX's Campeón de Campeones winning 2-0. The club also participated in the CONCACAF Champions League, their first appearance since the 2010–11 tournament.

The team began playing the season under the name Columbus Crew SC until a rebrand on May 10, 2021, after which the name was changed to Columbus SC. However, after criticism over the rebrand was spurred by its fans, the club announced that it would return to its original name. The "SC" was dropped and the club was once again the Columbus Crew.

This was the last season in which Columbus Crew played at Historic Crew Stadium, where the team played their final match against the Chicago Fire on June 19, 2021, with a 2–0 win. The team then moved to Lower.com Field near downtown Columbus, where they would play their first match at the new stadium against the New England Revolution with a 2–2 draw on July 3, 2021.

## Roster

    As of match played April 15, 2021

| No. | Name | Position(s) | Date of birth (age) | Signed in | Previous club | Apps | Goals |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Goalkeepers |||||||||
| 1 | Eloy Room (INT) | GK | (1989-02-06)February 6, 1989 (aged 32) | 2019 | PSV | 29 | 0 |
| 13 | Eric Dick | GK | (1994-10-03)October 3, 1994 (aged 26) | 2021 | Sporting Kansas City | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Evan Bush | GK | (1986-03-06)March 6, 1986 (aged 35) | 2021 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | Matt Lampson | GK | (1989-09-06)September 6, 1989 (aged 31) | 2020 | LA Galaxy | 16 | 0 |
| Defenders |||||||||
| 3 | Josh Williams | CB, RB, LB | (1988-04-18)April 18, 1988 (aged 32) | 2017 | Toronto FC | 142 | 9 |
| 4 | Jonathan Mensah | CB | (1990-07-13)July 13, 1990 (aged 30) | 2017 | Anzhi Makhachkala | 100 | 3 |
| 5 | Vito Wormgoor (INT) | DF | (1988-11-16)November 16, 1988 (aged 32) | 2020 | SK Brann | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | Waylon Francis | LB | (1990-09-20)September 20, 1990 (aged 30) | 2019 | Seattle Sounders FC | 104 | 0 |
| 17 | Marlon Hairston | LB | (1994-03-23)March 23, 1994 (aged 27) | 2021 | Minnesota United FC | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Milton Valenzuela | LB | (1998-08-13)August 13, 1998 (aged 22) | 2019 | Newell's Old Boys | 49 | 1 |
| 24 | Grant Lillard | CB | (1995-12-05)December 5, 1995 (aged 25) | 2020 | Inter Miami CF | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | Harrison Afful | RB | (1986-07-24)July 24, 1986 (aged 34) | 2015 | ES Tunis | 138 | 6 |
| 30 | Aboubacar Keita (HG) | CB, LB | (2000-04-06)April 6, 2000 (aged 19) | 2019 | Virginia Cavaliers | 21 | 0 |
| Midfielders |||||||||
| 2 | Perry Kitchen | CM | (1992-02-29)February 29, 1992 (aged 29) | 2021 | LA Galaxy | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Darlington Nagbe | CM | (1990-07-19)July 19, 1990 (aged 30) | 2019 | Atlanta United FC | 15 | 1 |
| 7 | Pedro Santos (INT)(DP) | RM, LM, AM, RW, LW, LB | (1988-04-22)April 22, 1988 (aged 32) | 2017 | Braga | 94 | 18 |
| 8 | Artur | DM, AM, CM | (1996-03-11)March 11, 1996 (aged 25) | 2018 | São Paulo | 108 | 2 |
| 10 | Lucas Zelarayán (INT)(DP) | CM | (1992-06-20)June 20, 1992 (aged 28) | 2020 | UANL Tigres | 16 | 6 |
| 12 | Luis Díaz (INT) | RM, LM, RW | (1998-12-06)December 6, 1998 (aged 22) | 2019 | Herediano | 34 | 2 |
| 16 | Isaiah Parente (HG) | RM | (2000-03-16)March 16, 2000 (aged 21) | 2021 | Wake Forest | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Alexandru Mățan (INT) | MF | (1999-04-29)April 29, 1999 (aged 21) | 2021 | FC Viitorul Constanta | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Aidan Morris (HG) | MF | (2001-11-16)November 16, 2001 (aged 19) | 2020 | Indiana | 10 | 0 |
| 22 | Derrick Etienne | MF | (1996-11-25)November 25, 1996 (aged 24) | 2020 | New York Red Bulls | 21 | 1 |
| Forwards |||||||||
| 9 | Kevin Molino | ST | (1990-06-17)June 17, 1990 (aged 30) | 2021 | Minnesota United FC | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Gyasi Zardes (DP) | ST | (1991-09-02)September 2, 1991 (aged 29) | 2018 | LA Galaxy | 82 | 44 |
| 99 | Bradley Wright-Phillips | ST | (1985-03-12)March 12, 1985 (aged 36) | 2021 | Los Angeles FC | 0 | 0 |
| Out on loan |||||||||
| 18 | Sebastian Berhalter (HG) | MF | (2001-05-10)May 10, 2001 (aged 19) | 2020 | North Carolina | 9 | 0 |
| 27 | Miguel Berry | FW | (1997-09-16)September 16, 1997 (aged 23) | 2020 | San Diego Toreros | 0 | 0 |

