Columbus Crew defender Jonathan Mensah has credited his good communication with fellow country-man Abubakar Lalas as the main reason for the youngster’s rise.

Lalas, 23 has formed an impregnable central defense partnership with Mensah which is helping Crew to be tight at the back.

Mensah believes because he and Lalas speak the same dialect, it is easier for them to communicate on the pitch which is helping Lalas in his progress.

“I played with him a couple of times in preseason and during trainings. It’s been good,” Jonathan stated in relations to Lalas.

“We communicate in our local language and English as well. We just talk to each other and I let him know the situation around him. Communication was very good.”

Both players were stupendous over the weekend as Columbus Crew went away to beat Toronto FC by two goals at the BMO field with Lalas emerging as man of the match and eventually making it to the MLS team of the week.