Henrik Rydström Guides Columbus Crew Into 2026 With Minnesota Vs Columbus
minnesota vs columbus opens with Columbus Crew already living through another transition, as Henrik Rydström begins the 2026 season as the club’s ninth head coach. Through his first five games in charge, the Crew have three losses, two draws and two total points, a start that puts immediate weight on every result in a cross-conference match.
How does Coach Knowles get all three of his attacking mids on the field at the same time? How can the Loons rebound from two consecutive losses to rediscover the form that saw them go six games unbeaten?
Rydström Takes Over Columbus
Rydström arrived from Malmö FF ahead of the 2026 season, taking over a club that has been around for every single season of Major League Soccer. He is the ninth head coach in Crew history, replacing Wilfried Nancy after Nancy moved to Celtic FC in Scotland.
The change lands on top of a long trophy line that gives Columbus a different baseline than most clubs in the league. The Crew have won three MLS Cups, three Supporters’ Shields, one U.S. Open Cup, one Campeones Cup and one Leagues Cup.
Columbus Crew Trophy Trail
The list starts with the club’s first trophy in 2002, when it lifted the U.S. Open Cup. A Supporters’ Shield followed in 2004, then another Shield and an MLS Cup in 2008 before a 10-year gap to the next trophy.
That stretch included the 2010 U.S. Open Cup final and the 2015 MLS Cup final. Columbus then won the 2020 MLS Cup under Caleb Porter, reached another level in 2022 when Nancy became manager, and added the third MLS Cup in 2023.
Recent Form Under Rydström
The Crew’s latest success run continued in 2024 with the second-ever Leagues Cup trophy and a run to the Concacaf Champions Cup final. Now the question is whether a new coach can steady the same core fast enough to keep that standard in place.
Two points from five games is a hard opening number for a club that expects to compete at the top of the league. Minnesota arrives as the immediate test, and Columbus needs the points that stop early-season pressure from building around a fresh coaching change.
