Crew 1 - 0 DC: Does It Get Better than Ezra?

By: Jeff | April 30th, 2007

Sorry. That’s not a serious question. Just a bad pun. As the Columbus Dispatch’s Crew Review notes, though, quoting Crew TV analyst Dwight Burgess, there’s something about the veteran defender, who is at this point the team’s leading scorer:

“He’s 400 years old and 12 feet tall.”

Since the Columbus Crew topped a visiting DC United by a lone Ezra Hendrickson goal that came smack in the middle of the first half, I’m guessing no one would much care if he looked like Shelley Winters. DC tried to claw back in - Luciano Emilio scored with his hand, Christian Gomez went close, etc. etc. - then the lightning came, the game ended and…and…well, that’s it. The Crew end Major League Soccer’s Week 4 unbeaten, which sounds better on paper than it does in context: the other two unbeaten teams - the Chicago Fire and Red Bull New York - are both in the Eastern Conference and both hold four more points than the Crew. They may not be not the best team out there, but the Crew is still off to a good start in 2007.

Here’s the point where I tell my dirty little secret: I didn’t watch the game, but only the Quick Kick highlights. That’s just the way my weekend panned out; by the time I could watch anything, there was the SuperClasico and, as expected, they mentioned the score. And if there’s one thing I find it nearly impossible to do, it’s watching a recorded (or in this case, archived) game for which I know the outcome.

Still, judging from the numerous match reports I’ve now read - especially the running diary provided by Sensory Overload - the impression given by the Quick Kicks playback matched reality tolerably well: the Crew started well, but DC came back fighting after Hendrickson’s goal; DC’s best spell lasted through the middle of the game and dried up toward the end, when the Crew had a pair of great chances, neither of which went on target (that last link, by the way, will take you to Ezra’s goal). Emilio’s handball and Gomez getting booked for diving speaks to an increasingly desperate DC side, while the halftime yanking of Brian Carroll speaks to the DC coaching staff’s frustration.

And, yes, there was lightning.

All in all, though, a team with one win being only four points off the pace isn’t so bad. And picking up a first win might help with the Crew’s ongoing shyness in front of the goal. The past few weeks have shown a Crew team that can play the game and, as the Hunt Park Insider’s “good, bad, ugly” summary notes, they can play a couple different ways; no less significantly, the same piece speaks to the state of mind in Crew nation - and it is borderline good. It seems the gloom occasioned by last weekend’s pre-tournament exit from the U.S. Open Cup lifted this past weekend. Hell, if you read widely enough, you’ll catch a whiff of an inkling of something like belief out Central Ohio way. Good stuff.

For extended reading, here are some other reports that I didn’t cite above:
Columbus Dispatch: Bulleted summary, dubs Marcos Gonzalez Man of the Match.
Columbus Dispatch: Match Report
Washington Post: Match Report
Hunt Park Insider: Match Report
MLSnet.com: Match Report