photo credit: Jake Barnhart
The MLS regular season recently came to a close, and the hometown team, the Columbus Crew, missed out on the playoffs by just 2 points. This disappointing finish meant the end of Caleb Porter’s tenure as the Crew’s manager, which has caused some controversy across the MLS world.
Porter led the team to an MLS Cup championship in 2020 during his second season with the team, which came at an important moment in the team’s history as there were many reports that the team was going to be relocated. However, that was his only shining moment with the team as he failed to make the playoffs in any other season with the team and has often been criticized for playing “boring” soccer.
With Porter gone, there has been some speculation as to who the next manager will be, so I decided to put together a list of some of the possible candidates.
Laurent Courtois: Courtois is already connected to Columbus as he led the Capybaras to an MLS Next championship this year, and many supporters are looking to see him promoted straight to the main team.
Doménec Torrent: Torrent has already spent some time managing in the MLS, and many Crew supporters want to see his next spot be in Columbus. He spent several years as an assistant to Pep Guardiola, who is widely recognized as one of the best managers in the world.
Landon Donovan: Donovan is possibly the most famous American soccer player of all time, spending years leading the USMNT with 157 Caps and 57 goals. He could finally move up to managing an MLS team after spending a few years in San Diego with a USL Side.
No matter who the ownership goes with, Columbus fans will hope to see better performance and a playoff spot next year.
