Crew vs. Fire: Match Preview
By: James |
1 Comment
On May 25th, the Chicago Fire beat the Red Bulls 5-1 earn a spot at the top of the table, tied with Columbus and New England. That bright spot came in the midst of a poor run for the Fire: It’s their only MLS win after week 7, that’s a record of 1-4-2 since May 17. Chicago has slid to fifth in the Eastern Conference, and Columbus sits in second. With the Revs and DC busy with SuperLiga, and Toronto participating in Canadian CONCACAF play, July presents opportunities to both Chicago and Columbus.
There are a lot of parallels between the Crew and the Fire. For one, the Crew is only 2-3-2 since May 17. The Crew had 4 games without a goal from 5/17 to 6/7, but have scored 8 goals in the 3 games since. The Fire hasn’t scored a goal since June 10, but even with those 3 goal-less games they maintain the best goal differential in MLS at 9, compared to Columbus at 5. Icredibly, Columbus and Chicago failed to score against the some of the same teams: both failed to produce against San Jose and Chivas USA during their goal droughts.
The Crew seemed to keep faith during their goalless streak, proclaiming in every interview that the goals would come. It’s hard to read the mind set of the Chicago side, even if Chad Barrett seems a little shaken by his failure to score. Still, it’s probably better for the Crew to assume the worst: Chicago wants to do the Crew at home like Columbus did Kansas City: a homestand shaming. With Sigi Schmid out this week for his daughter’s wedding, I’m curious to see how Robert “The Polish Rifle”
Warzycha directs the Crew, especially how he manages substitutions and halftime adjustments.
Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco plays a similar role for Chicago that Schelotto plays for Columbus: a veteran playmaker who can control play and create chances. Managing Blanco is a critical detail for Columbus this week. Defender Wilman Conde has recently stepped up to join Gonzalo Segares as stand outs in the back and should provide strong pressure against the Columbus attack.
Tomasz Frankowski, Chad Barrett, and Chris Rolfe provide attacking options up front, but offensive play has had trouble gelling and seems to get broken up in the midfield. Andy Herron left Columbus to start 2008 with Chicago and is competing for the starting spot in the attack. However, Herron went out after 16 minutes last week and won’t play this week due to a concussion.
A real standout for Chicago, even during this tough stretch, is South African midfielder John Thorrington. He has a strong presence on the field and transitions well from offensive to defensive play. Still, Chicago’s weakness seems to be in the midfield. They give up a lot of possession here, and haven’t been able to control the tempo of their recent games.
To win, Columbus will need to focus a little more on possession than in previous weeks and still be ready find opportunities for the quick, dangerous attacks and counterattacks that have led to many of this year’s goals. Controlling the midfield, especially winning 50-50 balls and aggressively pressuring Chicago in the middle third could really unlock the game for Columbus.
The game is not without risks. Denis Hamlett is likely to have noticed that Colorado was able to out-shoot Columbus last week, and were especially effective when they moved quickly out of the middle third, essentially chipping balls into the attacking third and hoping for the best. Columbus will need to sort out whatever defensive issues left men unmarked and the defense out run. Fatigue seemed an issue last week for the defense, which can be somewhat rectified if the Crew concentrates more on possession.
Similarly, defensive clearances and midfield play focused on moving the ball into the attacking third as quickly as possible as last week’s game moved to a close, even when Columbus was up a goal. The Crew lost possession too easily and allowed the Rapids offense to press the Crew defenders as they struggled with fatigue. Again, focusing more on possession and building to chances out of the midfield should help bottle up the Chicago attack, as well as soften their admirable defense.
Look for Hesmer to calm his play this week and to work on more effectively directing the defense. Danny O’Rourke should look strong on the left, but will need to mark his man carefully, and challenge aggressively as play approaches the defensive third, trusting Iro and Marshall to back him up. Hejduk will deliver. Iro and Marshall are building a rapport in central defense, but there seems to be some difficulty coordinating activities with Brian Carroll.
I am a huge Brian Carroll fan. He hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but he has an impact that casual fans might not appreciate. Carroll has done so much to strengthen the Crew’s defensive profile, knowing where to be when to break up attacks as they develop. He fights for every ball. On the offensive side, Carroll has been effective in distributing balls down the line, as well as find ways to capitalize on balls dropped to negative space.
