PACHUCA, Hgo. — Following the Columbus Crew's loss to CF Pachuca in the Concacaf Champions Cup final on Saturday, head coach Wilfried Nancy confirmed the team had come down with an illness before the match.
Nancy explained that players and members of the staff had come down with a stomach illness the day prior.
"My players gave everything knowing that they were sick. All the team had diarrhea since yesterday, the staff also," Nancy said.
It's unclear what caused the illnesses.
"My players gave everything knowing that it was not easy for them," Nancy said.
Outside of the stomach illnesses, the Mexico stadium where the club played sits at an altitude nearly 8,000 feet higher than in Columbus at Lower.com Field.
Despite the setbacks, Nancy gave props to Pachuca on the win as they were able to carry out plays that the Crew weren't able to respond to.
"Well done by Pachuca in terms of what's clear of what they wanted to do. They tried to press us, we had a possibility to come out of the press. We did at moments but we didn't finish the action well," Nancy said.
He went on to say that in future games, the team has to "do better in terms of coming back a little bit quicker."
The black and gold get back to regular season play on Friday against New York City FC.
