U.S. Open Cup: Crew v. LA - Calling the Ghosts of ‘02

By: Jeff | April 24th, 2007

The Columbus Crew won a trophy once - to paraphrase Bull Durham, you can look it up. I only discovered this thanks to some digging Luis Bueno did in his U.S. Open Cup play-in preview over on LA Soccer News, but that kicked off a short search that revealed the details.

As Bueno notes, it was the LA Galaxy that Columbus beat to win their one and only national title. And, in spite of fielding such (33rd-Degree) Crew luminaries as Brian McBride, Jeff Cunningham, and Brian Maisonneuve, it was Freddy Garcia who bagged the game’s lone, winning goal (and Chad McCarty got sent off late…how ’bout that?). The Crew’s road to the final featured more prolific scoring, but the important thing was winning the game in Crew Stadium - even if a few more than 6,000 fans showed up on the night.

Given the extent and, occasionally, tangential nature of the coverage for tonight’s Open Cup play-in against the Galaxy, it seems unlikely that many more fans will show tonight - kind of makes one thankful this one’s available only in person or in audio (and, no, there’s no way in hell I’m going to listen to this thing; I don’t listen to soccer). Bueno’s article is about the only piece outside the message boards that talks more-or-less specifically about tonight’s game. At time of writing, the featured link on the Crew’s official page directs the reader to the ticket sales page. At least that’s topical: LA’s official site provides readers get a 500-word gripe about the Galaxy’s schedule; mysteriously, the Columbus Dispatch doesn’t so much follow suit as throw down the “Beckham-is-coming” trump card - and that’s before letting Landon Donovan bitch about the Galaxy’s schedule (decent quote from Donovan, though).

Taken together, all that’s enough to give the Los Angeles Times blurb a place showing in the relevant coverage competition. It also makes the use of the word “ghosts” in the headline more appropriate. Still, you can see a few of the players the Galaxy intends to leave behind - Tyrone Marshall, Alan Gordon, etc. - between the two LA-based pieces. Hints as to whom the Crew may or may not play…well, you’re on your own for that.

I’ll cobble together a report on the action tomorrow, assuming such things are possible.

UPDATE: Looks like we’ve got a late save from the interns at MLSnet.com: They have now posted a preview. It deals in personalities and Columbus’ recent habit of borrowing from the LA roster to make theirs, but it’s a preview all the same.