{"id":433472,"date":"2017-11-02T13:30:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T13:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2017\/11\/02\/harrison-afful-works-magic-for-columbus-crew\/"},"modified":"2017-11-02T13:30:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T13:30:26","slug":"harrison-afful-works-magic-for-columbus-crew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/11\/02\/harrison-afful-works-magic-for-columbus-crew\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison Afful works magic for Columbus Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Thursday,  2 November 2017<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>GHANAsoccernet.com <\/p>\n<p>2017-11-02<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/46215754.295.jpg\" alt=\"Affulcelebrates 11.11\" title=\"Affulcelebrates 11.11\" width=\"295\" height=\"190\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Harrison Afful<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=150834795848671\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=150834795848671\">&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/1509629426_579_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Harrison Afful was having a quiet Tuesday night at MAPFRE Stadium when Justin Meram fed him the ball on the edge of the penalty box in the 93rd minute.<\/p>\n<p>Then magic just happened as the Ghanaian fullback scored an incredible goal to seal Columbus Crew SC\u2019s 4-1 win over the New York City FC in the first leg of the MLS Cup Eastern Conference\u2019s semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>When Afful received the ball, NYCFC had seven players inside its own penalty area, at least five of them in position to stop the fullback\u2019s run. But the Crew SC right back found his way through each of them before firing a subtle left-foot shot that gave goalkeeper Sean Johnson no chance in the final scene of a magical night in Columbus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t even know what to say about that goal,\u201d Meram said after the game. \u201cHarrison\u2019s special. Honestly, I just couldn\u2019t believe the goal. But that\u2019s him. He does this stuff in training sometimes that you guys don\u2019t see. That\u2019s what makes him special\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Ghanaian&#8217;s technical gifts are probably his most valuable contributions to the team, as head coach Gregg Berhalter noted. In a system built to maximize plays created from the wings, a player like Afful has the potential to be a game-changer every night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has an unbelievable ball control,\u201d Berhalter commented. \u201cIt\u2019s not normal, it\u2019s not something you see very often. And that\u2019s a good example of justifying technique in tight spaces, with pressure around. He\u2019s usually really good on that stuff\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The goal comes in a good moment for the 31-year-old, who struggled with a series of minor injuries in 2017 and faced a drop of performance compared to his last two seasons with Crew SC. The Ghanaian has now one goal and one assist in 2017, while in 2016 he amassed three of each.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the reduced offensive efficiency, Afful, the only remaining player from the Black &amp; Gold\u2019s 2015 MLS Cup team\u2019s backline, also struggled at times defensively, which saw benched at points this year.<\/p>\n<p>With Zack Steffen playing hero, Jonathan Mensah performing at a Designated Player level, Josh Williams proving his worth and Hector Jimenez being as helpful as ever with his versatility, Afful seemed somehow disconnected with them until the last matches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarrison has been good,\u201d Berhalter mentioned. \u201cThe focus that he had before the Atlanta United game was tremendous. In training, the intensity and the movement, and there was no surprise that he had a good game against Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>To follow it up was important for him. He needs to establish that he can continue to play at this level. We know that he is a high-level fullback for this league, and he just needs to keep doing it because he is quality\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The goal, one of the most beautiful of the fullback\u2019s career, also made him find the back of the net for the first time in over 12 months. The last time Afful scored was in October 2016, against the New York Red Bulls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCredit goes to all the guys,\u201d Afful said. \u201cI had been waiting for a long time to get a goal, and finally it happened this year. I\u2019m happy and enjoying this moment\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Having Afful confident and more productive could be crucial to Crew SC as the team goes deeper in the postseason. The right back has always been an important piece in Berhalter\u2019s system and one of the best fullbacks in the league.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s time to show that again.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related_articles\" style=\"width: 100%;\">\n<div style=\"clear: both; font-size: 90%; background-color: #eeeaea; padding: 5px; width: 60%; margin-top: 10px;\">\n<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tr>\n<td style=\"border:0; padding:0\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/96124592.jpg\" style=\"padding-right:2px;\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"border:0; padding:0;width:100%; vertical-align:middle; font-size:11px;\">Courtesy of <b>GHANAsoccernet.com<\/b> &#8211; Ghana&#8217;s leading football news website. Click for more news.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Comments:<\/strong><br \/>\nThis article has 1 comment(s),  give your comment\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 55 updated by: -1 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports News of Thursday, 2 November 2017 Source: GHANAsoccernet.com 2017-11-02 Harrison Afful &#13; &#13; Harrison Afful was having a quiet Tuesday night at MAPFRE Stadium when Justin Meram fed him the ball on the edge of the penalty box in the 93rd minute. Then magic just happened as the Ghanaian fullback scored an incredible goal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":433473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Harrison Afful works magic for Columbus Crew - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2017\/11\/02\/harrison-afful-works-magic-for-columbus-crew\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Harrison Afful works magic for Columbus Crew - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Sports News of Thursday, 2 November 2017 Source: GHANAsoccernet.com 2017-11-02 Harrison Afful &#013; &#013; Harrison Afful was having a quiet Tuesday night at MAPFRE Stadium when Justin Meram fed him the ball on the edge of the penalty box in the 93rd minute. 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