Dante Washington and Robert Warzycha recently bumped into each other and began to reminisce about their time as Crew teammates, including a 1-0 victory over the L.A. Galaxy to win the Lamar Hunt 2002 U.S. Open Cup championship – the Crew's first championship of any kind.
The two watched all but five minutes from the sidelines on a chilly night at what's now called Historic Crew Stadium before subbing in together in the 89th minute to help close out the win over the star-studded Galaxy, which had just won the MLS Cup.
Washington, now the Crew's director of player engagement, forced the Galaxy to spend precious time defending in its own half, even drawing a late foul, while
Warzycha came up with a key defensive play that many longtime Crew fans still recall vividly. He saved the Crew's title hopes by getting to Carlos Ruiz's shot off a rebound and clearing the ball before it rolled over the goal line 55 seconds into added time.
Warzycha was 38 at the time. Washington was 31. Now, they're 62 and 55, respectively, and nearly a quarter of a century has passed.
"I actually ran into [Warzycha] last week and we were talking about it," Washington said. "He goes, ‘Did I even play in that game?’ I said, ‘You actually did.’ I’d looked at the video of it, and I said, ‘Both of us went in around the same time, but you probably did the most important thing.’ And he goes, ‘Yeah,’ and he kind of vaguely remembered [his save]."
Time flies, as the saying goes, and its rapid passing often blurs even key moments like that one. The Crew's celebration, however, remains a special memory for Washington even 24 years later with the team preparing to face St. Louis City FC in this year's US. Open Cup Final on Oct. 21 at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field (8 p.m. Paramount+).
"Winning and doing it in front of our home fans, in front of the ownership group was special," Washington said. "We were a really tight group too. There’s a number of guys on the [2002] team who actually still live in Columbus or somewhere close, like [Indianapolis] or Pittsburgh. So, to do that at home was really special and to celebrate it was a lot of fun.”
Columbus Crew's U.S. Open Cup drought older than Taha Habroune
The U.S. Open Cup started in 1913-14 as the National Challenge Cup, and its first championship game was played in May 194 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, making it the oldest cup competition in U.S. soccer history and second-oldest continually operating cup competition in the world behind Ireland's Irish Cup.
The Crew have only won it once, in 2002, and have finished runner-up twice (1998, 2010). The same year they won it, a soccer-loving Moroccan family moved to Columbus.
Four years later, Taha Habroune was born into that family at Riverside Hospital. Growing up in Linden on the city's northeast side, Habroune fell in love with soccer while watching his father, Abdeslam, and older brother, Abdul, kick the ball around at local fields.
He soon began playing himself, attended his first Crew game at age six, became a fan and eventually made his way to MLS as a true homegrown talent in Columbus. After coming up through the Crew's academy and playing for Crew2 in the MLS NEXT Pro league, Habroune, 20, is now a rising star in his hometown.
Helping the Crew end a long U.S. Open Cup drought in front of family and friends is a tantalizing goal.
"Growing up here, I’ve witnessed the Crew win many titles, and the Open Cup hasn’t been one of them," Habroune said. "It would be special for me for a couple of reasons. It’s the first final I’ll be a part of where I’m actually a contributor to the team, and being from Columbus, knowing that we haven’t won it in 24 years, it would mean a lot."
It would also be nostalgic for a group of 2002 Crew alums who'll join Washington to watch in person. Though Washington and Habroune haven't discussed the Crew's 2002 U.S. Open Cup championship, they interact on a regular basis around the Crew's training facilities.
Watching Habroune and this year's Crew experience what he and his teammates did more than two decades ago might send chills down Washington's spine.
"It’s hard to believe that it’s been so long because some of the memories are very vivid and some aren’t, but time absolutely flies, and before you know it, you’re 24 almost 25 years later, still thinking about some of the things that we did back then," Washington said. "It’s hard to believe really.”
DispatchBlue Jackets/Crew reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew chasing U.S. Open Cup glory 24 years after winning it
