A Goalless Draw (+ Tricky Coverage)

By: Jeff | April 9th, 2007

Given what I saw of the highlights offered on MLSnet.com’s Quick Kicks, I feel fortunate to have seen the Columbus Crew’s opening game on regular TV. Don’t get me wrong: those three-to-five minute snippets kick the holy crap out of the “nuthin’” they replaced a couple years back, it’s hard to pick up on the flow of a game when all one sees is the few seconds that elapse prior to a shot on goal. But I’m also not relishing the prospect of, oh, 25 games viewed on a tiny screen with frequent interruptions for buffering.

But that’s my problem, of course and I’ll fix it…provided that can be done without a huge investment…turning to the game…

You can file the Crew’s goalless draw against Red Bull New York under the “tale of two halves” cliche. Red Bull had the better of play and possession in the first half, though, as Crew ‘keeper Andy Gruenebaum points out in a quote through the link, they didn’t put together much more than half chances - three-quarter chances at best; for the most part, the Crew’s defense held firm. Balanced against the Crew’s best, first-half chance - a goal-mouth scramble tipped off by a Jason Garey header - things looked to be leaning Red Bull’s way at the half.

But once the whistle blew to start the second half, the Crew looked just that little bit sharper in the attack than Red Bull ever managed. Eddie Gaven managed a moment or two of magic, while Ned Grabavoy slid a pass or two behind the defense before rounding out a good day with a promissing shot that dinged off Red Bull ‘keeper Ronald Wattereus’ left post.

All in all, the Crew opened 2007 with a half-promising start. As pointed out in MLSnet.com’s other match report, the draw “[means] that for the Crew it will be the first time since mid-July of last year they are not occupying the Eastern Conference cellar.” So, there’s that. But, if one considers that the Crew’s difficulty with scoring constituted their biggest weakness in ‘06, the inability to convert on several good chances probably produced some unease in Crew fans.

The good news is, they’ve got Real Salt Lake next, who suffered a fatal defensive gaffe in their opener. Maybe the Crew just needs wider openings?