Columbus Crew head coach, Caleb Porter, was full of praise for Ghanaian defender, Jonathan Mensah, following the team’s 1-0 win at Atlanta United last Saturday in the MLS.
Mensah scored the winning goal in the 65th minute after he connected with Marlon Hairston’s flick at the back post to hand the Crew three points on the day.
The result moved Crew up to 5th place in the Eastern Conference on 24 points and after the match, Porter gave very high ratings to the Black Stars defender for the goal and his defensive contribution to the team against a high quality opponent like Atlanta.
“It was great to get a set piece goal but it was unbelievable defending from Jonathan Mensah all round. It was hard to name a Man-of-The Match but if I had to choose one, it would be him. He was unbelievable in the box and he headed everything out.
Of course, the other defenders did every well too. There are games when you need your centre-backs to do a bit more and in the second half, the defenders- Jonathan, Bouba and the others- were tough and we showed why are one of the best defensive teams in the league.”
Columbus Crew went into the match on a 6-match unbeaten run in which they recorded two wins and four draws.
The Crew travel to New York City FC on July 20 before returning home to take on DC United and Atlanta United.