COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Columbus Crew SC defender Waylon Francis was fouled by a flying, studs-up tackle from Orlando City SC’s Rafael Ramos Saturday, one of the first and perhaps the most passionate teammate to jump to the Costa Rican’s defense was Hernan Grana.
Grana only joined the club in January when he transferred to MLS from his native Argentina. But in his fifth start of his first MLS season, the 30-year-old looked every bit the old hand as he chased down Ramos and referee Ricardo Salazar, who seemed to be only showing a yellow card.
“In the heat of the moment, you’re thinking, ‘We’re going to defend our teammates,’ and our teammates did the same thing,” Grana said through a team translator. “Obviously, after a little bit, you have to realize, ‘OK, time to settle down now.’ But it’s a tackle that shouldn’t have happened. It came a little too strong on Waylon. As a whole team, we defended each other, and that’s what was going through my head.”
Salazar eventually showed the red, but given the harsh foul and confusion in the moment, Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter said he would have reacted similarly to Grana.
“In my view [Salazar] showed a yellow card first, and I think that upset the guys,” Berhalter told reporters at Crew SC training. “You couple that with the fact that it appeared Ramos was taunting Waylon after he fouled him. But when you look back on it, he was just yelling at the [assistant referee].
“But in that whole scene, I would defend my teammate 100 percent. Any time something like that happens and you think it’s a yellow card and you think the guy is getting taunted after getting fouled like that, you’re going to protect your teammate. So you want the referees to handle that situation and we want to control our emotions. So I think there’s a fine line.”
Grana, however, was likely not thinking about the extenuating circumstances. Born in Quilmes, Argentina, the passion he put on display is simply a matter of course for players there.
“It’s part of my culture,” he said. “My job here is to do anything I can for the club, for the colors, for the badge. That’s what I’m doing. For the whole team to support Waylon during that is great, because you show you care. It’s just part of the culture; it’s how you’re brought up in this game.”
That passion has, in part, helped Grana become a staple of the Crew SC team at right back in his first season with the club. And while Berhalter said there are still progressions and movements to work on, he praised Grana’s mindset.
“He’s very committed, that’s one thing we saw in video,” Berhalter said. “He plays with his heart and soul. It’s a lot of running from him that he does, he goes into challenges really hard, he doesn’t take plays off. It’s a good sign.”
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Making matters even more difficult in Grana’s adjustment to a new environment this preseason was the birth of his child, which took him away from the club for a stretch in February. But when he returned he immediately started the club’s first four matches, turning heads in the process.
“The only expectation is on my part, and it’s to want to play,” he said. “As far as expectations, I’m here to work hard and I want to play every single game. That’s the only expectation there was.”
Grana has made an impression on his teammates as well. Fellow Argentine Federico Higuain said Grana is popular in the locker room, and hopes he’ll become a mainstay.
“Hernan is a great player,” Higuain said through a translator. “As far as his future, [I see] only positive things. We’ll see where it goes from here. He signed a contract, so we’re hoping he sticks along with us. He’s a great player on the field, which is very important, and we’re looking forward to that.”
And teaming Grana with the fiery Higuain seems to make perfect sense. Both men come with as much swagger as talent, a credit to the Argentina's culture, Grana said.
“Us Argentinians are just passionate football lovers,” he said. “Any time you watch Argentinian football, you see that passion play out. So maybe it’s that.”
