Cucho Hernández stands alone in Columbus Crew history.
With a two-goal night in Saturday's 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Union, the Colombian striker has 19 goals and 13 assists this season – good for 32 goal contributions. That surpasses Stern John's 1998 season (31 goal contributions; 26g/5a) for the Crew, establishing a new club record.
His secret?
“I believe in me too much," Cucho said postgame. "I believe in me. That's my secret. I always try. If you see me in the game, I always try things. I miss four or five balls, but the next ball, I do an assist, or I do a goal.
"I try to say to my teammates, 'We need to try something different because, yes, the other teams know us too much now and we need to try and that's my way to play.' I'm so proud of that, and I'm working to better every day. And that's the goal.”
As Cucho continues to produce, shouts for him to win Landon Donovan MLS MVP honors keep growing. For their part, the Lower.com Field faithful made their opinion known with 'MVP' chants.
"It's the first time I heard that," Cucho said. "It's special. It was a special night for that. I think the people love me too much.
"I appreciate that because I always work for this. So, yes, I can win MVP or not, but I don't care so much. I prefer to win like a group, like a family, and that's the most important."
Unsurprisingly, Cucho's success goes hand-in-hand with the Crew setting more milestones.
They've now earned a club-record 60 points (17W-6L-9D), surpassing the previous best of 57 (2008 and 2023). With two matches remaining, Columbus' 17 wins are also tied for the most in a single season (2008).
True to form, head coach Wilfried Nancy believes his team has more levels to reach.
“You know me with my sentence: ‘It's an infinite game,'" Nancy said. "It doesn't stop. There is all the time something that we can improve.
"The idea is for me to open my big eyes and see what I can use again to challenge the players. As a human being, life is about challenges. It's about trying to achieve something and try to do something that we don't know and try to get better about everything. Obviously, I know that they want to win, but what can we do to help them to win? This is the idea."
Columbus secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, giving them home-field advantage through at least the semifinal round of the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The defending MLS Cup champions are looking to become the first back-to-back winners since the 2011-12 LA Galaxy. They've already won Leagues Cup this year and are set on adding more silverware.
"It's something huge to break all these records," said midfielder Dylan Chambost. "We are proud of that and we have to keep fighting until the end."
Added defender Mo Farsi: "Every time we go to pitch, everybody gives 100 percent. We see this connection that we have, everybody together."