As the defense has retooled and Brad Evans has taken a persistent spot upfield of him, Carroll hasn’t quite sorted out his role whereas in the season’s original lineup he was always in the right place at the right time. I’m hoping that, again, shifting the focus slightly toward possession, Carroll can play a pivotal role in a victory.
Schelotto, Moreno, Rogers, and Ekpo should be able to provide some potent attacks, but will need to stay in step with one another. I’d like to see them mix up their pace of attack: taking the time necessary to craft solid tries developing out of a probing midfield in some cases, yet punching through to breakneck crosses in other cases. Brad Evans, and to a lesser degree Emmanuel Ekpo, need to hit their stride in the first half rather than into the second half as they often do. Evans should focus a bit more on pressuring Chicago when they possess the ball in their own half. He clicks well with Schelotto in the second half but needs to be ready from the first whistle.
Possession and tempo can win this one for the Crew, but I’m nervous about it. The Crew needs to be ready from the opening whistle and on every restart. Chicago will be hungry, so the Crew need to set the tone early and to get exceptional support from the 12th man that is Nordecke. I want 3-1 Crew, and will get it if Columbus executes. Chicago, though, will be playing for the win. If they’re up, it will be a serious challenge.
Wild guess
By: James | 2 Comments
I think Guillermo is going to move to a DP contract before the end of this season. There’s too much grinning for me to think otherwise. If it takes using the DP spot to secure Schelotto for 2009, I say go for it.
Schelotto came to Columbus on a 2 year, ~ $2 million contract. The Crew charged $150,000 to salary last year, and are charging $375,000 this year. Mathletes in the audience will notice that these numbers don’t add up to $2,000,000. The front office signed a DP-level player without using the DP spot with accounting tricks that created a $850,000 off-the-books payout last year. They were only able to hide $625,000 this year, and chances are the voodoo economics are tapped out by year’s end. (Note to Crew accountants: Bear Sterns needs your help.)
It’s probably going to take using the DP spot to keep Schelotto for next year anyway, and doing it this year has some benefits. With Nico Hernandez and Guillerme So waived the Crew has two open slots on the roster going into the transfer window. Hernandez was contracted at $100,000. So was on contract for $73,000. The Crew could report up to $415,000 of Schelotto’s fee as a salary charge under the DP rule, but it looks like they could also choose to report less, maybe even none. That creative accounting would free up as much as $548,000 under the salary cap. That really improves the kind of shopping we could do in July.
Bank like that covers DeRosario and Ching down in Houston and almost covers Joseph and Twellman in New England. I’m not sure who’s been scouted, or who’s available, but now I can see Sigi and Bliss making two quality additions that fit with Schelotto where I had been nervous about whether they could really find a DP that could play well with Schelotto this year and make up for his absence next year.
I’m being a little generous to myself by calling this a wild guess. It’s probably more like baseless, rule-defying conjecture. Sue me.
Ekpo nominated for Goal of the Week
By: James | Add Comments
I was right. Ekpo’s goal is up for Goal of the Week for Week 14.
The clip of the goal is actually a bit disappointing since it starts after Ekpo popped the ball backwards over his own head and the guy covering him (Nick LaBrocca?). The thing that so impressed me, as I said before, was that he flicked the thing backwards and found it exactly where he expected it when he turned. He gained two steps on LaBrocca by not having to look for the ball. Maybe MLS needs to add a burn of the week… Funny enough, LaBrocca’s goal against the Crew is up for GOTW too, making him a featured performer in two of this weeks clips. There’s a clear choice in this campaign: Vote Ekpo.
Crew vs. Rapids: Match Report
By: James | 1 Comment
Crew 2, Rapids 1.
