Crew SC coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter rolled out a starting lineup in public Saturday for the first time in 2017.

The Crew’s final two games of the Carolina Challenge Cup this week, ahead of the team’s season-opener against Chicago on March 4, will yield something more concrete.

“It helps the players to have that security and know and prepare that they’re going to play in the game,” Berhalter said. “So we’ll come to a conclusion (with) the lineup after this Charleston trip.”

Berhalter began the offseason knowing he would replace several starters or bring in talent to compete with incumbents, and did, signing several players over a two-month period to shore up the back line and defensive midfield.

At goalkeeper, however, the offseason has been less splashy.

Of the many lineup decisions Berhalter will have to make between now and March 4, perhaps the most difficult centers on whether Zack Steffen or Brad Stuver will be his starting goalkeeper.

When the Crew did not pick up the option of 100-game starter Steve Clark after the 2016 season, the questions began as to who might fill his spot.

For now, Stuver, 25, and Steffen, 21, are the only two goalkeepers under contract. Steffen has experience with the youth national team and has played abroad for German club Freiburg’s reserve team. The 2017 MLS season will be Stuver’s fourth.

Between them, though, they have only two games of MLS experience.

Throughout the preseason, Berhalter has said the evaluation of the position is ongoing. He also didn’t rule out bringing in an outside player.

The evaluation continued Saturday in Crew SC’s exhibition against Atlanta United, in which Steffen started and played a full 90 minutes. He produced a clean performance after allowing a sixth-minute goal in the Crew's 2-1 win.

The goalie evaluation will likely continue through the end of the Carolina Challenge Cup, at which point Berhalter said he will ideally make a selection and stick with it.

“I would probably prefer (using one keeper). I don’t know that that’s going to happen, but I’d probably prefer that,” he said. “You want someone clear to emerge as the No. 1.”

Steffen said he entered the team’s preseason trip to Brazil hoping to be “clean and sharp” in goal. He also had the predictable goal of competing for a starting job.

“You obviously want to start,” he said. “Everybody wants to start, so you come into the preseason as ready as you can and you just push yourself each day and hope for the best and keep working hard and it’ll all fall into place.”

On the day the Crew left for Brazil, Stuver said, “I’m just going to take it one day at a time. … I want to come in and do what I do and the rest isn’t up to me.”

Competition for playing time is a challenge for many MLS youngsters, but Berhalter said he expects Steffen to push for whatever time he can get.

“One thing we’re looking for from him is embracing that battle,” Berhalter said. “Some of the younger guys have struggled with that, but with Zack, we’re asking him, ‘Listen, embrace and go out there and dominate every single day.’ We say the same to Brad.”

The 2017 starter’s challenges don’t stop with winning the job. The deft footwork required of a keeper in a possession-heavy playing style is tested on an every-match basis, as is the keeper’s communication with what will be a talented but new back line.

“They’re good goalkeepers, so we just have to get to know each other better on the field,” defender Nicolai Naess said. “We have to talk to each other. That’s how it is.”

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