A little more than 12 hours after Crew SC’s 3-2 loss to New York City FC had wrapped up at Mapfre Stadium, the Crew was back on the pitch at its training facility in Obetz.

The Crew’s lineup Sunday morning for a scrimmage against USL affiliate Pittsburgh featured all seven bench players from the Crew’s Saturday game, including three — Niko Hansen, Kekuta Manneh and Adam Jahn — who came on as subs late in the loss.

Berhalter called the scrimmage, which ended in 2-1 Riverhounds win, a “good opportunity,” but one in which the Crew at times lacked rhythm.

“I think it was difficult. I think anyone who was involved in the game last night, you have the physical and mental stress of a game and then to turn around a couple hours later and go perform is challenging,” Berhalter said. “Nonetheless it’s still a good opportunity for these guys to get rhythm and I think we lacked that a little bit.”

Added Berhalter: “I mean I think you can take what you want out of it. This was an opportunity for us to create a lot of goal-scoring opportunities. I think we could’ve done better doing that. There was enough space, enough time to really pick them apart and create a lot of chances and I think we should’ve done that a little better.”

Pittsburgh, which also had a reserve-heavy lineup after playing a game against Harrisburg on Saturday night at Highmark Stadium on Pittsburgh’s South Side, had trouble keeping Niko Hansen in front out of the gate. The rookie dribbled by a defender and scored far corner for the Crew’s only goal of the game in the fourth minute.

Pittsburgh’s Chevaughn Walsh scored the equalizer in the 19th, beating goalkeeper Logan Ketterer after apparent miscommunication between center backs Lalas Abubakar and Josh Williams. The Riverhounds again scored in the 53rd — the game featured two 40-minute halves — after a giveaway in the Crew’s defensive half.

The Crew produced a few chances over the course of the game, its best after the goal coming in the 32nd minute, when Manneh’s shot was blocked by Pittsburgh’s goalkeeper and Jahn pounced on the ensuing rebound only to have his shot blocked.

The games obviously don’t count, but there will be some mental scorekeeping for Berhalter as his team prepares to play its first stretch of three games in eight days starting Saturday. More games means more bodies will be needed to get through 270 tightly-woven minutes.

“We haven’t gotten there (in planning) yet, but we’re gonna have to rotate some players,” Berhalter said. “We know the fullbacks get a lot of distance. We know our wingers get a lot of distance. We know Federico (Higuain) gets a lot of distance, so we’re gonna have to make some of type of rotation and we haven’t really planned all three games yet. We’re focusing on the first one (against New England).”

Berhalter said evaluation takes into account practices, scrimmages and games, but varies depending on the player. Crew SC knows what it has in veteran center back Josh Williams, for example, but continues to get a read on players like Abubakar, who has made one appearance for Pittsburgh but has almost exclusively trained with the Crew this season.

Abubakar, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, made the 18-player gameday roster for Saturday’s game as Alex Crognale continues to work his way back from a sprained right ankle.

“For him, again, it’s going to be using these opportunities to show that he should be on the first team and that’s going to be important,” Berhalter said. “To be honest, if you look at our center back situation, when we have an injured center back, we need him because if we ever go with three in the back, he’s gonna be important.”

Saturday also gave Crew SC another extended look at forward Emmanuel Sabbi, a Westerville resident with ties to Spanish club UD Las Palmas who has been training with Crew SC prior to his departure to team USA and U-20 World Cup training. Sabbi appeared comfortable on the ball in an attacking midfielder role, producing a couple effective dribbles in the 21st and 59th minutes and registering a sliding shot in the 24th minute.

Stoppage time

Crognale (ankle) and Connor Maloney (concussion) ran off to the side Sunday. Berhalter said both are “good.” He said “I think so” in response to a question asking if Crognale could return to practice this week.

Manneh wore tape on his left hand, but Berhalter said it’s nothing of concern.

“I think that’s been ongoing,” Berhalter said. “I think in Vancouver he wore something like that as well.”

@AEricksonCD