Columbus: Schelotto (PK) 53, Ekpo (unassisted) 70
Colorado: LaBrocca (Casey) 60
Wow. There were some nice surprises tonight, but on the other hand, it finished ugly. I liked the staffing and position decisions made on defense, but that’s clearly where more work needs to be done. O’Rourke played on the left side rather than as a central defender while Andy Iro played 90 minutes alongside Chad Marshall in the center. This had some nice effects, especially in the first half. First, it mitigates the risk from those occasions where Danny valuable aggressiveness becomes reckless and it puts Iro behind him when he gets beaten or loses a step on a opponent. O’Rourke was more effective on the left than Junge and made an effective bridge from Hesmer and the central defenders forward to the attacking midfielders. He also refused to cede those yards in the midfield he’d given ground on in earlier games. I like Danny on the left and hope he stays there.
I’ve been hoping to see Andy Iro and think he looked pretty good in his first 90 minute game. His height is an asset and he seemed to have a good sense of the game. His clearances seemed to be directed at offensive targets more often than I’m used to seeing- especially Ekpo. The chemistry with Marshall seems strong if immature. He made some errors of his own, and probably shares some blame on LaBrocca’s goal but looked strong for his first showing.
The defense looked strong in the first half. Around LaBrocca’s goal in the 60th minute, and from the 75th minute on though, the Colorado’s Cooke, Clarke, Casey, and McManus owned our defense. Hejduk seemed tired for the first time in history, Iro and Marshall seemed to lose chemistry, and O’Rourke was often out of the picture. Carroll usually can pick up this slack, but the whole team seemed overwhelmed by the Rapid’s attack. It got pretty dicey by the end. Moreno dropped back on the right pretty effectively at times, but he shouldn’t need to do that. Mastroeni or another Rapids defender served several balls from midfield to dead center at the top of the box, and the Crew struggled to manage the attack. It seemed like Hesmer handled more volleys in the last 15 minutes that he did in the rest of the game. Despite that, Frankie Hejduk really laid into William Hesmer several times in the ugliest minutes of the game. He seemed to feel that Hesmer needed to come out to meet more balls that were crossing the 28 whether they were in the box or not. He also seemed to want Hesmer to manage the central defenders better, but he didn’t offer direction or complaints to Marshall or Iro as far as I could see. Hesmer didn’t seem to talk back, but he clearly wanted to stay in front of the goal rather than come out aggressively like he did in L.A. Final note on defense: Schmid wisely subbed in Junge for Schelotto in the 90th minute and went to a 5-3-2. The defense clearly needed relief, but the fact that he added a man rather than subbing a defender shows how much they struggled. I’m not sure how they’ll address this for coming weeks.
On the offensive side, the most notable change was seeing Emmanuel Ekpo on the right side where Nico Hernandez played last week. Shawn Mitchell is reporting that Nico was waived Saturday afternoon. I think Ekpo is the stronger option, and it’s possible Nicowas waived to open a roster spot for a DP. Even if that’s not the case I think Ekpo’s showed himself as a strong presence on the right side, and may be that missing fourth man in the attack. Ekpo challenge well and made some great tackles. His ball-handling talents are there, but his value lies in his ability to see play as it develops and make the right pass, run, or step to build a quality chance. On the offensive side we’ve had that in Rogers, Moreno, and Schelotto, but Schmid has struggled though the last two seasons to get this in an offensive player and most of his remaining options have been here a year. Eddie Gaven has the potential to be this player but he seems frustrated by how often his play ends in an almost: shots almost on frame, passes almost on target, runs almost to great crosses. I think Ekpo is a good acquisition and would like to see him keep the start.
On Ekpo’s goal: Holy hell. It’s a goal of the week contender in my book. The fact that he could pop a ball back over his own head then turn and run with absolute confidence that the ball would be waiting exactly where he wanted it completely floored me. That he ran it down for a well-taken goal made me wish I’d worn Depends.
Despite making its goals in the second half, the attack the Crew crafted in the first half showed inventiveness, tenacity, and clear evidence that all of the contributors were on the same page. Where crossed balls were unmet in the box last week, each pass seemed to find a target. Where last week saw more lateral passes, this week showed passing that advanced the ball, broke the defense, and flowed organically toward quality tries.
The breakdown of the defensive effort in the second half hurts the statistical match-up against Colorado’s offense, but the Crew looked like the better formed offense for the first 70 minutes of play.
Rogers continues to grow. Colorado’s Ihemelu had trouble marking him. And Robbie has expanded made a better target than in those games where he was shut down by harsh physicality. More importantly, he brought several runs down the sideline and crossed into attacking players that had kept up. The last three weeks show strong development in the offensive effort.
