Crew v. Revs: That Takes Care of Step 1

By: Jeff | April 20th, 2007

“Prove me wrong, you assholes.”

That’s how I closed out the still-later preview of last night’s game between the Columbus Crew and the New England Revolution and, happily, both teams did. Not only were there plenty of goals on offer, there was a dangerous elbow, aggrieved announcers, etc. etc. I can say with a straight face that I enjoyed last night’s game as much as any I’ve watched this season.

To begin with the goals, it’s great that the Crew finally scored – even if both goals fell in the range between soft and lucky. Add the word “stupid” and you’ve got all the adjectives one needs to describe all four goals scored last night: Ned Grabavoy got things started with an eighth-minute goal that Shalrie Joseph’s hand (wait…was it his glass-smashing hand? he may need that later) deflected past Revs’ ‘keeper Matt Reis; Revolution midfielder Andy Dorman bumbled through the Crew’s heretofore solid back line a couple minutes later to poke in one of the goofiest goals of ‘07; toward the end of the half, the Crew defense all but welcomed a Taylor Twellman shot from range, who obliged by knocking one past Andy Gruenebaum, who I know now goes by the nickname, the Hebrew Hammer; finally, James Riley missed a parks-and-rec-level trap and let Crew forward Kei Kamara bang in an equalizer just when all seemed lost.

All ugly, yes, but they all count just the same.

Well, if you do the math, you’ll know last night’s game ended in a 2-2 draw. With that, the Columbus Crew took the vital first step in getting to their first win when they scored a (friggin’) goal. Unfortunately, the team combined that with their worst performance on defense this year – and this was serious. Had Taylor Twellman knocked in the golden set-up his front-limping partner Pat Noonan sent his way, this game would have ended 3-2; hobbled as he was, Noonan almost proved a decisive substitution.

In the end, though, the Crew’s hero last night was Frankie Hejduk. Yeah, I saw who the ESPN announcers dubbed man of the match – Kei Kamara, who scored the actual goal – but it was Hejduk’s alert run that got behind the Revolution’s left (who the hell had the cover, people? Wells Thompson? Avery John?), thereby making Riley’s blown trap both possible and fatal. Add his generally stout defending and the profanity-laced smackdown (”Shut the f%@k up! Just shut the f%$K up!”) he laid on the rookie Thompson a few minutes earlier and you’ve got my man of the match.

But the big question for Crew fans today is what happened to the Columbus team that started the game? Up until Twellman’s goal, which was the Revs’ second, the Crew was clearly the sharper team. Joseph Ngwenya’s apparently free role had him popping up all over the field slashing at the Revs defense; Ricardo Virtuoso posed early problems for the Revs on the opposite side of the field. It’s not a coincidence that those players combined to set up the Crew’s first goal of ‘07, nor is it surprising that Grabavoy knocked it in. Grabavoy continued as the Crew’s most menacing player and not only for the opening goal; he made a great run in the second half that he should have done better to finish and, in general, he continues to hold and pass the ball very well. The only exception to this latter point is his apparent fondness for a through-ball he tries to squeeze past the inside of a defender with his runner charging up the outside; those haven’t worked yet, Neddy.

Less effective on offense was Eddie Gaven, to whom I’ll refer as the “Missing Piece” till his confidence picks up. Twice last night Eddie put himself in great position to score – he passed on one instead of shooting and shot miles wide with a better chance later on. Here’s to hoping that improves.

But it was a body part that most hampered the Crew last night: Andy Herron’s elbow. His blatant, deliberate cheap-shot at Revs defender Jay Heaps did two things (well, three): once the ref knew it had occurred, apparently over halftime, he opened the second half with a series of make-up calls against the Crew; those calls made maintaining an aggressive, pressuring posture nearly impossible and the ground they gave made the Crew more vulnerable (that’s two; number three was having to listen to Eric Wynalda’s swell-headed tirades about showing “the kids” how not to play the game; thanks a bunch, Andy). Unfortunately, a suspension seems likely, especially with all the attention the shot garnered from the broadcast team. The tough thing is, Herron did suffer some fouls, the worst of which was the tug on his arm (by Avery John?) as he wheeled around for a shot inside the area in the first half. He lost his head, obviously, but that too-conscious decision has also done some damage to his team. And that sucks for Crew fans.

Well, that’s all I’ve got about the game, but I wanted to close with one personal note. My kids often watch me watching soccer; to be honest, they don’t really know what gets me so animated when I’m watching the game, which I suppose makes them curious. At any rate, as I was watching my older daughter kept asking me who I was pulling for; I kept telling her “the guys in white.” For the rest of the night, she kept pointing out instances where that didn’t seem to be the case: for instance, I groaned when Twellman scored his and, when Kamara scored the late equalizer, I threw up my hands and smiled. I can’t say what that means, really. On one level, I think that the Crew, between self-inflicted idiocy (Herron) and the resultant tough-break calls by the ref, showed enough pluck and effort to deserve the draw – and I say that knowing they were genuinely lucky to not lose (see Noonan-to-Twellman). But on a more basic level, this is how I am as a fan: if my team stinks up the joint – which the Revs did for the first 40 and I think Steve Nicol would agree with that – I’m perfectly comfortable seeing them lose.

With that, let’s all sit back, absorb this draw, and wait for the length of Herron’s suspension…what a chump.