1. With his background as a defender, it’d be easy to assume that Gregg Berhalter would bring a very defensive-minded style to the Columbus Crew this spring. In his first press conference as the Crew’s head coach and sporting director, Berhalter said he wants his team to be very aggressive offensively next season. “I want to organize defensively,” Berhalter says. “I wouldn’t necessarily make that link though to the team being defensive minded. “My ideas about soccer are very offensive and I want the team to play nice and attack the football. I believe in a possession-based game and I would say that the defensive side of it has to do with organization.” Berhalter, who was named as the second-best defender in SC Cambuur Leeuwarden (Holland) history and was named to the FC Energie Cottbus (Germany) All-Time Best XI during the European portion of his career, is the seventh coach in the Crew’s 18-year history. He replaces interim coach Brian Bliss, who was 4-4 overall after taking the reins after Robert Warzycha was let go last season. Columbus finished 12-17-5 last year, placing eighth in the 10-team Eastern Conference. The Crew scored 42 goals, tying them with the Philadelphia Union and the Seattle Sounders for 12th overall in goals scored in the 19-team league, and gave up 46 goals last season. One of Berhalter’s goals is to improve the team’s -4 goal differential. “I want the ball to move quickly throughout the positions in the team and I want the players to be able to try things and not be afraid to fail,” he says. “I think that the game revolves around being able to keep the ball in my eyes. We want the opposition on their back foot by keeping the ball.” Berhalter, who served as a player-coach for the Los Angeles Galaxy, has spent the last two seasons coaching Hammarby IF in Sweden. Berhalter, the first American club manager within a top-ranked European federation, guided Hammarby to an 18-11-16 record. The club had the lowest goals against average in all levels of Swedish professional soccer during his tenure. Crew chairman and investor-operator Anthony Precourt says the search committee came up with a 25-item criterion for a new coach. “Across the board, Gregg scored the highest,” Precourt says. “What attracted me the most to Gregg was his passion, his hunger and his intelligence. Soccer fuels Gregg’s engine. I just think we got a guy who is really ready to take the Crew to the next level. So it is a new era for the Columbus Crew.” Since moving to Columbus from Sweden, Berhalter has had to hit the ground running. In his first two weeks as coach, he has been analyzing the team’s roster and its salary cap and looking at potential staff members as he gets to know the city and the organization. “I was looking for the right opportunity – and I said this before that it didn’t matter where it was,” Berhalter says. “I think that in this particular case it was a perfect opportunity when I see the direction that Mr. Precourt wants to go. There are a lot of positive signs and I wanted to be a part of it and I thought that I could help in my own way.” CREW NOTES: – Midfielder/defender Kevan George was called-up for international duty with the Trinidad and Tobago national team for a pair of international friendlies. George played in a 1-0 win over Jamaica on Nov. 15 in Montego Bay and in a home match against Jamaica on Nov. 19 in Port of Spain. … Looking for a unique Christmas gift? The Columbus Crew offer game-worn jerseys, training tops, jackets and much more at discounted prices in a special sale 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Upper Club in Crew Stadium. The sale will be open to Crew Premier Season ticket holders from 10 a.m.-11 a.m., Gold Level season ticket holders from 11 a.m.-12 noon and to Black-Level and mini-plan ticket holders from 12 noon-1 p.m. The sale is then open to the public from 1 p.m.-2 p.m.