One of the biggest surprises of Columbus Crew SC’s opening day 18-man roster was the absence of midfielder Tony Tchani.
The eight-year veteran has been more or less a constant fixture in the center of the park under Gregg Berhalter. Over the first three seasons of the head coach’s tenure, Tchani appeared in 86 of 102 possible Major League Soccer games (starting 85 of them).
The Black & Gold added to the central midfield depth in the offseason, bringing in Ghanaian Mohammed Abu and Brazilian Artur.
In the preseason, it became apparent that Abu would start alongside Wil Trapp in the two central midfield role, but Artur did not feature at all.