The Columbus Crew came into Thursday’s second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Round of 16 second leg confident. Being up 4-0, on aggregate, allows that sort of thing. Prior to the home match against Real Esteli, head coach Caleb Porter shared that Columbus planned on rotating the lineup so the Crew could rest for Sunday’s Major League Soccer regular season opener against 2020 Supporters’ Shield winning Philadelphia Union. He did just that in the Black & Gold’s 1-0 victory to move on to the quarterfinal
Despite the changes, there was plenty to learn about the Crew from the win against Esteli.