Brad Evans continues to develop, and anticipated his role in attacks as they developed better than in previous weeks. He still plays best in the second half.
Corner kicks didn’t come as plentifully as in previous weeks, but Schelotto’s corners were much more shallow, geared to finding a gap at the near post or just behind the keeper. I liked it. I don’t know what to say about Guille. I’m awed. And somebody should write a song about Alejandro Moreno. Maybe Jack White…
Colorado found a rhythm the Crew couldn’t break as the clock ran down, but even then, Steven Lenhart - who came in for Ekpo (I would have thought to replace Evans) - made a great target for Schelotto. He anticipated passes, and worked some strong give and go balls. Lenhart doesn’t seem to have lost anything by cutting off the ‘fro. Overall, there was some really gorgeous offensive football played by the Crew.
There’s more to work on for the defensive side this week. I think the offense looks strong, and will find ways to build even more pressure and creative chances.
Sigi won’t be coaching the All Stars. While the Crew won, New England won too. Steve Nicol takes the honor. Still, Sigi’s coach was off Nicol’s mark by just two hundredths of a point. The Revs play no MLS games in July. The Crew plays 4 times and is only 4 points out from the top of the table. How do you like their chances?
Crew vs. Rapids: Match Preview
By: James | Add Comments
The Crew face the Colorado Rapids tonight in Columbus with a chance of returning to the top of the table by the midway point of the season. Also on the line is Sigi Schmid’s chance to coach the MLS All Stars against West Ham on July 24. High stakes like those can lead to an anxious, undisciplined play even against a struggling side like Colorado, but the team seems composed and prepared.
There has been a glut of player and coach interviews this week, and to a man they seem focused and on point.
Being a new voice, I need to say how impressed I’ve been by ability of Schmid, Warzycha, Lapper, and Kirillov review each game and respond to the weak spots in the Crew’s game. One example: Early on in the season, Columbus was fifty-fifty on balls served forward by Hesmer, at best. He hit for distance with no clear strategy for holding possession or moving to attack. By the time they faced New England, Hesmer still hit for distance, but the field players were arranged on the right side from the center circle to the top of the Rev’s penalty box. The improved on the rate of possession on Hesmer’s kicks, but that change coincided with the goal drought…
Against L.A., Hesmer pitch the ball to a defender and counted on them to advance the ball. I like that focus on constant improvement.
Some of the things I’m looking for against Colorado have already been discussed. There is a clear need to do better on kick off and on restarts after goals. That’s been true all season. It has typically taken the Crew 20 minutes to get the rhythm of the game, where they need to set the tempo from the first touch. The Galaxy helpfully underscored this problem.
In the first half against the Galaxy, there were flashes of genius and clever play from Schelotto, Moreno, and Rogers that didn’t grow into fully-formed chances. There were too many balls that went all the way across the box with no Crew players to take the shot. We’ve struggle a bit on personnel with a fourth attack player. Moffat is missed. But with Sigi not having a ninety minute player here, I’d like to see them intentionally burn an attacking midfielder in the first 45 minutes. My charge to Nico, or Ekpo, or Gaven would be: Don’t pace yourself. Somebody has to get to these balls early and try to convert. Evans takes about 60 minutes to get his stride. I’d insist he get it done in 45 as he continues to start in a central position. Alternately, I’d look for the experienced Oughten to see the opportunities when they arise and make the right runs. He should be game fit soon, although his caps will limit his availability.
We create a lot of corner kicks, but haven’t had the quality crosses or on field formation to capitalize on them. I think we might see a new formation tonight with someone on the back side of the box to field loose balls. I’d also like to see some creativity on the crosses like the brilliant free kick against the Galaxy where Schelotto went to Hejduk instead of across the box, which led to a goal. I think we might see changes here tonight.
Also, I’d happily trade some of those corner kicks for shots on goal.
On defense, I still worry about errors from O’Rourke, and his ability to keep his head after he’s made an error. He actually recovered well against LA despite the high cost of his one real error and his one imagined error.
