Columbus 0-1 Seattle: Post Game
By: Chris |
5 Comments
Excuses, excuses.
We can talk about Robbie Rogers having a bad ankle.
We can talk about not having Chad Marshall or Frankie Hejduk.
We can talk about not having the right guys in the starting 11.
We can talk about the opposing team turning the penalty spot into a divot.
We can talk about bad officiating.
We can talk about a lot of things, but like my dad says: “Excuses are like assholes – everybody has one and they all stink.”
The simple truth tonight isn’t that we got outplayed or outworked or out-anything. It’s just that we lost a game. It happens to everyone, and there is nothing anyone can do to change it. No one goes undefeated.
Yeah, there were a lot of dark spots for Columbus as they lost last night to visiting Seattle, and I listed most of them already. You can add to that list that everyone on the team has forgotten how to finish, the tendency of our forwards to flop when the defense gets physical, the fact that our national team winger has no testicular fortitude this year, or that our MVP DP had a brain fart.
But even if you could somehow wave a magic wand to fix all of those issues and bring our guys back to full-fitness, we’re still going to lose a game every now and then. It’s just the way the world works. Sorry.
Yes, this loss hurts more than others. I would have loved to have seen our boys win 3-0 as if to say to former coach Sigi Schimd, “Hey look, we’re better than your new team.” I would have loved to have taken a six-point lead over Houston in the race for the Supporter’s Shield. I would have been ecstatic to extend our home-unbeaten streak to 25 games. It would have been great to see our new coach out-coach our old coach.
But alas, that’s just not the way the cookie crumbled.
I’m not going to get angry (I’m looking at the table and staying positive) because the kids over on BigSoccer are complaining enough, but I will say this: Christ on a bike why did we have to lose to them, at home? I know everyone loses but c’mon? To Sigi? At our place? I don’t think his ego can bigger, not unlike his belt. Ugh.
I hate losing.
Category: Team News
Crew Stadium is the New Fenway Park
By: Chris | Add Comments
Well, at least that’s what Drew over at WVHooligan says:
7. Crew Stadium – Being the original it gets a little more love from me. I know it lacks a lot of goodies but at the end of the day I think it will end up being the Fenway Park of MLS. Though in some thoughts I don’t know how good of a thing that will actually be.
Those of you that know me, and I mean really know me, know that Fenway will always hold a special place in my heart. And to see The House That Lamar Built being compared to the Un-Official Cathedral of Baseball warms the cackles of my heart.
Category: Team NewsChampions League – Crew 1-1 Saprissa: Post Game
By: Chris | 1 Comment
Well that was a real kick in the balls.
After dominating Saprissa for 91 minutes, holding a 1-0 lead for most of that, the Crew gave up a stoppage time goal and settled for a 1-1 draw with the Costa Ricans in last night’s Champions League match.
To say that Columbus “gave up” the late goal is a little bit of a misnomer, because in actuality Saprissa stole it, fouling no less than two Crew players while trying frantically to get the ball into the net. See for yourself, (horrible) highlights are here.
There really isn’t much that can be said. Columbus dominated for the majority of the game, only to have a goal stolen in the closing minutes. I’m not usually one to blame a bad result on officiating, but in this case I’ll make an exception: These refs sucked. All night, and for both teams. It was just miserable.
Oh well, Columbus can still advance to the quaterfinals on October 20 when Saprissa gets spanked at Cruz Azul or Columbus wins (or ties) at Puerto Rico. It just would have been nice to clinch at home, in front of the most die-hard Crew fans. All 5,000 of them.
So it’s back to league play this weekend, as Sigi Schmid brings The Sounders and Drew Carey to the House That Lamar Built. This game is going to be huge, and everyone knows it. Apparently, the Polish Missile gave Sir Sigmund the Rotund a ring last night, and Fake Sigi has all the details.
Oh, and by the way: According to Sean Mitchell the Crew can clinch the Eastern Confference this weekend if we beat Seattle and a few other stars align.
Bring it on, Sounder Scum.
Category: Team NewsColumbus 2-0 Los Angeles: Post-Game
By: Chris | 40 Comments
On a stormy Saturday night in Columbus, 21,000 fans packed into Crew Stadium hoping to see one of two things: 1) A Massive win extending an unbeaten streak to 24 games, or 2) David Beckham. I’m not going to say who was in the majority, but I will tell you that only one of those groups got what they come for.
