Nearly entire Columbus Crew roster plagued with stomach illness during Champions Cup final
Brianna Mac KayPACHUCA, Mexico - The Crew's troubles in Saturday's CONCACAF Champions Cup final started well before the match against CF Pachuca kicked off.
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy confirmed after the team's 3-0 loss that multiple players started feeling symptoms of a stomach illness Friday morning, and that by Saturday evening, nearly the entire roster and coaching staff had caught what the club believes to be food poisoning.
"This is not an excuse," Nancy said. "This is a fact that we didn't have the energy that we usually have. So, it was weird, I will say, because we didn't know how to act with that. But they took medicine, and they gave everything."
Takeaways:Columbus Crew failed on all fronts in Champions Cup final loss to CF Pachuca
Midfielder Mo Farsi said he was feeling symptoms of stomach distress before kickoff and that during the match he also started feeling the effects of playing at an altitude nearly 8,000 feet higher than Lower.com Field.
"I was sick and I was feeling cold," Farsi said. "For me, yeah, it's an excuse, but I still gave 100%. And of course, altitude is hard, but I felt we played well. But it is what it is now."
While he addressed the team's sickness during his postgame press availability, Nancy started his evaluation of the match by pointing out flaws in the Crew's play, such as weak attacking in the box and conceding avoidable goals. Overall, Nancy said he felt Pachuca "deserved to win."
Still, the Crew's sickness had a big impact on the players. But when Nancy discussed the impact and challenges of playing in these conditions before the game, there was a clear consensus from the team.
"They wanted to compete no matter what," Nancy said. "Because we know what we did to get here, but this is something we cannot control. We try to control many things, but on this one, this is the situation."