Columbus 2-1 Houston: Post Game

By: Chris | September 15th, 2009

Good lord, that was a long layoff. I don’t know about you but I’m glad the Crew finally played again.

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.