More importantly, against Chivas and L.A. both the defense seems to concede the entire field from the center circle to the top of the box if the attack player holds onto the ball. I was worried about the fast forward passes Beckham - Donovan have made so brilliantly, but those were handled well. Instead, we struggled against slower attacks. I actually expect to see the back line give Colorado thirty yards to define their attack and allow some unearned, but dangerous chances.
Finally, I think we’ll see the 4-4-2 most of the game with a switch to 3-5-2 for part of the second half. I think Sigi has as much as said so. The difficulty with starts and restarts requires that 4-4-2 for a good portion of the game.
Category: Match PreviewOpening Day Around the Corner
By: TrivDaddy | 2 Comments
The Crew kick off in just over 50 hours for the start of the 2008 MLS season. There has been some movement on the team. Whether it was off season acquisitions (Padula and Hernandez) or expansion draft loses (Grabavoy), I think the Crew have put themselves into a good spot. I think they have made some improvement in the roster and we will see a Crew squad grow leaps and bounds over last year.
The game coming up is the first of the season for the league, the first ever for the Great Lakes Cup, and a chance to put the league on notice. This team is better than last year. We know that they were just a couple points shy of the playoffs and that injures hurt us towards the end of the season when trying to mount of dash to the playoffs. The Crew staying healthy will present a challenge to any team they play during the course of the season. I have tickets on Saturday to see this swam of TFC fans and the Crew fans for the MLS opening kick off. Get your tickets, TVs, or radios ready… It’s football season!
Category: Team NewsInterview with Robbie Rogers and Other News
By: TrivDaddy | Add Comments
Hey All, Don’t get too excited. This is just a goofy interview that I found. It is pretty entertaining, but it reminds me of a MySpace or Facebook quiz.
Also, it looks like over the weekend, Eddie Gaven gave the U-23 men’s national team the game winner over Honduras. The 
goal came in the 95th minute of the game (better late than never!) and was scored off of a penalty kick. That put the US in the top spot in the group and qualified them for the Semi-Finals. They play Canada tomorrow at 8pm in Nashville. Canada had a fantastic game out against Guatemala by defeating them 5:0 eh? Honduras will play Guatemala. Good Luck Guys!!
According to Seattlepi.com, the Crew are pursuing Gino Padula for the Left Back Position. The article says that Pedula has most recently played for Montpellier of the French Second Division. Sigi thinks it will “plug a hole” in the Crew back line.
Weekly Update from thecrew.com
By: TrivDaddy | 2 Comments
Hey there Crew fans,
The update from the Crew’s website has a few interesting titbits. The organization is up for an award for charity work done in and around the Columbus area. Congrats on being finalists Crew! The stage construction at the stadium is nearing completion and should be done on the 15th of April. Where are the Supporter clubs going to be at now?
Looks like Eddie missed a shot for the go ahead goal after he entered the game during the 77th minute between the US and Cuba for the Olympic Qualifying… Come on guys!! We have to put Cuba away! But it’s time for redemption. Take out Panama boys!
Olympic Dreams
By: TrivDaddy | Add Comments
Hey Folks! Sorry I hadn’t posted in a few days. I made a trip to Cincy this weekend and was busy shovelling snow and trying to get back home after that winter storm hit. The roster for the Olympic team is out. It seems we will be losing Eddie Gaven to the US National team for the Olympics. In this article it also lists a few others that didn’t make the cut for Team USA, one of which was Robbie Rodgers. Disappointing as it may be only having one representative on the National Team, it isn’t a complete downer. I like to have as many high quality players that can play at the international level and can take down other international teams, however, I like that we are only losing one player during the Olympics, unlike Salt Lake who’s losing three! Congratulations to Eddie for making the cut and go for the Gold in China!!
Over the Pond Pre-Season
By: TrivDaddy | Add Comments
The Crew yesterday beat the Blackburn Reserves 1-0. They are playing Everton today. While over there, the article on thecrew.com, said they were going to take in 3 games, one of which a UEFA Cup game and the other two were EPL games. I would have to say I’m quite jealous of the gold and black. I’ve been trying myself to get over to England and see an EPL game (specifically Man U vs. anybody). Good luck to them in the remaining game and get home safely!
Category: Team News
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