There was excitement. There was huppah. There were former players presenting a trophy. Then there was a soccer game to be played.
The Columbus Crew opened its 2021 Major League Soccer season on Sunday evening, officially putting the championship-winning year of 2020 behind the team. Unfortunately, the Black & Gold were not able to recreate the magic of the last MLS game at historic Crew Stadium when Columbus captured that second ever MLS Cup, managing only a 0-0 draw with the Philadelphia Union.
While the roughly 5,000 fans in attendance would have liked to see their team score a few goals and bring home all three points, the first MLS game of the 2021 season taught us plenty about this new Crew team.