Harrison Afful smiles as he recalls what naysayers told him about Major League Soccer a year ago when he decided to leave his club team in Tunisia after six seasons to join Crew SC. "Back home in (Ghana), they say that when you come here, you are about to retire your career," the defender said. "When I came here, I saw something completely different."

Harrison Afful smiles as he recalls what naysayers told him about Major League Soccer a year ago when he decided to leave his club team in Tunisia after six seasons to join Crew SC.

�Back home in (Ghana), they say that when you come here, you are about to retire your career,� the defender said. �When I came here, I saw something completely different.�

Like his hairstyle that currently resembles a flower on top, Afful�s game has been in full bloom since joining the Crew last August. The 30-year-old is thriving with the freedom to roam the touchline, getting behind defenders on well-timed runs and creating offensive chances.

In a disappointing season, Afful is one of the few Crew regulars performing near his 2015 level.

Coach Gregg Berhalter considers Afful among the league�s top-three right wingbacks, with D.C. United�s Sean Franklin, Portland�s Alvas Powell and Philadelphia rookie Keegan Rosenberry also in the conversation.

�Offensively, he�s is a constant threat to make a play,� Berhalter said. �Defensively, he�s a good 1-v-1 defender. He has tenacity. He has good quickness.�

Maybe Berhalter is biased about a player who helped the Crew reach the MLS Cup final a year ago. Afful�s numbers since his debut, however, illustrate his strong play. Among MLS defenders he ranks:

Tied for first in assists (five) First in touches (51) inside the opponent�s 18-yard box Third in passes completed (1,087) Fifth in chances created (30)

Unofficially, he also has enjoyed one of the smoothest transitions for a veteran foreign-born player, both on and off the field.

Afful and his wife, Roberta, like going to movies, meeting new people and shopping at Polaris. At the center of their lives is 2-year-old daughter, Kimora. After six years in Tunisia, where he says fan attention sometimes grew suffocating, he savors the relative anonymity away from Mapfre Stadium.

�Here, there�s another life after football,� he said. �There (in Tunisia), it�s football, football, football. When you lose or draw a game everyone is upset, but here they�re very encouraging.

�Security-wise, you are safe here. You are able to bring in your family and go around to nice places. They say America is the land of opportunity, and they are right.�

Afful, who played for Ghana in the 2014 World Cup, cherishes his relationship with Berhalter. The coach called him last year when the defender was weighing his options, selling him on the system fit and the vibrant Ghanaian community in Columbus.

Beyond his offensive skills, coaches and teammates rave about the wingback�s responsibility on the ball. Afful doesn�t make many poor decisions on the attack to put his team in bad positions.

�Under pressure he rarely loses the ball,� midfielder Tony Tchani said. �You can always count on him going forward.�

Afful is tied for second on the team with three assists, and he scored his first MLS goal on July 13 against Toronto FC.

Berhalter said his defensive positioning remains a work in progress, but overall his game continues to improve. In other words, Afful hardly looks like a player ready to �retire� his career.

treed@dispatch.com

@treed1919