Farewell is nearly here.
The Columbus Crew will say goodbye to Historic Crew Stadium after Saturday’s meeting with Chicago Fire FC (7:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+), concluding an era at the first soccer-specific stadium in MLS.
They’ll move into Lower.com Field with a July 3 meeting against the New England Revolution, but first there'll be some pageantry and nostalgia. The importance of this moment isn’t lost on Crew captain Jonathan Mensah, who’s been with the club since 2017.
“I scored my first goal at our stadium against FC Dallas,” the center back said on this week's episode of The Call Up. “Such a great moment for me, I will never forget that. Of course my first goal in MLS, so it’s always going to be something that I recall so very well and it was at this particular stadium.
“Man, first soccer-specific stadium in the United States and now we’re going to send it off on a good note on Saturday. So we just need to give it a great sendoff.”
The Crew experienced one final marquee match at Historic Crew Stadium last year, beating the Seattle Sounders 3-0 to win MLS Cup. It was the latest chapter in memorable American soccer nights in Columbus, with the famed dos a cero tagline coined during the US men’s national team vs. Mexico series that Ohio’s capital city has long hosted.
The memories from Historic Crew Stadium will never be too far – Lower.com Field is roughly five miles away – but Mensah hopes one final legacy awaits. And it’ll be up to head coach Caleb Porter’s team to follow through.
“It’s going to be incredible,” Mensah said. “Of course, we know it’s been great playing at this particular stadium, not just for the Crew but for the US national team, for the women’s national team and a couple of other countries playing at this stadium. Like the name is, now it’s a historic stadium. We need to send it off on a good note.”
For more from Mensah, check out his full interview on The Call Up.
