The 2011 Columbus Crew season was the club's eighteenth year of existence, as well as their sixteenth season in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, and their sixteenth consecutive season in the top-flight of American soccer. Columbus began its 2011 campaign by hosting

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

quarterfinal on February 22, 2011.

Background

Review

The Crew opened its 2011 campaign with a Champions League quarterfinal fixture against fellow MLS competitor,

. The match, the first leg of a quarterfinal series, was at

Crew Stadium Historic Crew Stadium, previously known as Columbus Crew Stadium and Mapfre Stadium, is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio, United States. It primarily served as the home stadium of the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer from 1999 u ...

on February 22, 2011 and ended in a 0-0 draw. Columbus was trying to advance past the Quarterfinal stage after falling to

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

5-4 on aggregate last season. Columbus Crew v Portland Timbers 07-25-11

On March 1, Columbus traveled to

Rio Tinto Stadium America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...

and fell to

by a score of 4-1, thus ending the Crew's run in the 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League. Two and a half weeks later, Columbus opened up its

campaign by traveling to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

to take on

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

on March 19. The club's MLS home opener was one week later, when the Crew hosted

Red Bull New York The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

on March 26.

Roster

''As of September 3, 2011.''

Competitions

Preseason

Atlanta Pro Soccer Challenge

''Columbus won the Atlanta Pro Soccer Challenge round-robin tournament title with a 2-0 record.''

MLS

Standings

= Eastern Conference

= Overall table

Results summary

Results by round

Match results

CONCACAF Champions League

U.S. Open Cup

With a fifth-place overall finish last season, the Crew secured direct qualification into the third-round proper of the U.S. Open Cup.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Statistics

:''Last updated on 22 February 2011.''

Transfers

In

Out

Miscellaneous

Allocation ranking

Columbus is in the #6 position in the MLS Allocation Ranking. The allocation ranking is the mechanism used to determine which MLS club has first priority to acquire a U.S. National Team player who signs with MLS after playing abroad, or a former MLS player who returns to the league after having gone to a club abroad for a transfer fee. A ranking can be traded, provided that part of the compensation received in return is another club's ranking.

International roster spots

Columbus has 8 international roster spots. Each club in Major League Soccer is allocated 8 international roster spots, which can be traded. There have been no reported trades involving Columbus international roster spots for the 2011 season. There is no limit on the number of international slots on each club's roster. The remaining roster slots must belong to domestic players. For clubs based in the United States, a domestic player is either a U.S. citizen, a permanent resident (green card holder) or the holder of other special status (e.g., refugee or asylum status).

Future draft pick trades

Future picks acquired: 2012 SuperDraft Round 2 pick acquired from

; 2015 SuperDraft Round 4 pick acquired from

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

.
Future picks traded: None.

MLS rights to other players

Columbus maintains the MLS rights to Aaron Hohlbein as the club selected him in the

2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft The two-stage 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft took place on December 8, 2010 and December 15, 2010. The Stage 1 Draft of the Re-Entry Process took place on Wednesday, December 8, at 2 p.m. ET via teleconference. The Stage 2 Draft took place on Wednesday, D ...

and he instead chose to sign with a non-MLS club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2011 Columbus Crew Season Columbus Crew seasons