* (HG) = Homegrown Player
* (DP) = Designated Player
* (INT) = Player using International Roster Slot

## Competitive

### MLS

**Standings**

**Eastern Conference**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 7 | New York Red Bulls | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 39 | 33 | +6 | 48 | Qualification for the Playoffs first round |
| 8 | D.C. United | 34 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 56 | 54 | +2 | 47 | |
| 9 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 47 | |
| 10 | CF Montréal | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 46 | 44 | +2 | 46 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League |
| 11 | Inter Miami CF | 34 | 12 | 17 | 5 | 36 | 53 | −17 | 41 | |

* ↑ Canadian clubs cannot qualify for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League through the MLS regular season or playoffs.
* ↑ As 2021 Canadian Championship winners

**Standings**

**Overall table**

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 15 | LA Galaxy | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 50 | 54 | −4 | 48 | |
| 16 | D.C. United | 34 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 56 | 54 | +2 | 47 | |
| 17 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 47 | |
| 18 | CF Montréal (V) | 34 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 46 | 44 | +2 | 46 | Qualification for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League |
| 19 | Los Angeles FC | 34 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 53 | 51 | +2 | 45 | |

* ↑ As 2021 Canadian Championship winners (CAN1)

**Results summary**

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Pld | Pts | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD |
| 34 | 47 | 13 | 13 | 8 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 33 | 23 | +10 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 13 | 22 | −9 |

Source: MLS standings Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

**Results by round**

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stadium | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H |
| Result | D | D | W | L | L | W | W | W | L | D | D | D | W | D | W | L | L | L | L | L | L | W | L | L | W | D | W | L | W | D | L | W | W | W |

**Match results**

On March 10, 2021 the league announced the home openers for every club, with Columbus playing Philadelphia Union at Historic Crew Stadium.

### U.S. Open Cup

On July 20, US Soccer finally announced that the tournament would be cancelled for 2021 and would resume in 2022.

**Qualifying**

On March 29, 2021, US Soccer announced that qualification for MLS clubs would be determined by the highest number of regular season points per game at the conclusion of the first three weeks of MLS play (April 16 – May 4).

## Statistics

### Appearances and goals

Under "Apps" for each section, the first number represents the number of starts, and the second number represents appearances as a substitute.

