Two Weeks 'til Crewsmas!
Crewsmas! Only two weeks away until the first home game of the 2025 MLS season. The Crew have two away games before that, and then the Chicago Fire will be in town for us to kick off the season. It's been a bit of a tumultuous off-season. First, there was the early exit from the playoffs. There weren't a lot of moves by the front office. A few players were let go or just not re-signed. Alex Matan, one of Wiccy's favorite players, and Yah Yeboah, scorer of the winning goal in the 2023 MLS Cup Final, among them.
And then this year's schedule came out, and we found out that our "home" game against InterMiami is being played in Cleveland. Many fans, myself included, don't consider it a home game if you have to drive three hours to get there! We all knew something like this was going to happen, but we were hoping it would be a Leagues Cup game or a friendly against a European team, not an MLS game against one of our divisional rivals. But InterMiami has Lionel Messi, and the temptation to cash in was just too great. We do get parking passes, and I think vouchers for a free hot dog and soda. Yay? They are at least providing buses for Nordecke members, but only Nordecke members, for those of us who don't want to drive six hours round trip.
Then this past week, it was announced the team had agreed to transfer Cucho Hernandez, the team's best and most popular player, to Real Betis of La Liga, Spain's top league. The following day, they announced that Christian Ramirez, another of the team's top scorers the last couple of seasons, was being signed by the LA Galaxy. And it looks like the team will have to wait until the summer transfer window, when most other leagues around the world are on break, to sign any significant players as replacements. This has caused no small amount of drama in the fandom.
But with all that said, I am looking forward to another year back at Lower.com Field, cheering on the team and seeing some of our friends again. The last two years have been a blast, and if this year's team doesn't have the same level of success on the field, well, these things do happen.
And then this year's schedule came out, and we found out that our "home" game against InterMiami is being played in Cleveland. Many fans, myself included, don't consider it a home game if you have to drive three hours to get there! We all knew something like this was going to happen, but we were hoping it would be a Leagues Cup game or a friendly against a European team, not an MLS game against one of our divisional rivals. But InterMiami has Lionel Messi, and the temptation to cash in was just too great. We do get parking passes, and I think vouchers for a free hot dog and soda. Yay? They are at least providing buses for Nordecke members, but only Nordecke members, for those of us who don't want to drive six hours round trip.
Then this past week, it was announced the team had agreed to transfer Cucho Hernandez, the team's best and most popular player, to Real Betis of La Liga, Spain's top league. The following day, they announced that Christian Ramirez, another of the team's top scorers the last couple of seasons, was being signed by the LA Galaxy. And it looks like the team will have to wait until the summer transfer window, when most other leagues around the world are on break, to sign any significant players as replacements. This has caused no small amount of drama in the fandom.
But with all that said, I am looking forward to another year back at Lower.com Field, cheering on the team and seeing some of our friends again. The last two years have been a blast, and if this year's team doesn't have the same level of success on the field, well, these things do happen.