I don’t want to focus on the fairweather fans too much, because bandwagon jumping is the eighth deadly sin and those guilty of it should be ignored, but what Crew defender and hometown boy Danny O’Rourke said needs to be repeated: “I think it is pathetic that fans buy tickets just to come see (Beckham). Come out to the regular games, you know?…I wanted to keep my mouth shut about it but it’s embarrassing. Credit to the Nordecke. I don’t know what it is with everybody else.” Well said, Danny O.
Now, about that game that most people came to watch: The Crew were straight-up dominant.
It was as though they took notes as Cruz Azul were dominating them on Wednesday night and then put those newfound skills to use against LA on Saturday. Fast, abusive forwards? Check. Controlling midfield that can distribute at will? Check. Defense that chokes opposing advances and bends but never breaks? Check.
Watch the highlights. You’ll see a Columbus team on cruise control just playing their game and an LA team that was frustrated all night long.
The most surprising thing about the Crew on Saturday wasn’t that they won so handily, it was that they did it without their big names. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Robbie Rogers, and Alejandro Moreno were on the bench, while Chad Marshall was out with an injury. Alejandro did come in as a sub in the 68th, for Emilio “I’ve Got More Muscles Than You” Renteria, but he could have stayed on the pine and no one would have missed him. This team really showed their depth, using two guys who have never started an MLS game to knock off the best road team in the league.
Coach Bob: “We don’t have reserves. We have 23 players right now that can step up anytime.” If that isn’t the best thing a fan of any sport can hear from a head coach, I don’t know what is.
So the Crew kept rolling and, thanks to a helping hand from everyone else in the league, became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. The Massive now holds a 3-point lead in the race for the Supporters Shield over Houston, and has a 5-point lead in the Eastern Conference over Chicago – with one fewer game played than both of those teams.
October is going to be a busy month around MLS, with six points separating second place from eighth and the playoffs looming. But, here in Cowtown, we’re on our way to some more hardware while everyone else fights for second place.
[Quotes via Shawn Mitchell]
Category: Team NewsA Letter From the Author
By: Chris | Add Comments
Dear Readers,
I want to apologize to everyone for the lack of activity around here for the last few weeks. When the economy touched me I lost my computer (I was using an office-issued laptop for non-office work) and I’ve been strugling to find a way to post ever since.
But that won’t be a problem in a few days, because my mi madre has taken pity on me and is handing me down her Thinkpad. So after Saprissa gets its clock cleaned by the Crew on Tuesday night, all will be back to normal here.
Actually, I’ll probably be posting more, since I don’t have a day job to keep me away anymore.
Anyway, thanks for staying tuned.
-chris
Category: Team NewsColumbus 2-1 Houston: Post Game
By: Chris | 1 Comment
This past Sunday, in front of a handful more than 14,000 sun-scorched fans, the top two teams in MLS squared off for the right to be called numero uno.
It quickly became evident that these two teams are not fond of each other because things got heated right away. To say that the game was physical would be akin to saying that a hurricane is windy – it just doesn’t do it justice. But, these guys are all professionals and they kept their tempers (mostly) in check for the better part of the match and just played the game.
And boy-oh-boy did they put on a show: 19 total shots, 27 total fouls, quite a bit of taunting, a little bit of trash-talking, and a last minute penalty kick to decide the winner. If the people of Columbus were let down by the Ohio State Throwball performance the night before, this was exactly the kind of chippy, all-or-nothing match they needed to see. At least one set of champions in this town can play inspired football.
Frankie Hejduk got the scoring started in the 34th minute with a header from a nearly impossible angle, thanks to a long cross from an ailing Gino Padula. The cross would have sailed off into space had it not been redirected by a Houston defender, and there was Frankie – in the right place at the right time, again.
After a flury of close calls and near misses, the Dynamo were finally able to find the net in the 80th, thanks to Brian Ching serving a ball up for Cam Weaver. Columbus had once again reliquished a late-game lead, but this time the Nordecke was not dismayed, for we are Massive and no one can beat us at home.
As the clock drew closer to full-time, tempers really started to flare. In the 83rd, there was a psuedo-fight between them and us, resulting in red cards for Adam Moffat and Ricardo Clark. The two players walked off the field talking to each other, but I’m nearly certain they weren’t making post-game dinner plans.
In the 90th minute Houston defender Geoff Cameron decided that it might be a good idea to yank Columbus’ Alejandro Moreno to the ground inside the box, but the referee disagreed. Eddie Gaven took the ensuing penalty shot and gave The Crew a 2-1 lead it would not relinquish. Needless to say, the crowd went wild.
