Days after his team lost the CONCACAF Champions Cup final to Pachuca in Mexico, Columbus Crew SC president and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko suggested the Crew’s performance could’ve in part been the result of “subterfuge.”
In the moments after the Crew’s 3-0 loss last weekend, Columbus head coach Wilfried Nancy told reporters that many of his players had spent the two days leading up to the final suffering from an illness. The Crew’s team doctor later determined that food poisoning had been the likely culprit.
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“My players gave everything knowing that they were sick,” said Nancy. “All the team had diarrhea since yesterday, the staff also.”
Asked whether he could rule out the possibility that the team’s food had been intentionally contaminated, Bezbatchenko told the Columbus Dispatch’s Michael Arace that he couldn’t “rule out subterfuge.” To the best of his knowledge, Bezbatchenko went on to say, nobody else at the hotel fell ill. Only those associated with the Crew.
When reached for comment on Wednesday, a Crew spokesperson said the Club has no clear indication of misconduct and that the timing of the occurrence was unfortunate. A representative for Pachuca did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A representative at the hotel the club used did not respond to messages seeking comment.
A source within the Crew locker room who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said on Thursday morning that there was some suspicion that the club’s food was tainted but that “none of us have given it too much thought.” That source described the illness as having been “brutal” and agreed with the assessment given by Crew players and coaches that the outbreak had affected the Crew’s performance on Saturday night.
The crew arrived in Pachuca last Thursday and ate at their team hotel that evening. Several players fell ill that same evening, according to the Dispatch, and on Friday the outbreak became widespread, with the number of affected “in the teens,” according to Bezbatchenko, who the Crew announced that Bezbatchenko is leaving the club for a position with Black Knight Football.
MLS teams generally have team meals mapped out thoroughly on road trips, particularly ones that involve international travel. The team’s front office works with hotels and restaurants to accommodate their needs, often providing specific requests in terms of ingredients and preparation. The Crew’s trip to Pachuca was no different, said Bezbatchenko. “Getting food right shouldn’t be that hard,” he told the Dispatch.
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Beyond the scoreline, examining data from the Champions Cup final does indicate that certain members of the team were off their game in some ways. Crew midfielder Aidan Morris, among the club’s most reliable players, was not at his best on Saturday. Over the course of the Crew’s previous CCC matches, Morris had averaged less than a foul a game. Against Pachuca, he committed five, potentially an indicator of fatigue and lagging behind. His passing accuracy also took a significant hit, dropping from 91% to 83%.
Others who suffered the illness also had their own statistical decreases. Colombian striker Cucho Hernandez’s shot accuracy declined nearly 20% and some on the Crew suffered in terms of defensive performance. Others, like veteran midfielder Darlington Nagbe, were statistically better in some areas than they’d been in other matches, however.
The Crew may have also been hampered by altitude, with the game being played at some 8,000 feet over sea level. Columbus did extensive altitude training in the weeks leading up to the match and the Crew’s physician, Bezbatchenko said, determined that the widespread illness that affected the club’s players and coaches was unrelated to altitude sickness.
There have been previous examples of soccer teams experiencing food poisoning in big moments. In 2006, Tottenham Hotspur endured “Lasagna-gate” after eating a buffet dinner at their hotel before an important Premier League match. At the 1990 World Cup, Brazil defender Branco accused their Argentine opponents of drugging the water he drank during Argentina’s round of 16 win. Argentina legend Diego Maradona later claimed the accusation was true.
(Photo: Jaime Lopez/Jam Media/Getty Images)
Pablo Maurer is a staff writer for The Athletic who covers soccer, with a particular focus on the history and culture of the game. His writing and photography have been featured in National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, Gothamist and a variety of other outlets. Follow Pablo on Twitter @MLSist