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | MLS | MLS | CCL | CCL | Campeones Cup | Campeones Cup |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | CUW | Eloy Room | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | USA | Josh Williams | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | GHA | Jonathan Mensah | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | NED | Vito Wormgoor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | USA | Darlington Nagbe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | POR | Pedro Santos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | ARG | Lucas Zelarayán | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | USA | Gyasi Zardes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | CRC | Luis Díaz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | CRC | Waylon Francis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | DF | ARG | Milton Valenzuela | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | USA | Derrick Etienne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | DF | USA | Grant Lillard | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | DF | GHA | Harrison Afful | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | ESP | Miguel Berry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | USA | Aboubacar Keita | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Transfers

### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| GK | Evan Bush | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | Trade in exchange for $125,000 in General Allocation Money. | December 14, 2020 |
| FW | Bradley Wright-Phillips | Los Angeles FC | Free agent. | December 23, 2020 |
| MF | Kevin Molino | Minnesota United FC | Free agent. | January 7, 2021 |
| GK | Eric Dick | Sporting Kansas City | Selected in Stage 2 of the MLS Re-Entry Draft. | January 8, 2021 |
| MF | Isaiah Parente | Wake Forest | Signed as a Homegrown Player. | January 11, 2021 |
| MF | Perry Kitchen | LA Galaxy | Free agent. | January 28, 2021 |
| MF | Marlon Hairston | Minnesota United FC | Free agent. | March 3, 2021 |
| MF | Alexandru Mățan | Viitorul Constanţa | Reported $1,800,000 transfer fee. Acquired under the MLS U-22 initiative. | March 8, 2021 |
| DF | Saad Abdul-Salaam | FC Cincinnati | Waivers. | April 17, 2021 |
| FW | Erik Hurtado | CF Montreal | Trade in exchange for $200,000 in 2021 General Allocation Money. | July 8, 2021 |
| DF | Steven Moreira | Toulouse FC | Free agent. | August 23, 2021 |

### Loan in

| Pos. | Player | Loaned from | Division | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| MF | Liam Fraser | Toronto FC | MLS | Columbus Crew SC sent $50,000 in 2021 General Allocation Money (GAM). | May 3, 2021 | December 11, 2021 | |

**SuperDraft**

The following players were selected by Columbus in the MLS SuperDraft.

| Pos. | Player | College | Notes | Date | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| DF | Justin Malou | Clemson | Selected in the First Round of the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. | January 21, 2021 | |
| DF | Joshua Jackson-Ketchup | Ohio State | Selected in the second round of the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. | January 21, 2021 | |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| GK | Andrew Tarbell | Austin FC | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| MF | Fatai Alashe | Sacramento Republic | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| MF | Emmanuel Boateng | New England Revolution | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| MF | Youness Mokhtar | ADO Den Haag | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| FW | Jordan Hamilton | Indy Eleven | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| FW | Krisztián Németh | Debreceni VSC | Option declined. | December 14, 2020 |
| MF | Hector Jiménez | Austin FC | Out of contract. | December 14, 2020 |
| FW | Fanendo Adi | Minnesota United FC | Out of contract. | December 14, 2020 |
| GK | Jon Kempin | D.C. United | Trade for third-round pick in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. | January 8, 2021 |
| MF | Chris Cadden | Hibernian | Undisclosed | January 15, 2021 |
| GK | Matt Lampson | Hartford Athletic | Waived. | August 25, 2021 |

### Loans out

| Pos. | Player | Loanee club | Division | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| MF | Sebastian Berhalter | Austin FC | MLS | Columbus Crew SC acquires $50,000 in 2021 General Allocation Money (GAM). The Crew will receive $50,000 in Allocation Money if Berhalter meets certain performance conditions in 2021. Austin FC retains the option to trade for the rights on a permanent basis. | March 3, 2021 | December 11, 2021 | |
| GK | Eric Dick | Indy Eleven | USL Championship | Columbus Crew loans goalkeeper Eric Dick to USL's Indy Eleven on June 24, 2021. Columbus retains the right to terminate the loan at any time. | June 24, 2021 | December 11, 2021 | |

## Kits

| Home | Away |
| - | - |
| Type | Shirt | Shorts | Socks |
| Home | White | Gold | Gold |
| Away | Black | Black | Black |