In the 93rd, super-sub Steven Lenhart dribbled the ball into the corner closest to the Nordecke and nearly incited a riot. You see, as Steven was fighting off two Houston defenders trying to keep the ball in play those defenders got the bright idea to rough Steven up. Not a good call, fellas.
I’m not sure if a wise man ever said this or not, so I’ll go ahead and give some sage advice to all of the budding athletes out there: Never, EVER, beat up on the home fans’ favorite young player when you are less than ten feet from the most boisterous, most rowdy, most likely to come-out-there-and-rough-you-up fans in the stadium. I’m pretty sure that if just one punch had been thrown at our beloved Cabbage Patch Kid, the stands would have emptied and quite a few of my friends would be facing assault charges. Thank God Steven scared those defenders away on his own, I don’t have enough money to bail that many people out of jail.
All in all it was a good night. Columbus extended their home-unbeaten streak to a Massive 23 games and took sole possession of first place in both the Eastern Conference and the League. Yeah, so Robbie Rogers is still playing a little scared and refusing to go one-on-one with anybody. And yeah, so we had only three (3) shots all night. And so what if our back line looked flimsy at times. We’re on top of the league and sailing towards our second-straight Supporters Sheild.
If you ask me, it doesn’t matter how many question marks this club has, because so far there have been answers for all of them.
Highlights here.
Category: Team NewsNew York 1-0 Columbus: Post Game
By: Chris | 4 Comments
Ok, first things first: Giants Stadium is huge, and terrible for soccer. Red Bull Arena can’t open soon enough. I’m sure that The Meadowlands is a great place to go watch throwball, but for footie—not so much. It’s cavernous, it’s empty, the pitch is tiny, and the surface is almost comically hard.
Now, about the game. Neither team played great, and that was to be expected from RBNY, but the Crew really should have come away with the win. Plenty of chances, superior talent, better coaching—the Crew wins this game on paper any day of the week.
But that’s why they play the games.
I was impressed with the “never say die” attitude that New York showed. Those guys know that they’re just playing for pride at this point, and they did everything they could to make sure Columbus didn’t walk over them. I think it’s called “mental toughness” in the biz.
As for the Crew, it was one of the least inspired games I’ve seen them play in the last two years. They were literally just going through the motions, playing the game and looking forward to a night on the town in Manhatten. It was obvious that not a lot of heads were in the game.
They could have put on a clinic and won by four, but they didn’t. They could have taken first place in the league (Houston lost earlier in the day), but they didn’t. There were about fifty things they could have done to leave New Jersey with three points and first place, but none of them happened for whatever reason.
They say that every team has an off day, and I think that holds true here—to a point. But at the same time I just didn’t see any fire in the eyes of the Columbus squad on Sunday night. I don’t know if the guys didn’t care, or were looking past RBNY, but in the end it showed on the scoreline: They got beat by a team that flat-out wanted it more.
Let’s hope that was a fluke, and not an indication of things to come.
Category: Team NewsCruz Azul 5-0 Columbus: Post Game
By: Chris | 1 Comment
The Crew went to Mexico and lost, 5-0.
But it wasn’t just a loss, it was an embarrassment. Cruz Azul did everything they needed to do, the Crew checked exactly zero things off of their list. Keeper mistakes, an own goal, a terrible PK call, and no hustle all night long all add to to a good old fashioned beat down.
I’ve never left a game before the final whistle, ever, but last night I left when it was 0-3 in the 60th minute. I just couldn’t watch. I don’t know how to say it other than the Crew were breaking my heart. It was almost as bad as Aaron Effing Boone in the ‘03 ALCS.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Highlights (if you can call them that) are here.
Category: Team NewsCONCACAF Round 1 Game 2
By: Kristina | Add Comments
The Black and Gold are headed down to Mexico City to face Cruzl Azul. The Crew are coming off a win against the Puerto Rico Islanders, and Cruz Azul defeated Deportivo Saprissa last week. This will be a tough match for both teams. These two teams both need a win in order to maintain the first place spot in what is called the “Group of Death.” They will both have most of their starters for this match. The Crew will have Frankie Hejduk but not the newly acquired forward Emilio Renteria. The real questions are who will start for Columbus? Will the Crew start Hejduk? Who will play forward? How long will Guillermo Barros Schelotto play—70, 80, or 90 minutes? How will Cruz Azul match up with an undefeated Crew team? All these questions will be answered tomorrow night on Fox Soccer Channel at 10pm.
Category: Team News
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