Crew vs. Fire: Match Report

By: James | July 8th, 2008

Crew 2, Fire 2.
Chicago:Rolfe (unassisted) 8, Carr (Segares, Rolfe) 25
Columbus:Ekpo (Schelotto) 36, Lenhart (Schelotto) 87
I’ve had a hard time processing this one. Chicago remains without a win, but they ended their scoring drought after 7 minutes in Columbus. It’s so different follwing the Crew this year compared to last year. Judging by their silence, I’m guessing that the “Star of MLS” (Blanco, Beckham, Angel…) 5-pack ticket holders were feeling a little ripped off when Calen Carr took the score line to 2-0 in only the 25th minute. Eleven minutes later, Schelotto connives with Ekpo to make it 2-1, and they’re cheering about maybe getting their money’s worth after all.
Is that 3 come-from-behind recoveries this season? That is ridiculously impressive.

I really wanted the 3 points, but I’ll take it. For the most part, the Crew kept the game in the midfield and were able to contain the Fire there. But Chicago’s goals both came on well-executed couterattacks out of the midfield. Their goals were sick.
Part of the issue for Columbus was the persistent trouble of getting into a rhythm. But I think it was only a small part of these two goals. There were some errors early on coordinating defensive play, for example, Ekpo and Carroll let a weak ball slide right between them, into the penalty box and out the back simply because each thought the other was taking the ball. There were a few similar miscues between Hesmer and the defenders, but it wasn’t an error of that type that led to a 2-goal deficit. I had expected to see some adjustment after last week’s second-half difficulties against Colorado, but I didn’t see anything change. The Crew came out as a 4-4-2, which I think makes sense when they’re having trouble getting their footing, but Hejduk pushed forward well into the midfield, basically even with Brad Evans but out on the right side. Hejduk was an important part of the Crew’s success in controlling the midfield, but on the occassions Chicago broke away, he was essentially out of position. Chicago was more effective advancing on the Crew’s right side throughout the first half. I’m guessing that this as a coaching problem, however, not a Frankie problem. If Hejduk’s going to play up like this expectations for coverage need to be explicitly set by the coaching staff. The effectiveness of Hejduk’s coordination with Ekpo, Evans, and Carroll suggest that his role was planned, not improvised. It is possible that he was goal hungry, but nobody seemed upset with his positioning. Yet, the midfielders and the other 3 defenders all responded to the Chicago counter attacks as if there were 4 men to cover in the back. There weren’t.
In the second half when Warzycha expressly moved to a 3 man backline you could see that the coverage patterns were totally different. That’s because the midfielders and defenders all knew that the needs and expectations were different. Should the Crew start with a 3-5-2 so that everybody’s on the same page? Possibly. Does Ekpo need to change his positioning when Hejduk moves forward? Probably not. Whatever they change, it seems like they’ll need to balance their improved control of the middle third with the need be less vulnerable on counter attacks.
After the Galaxy game I was complaining about the Crew conceding the midfield from the center circle to the top of the box. They’re not doing that anymore. Chicago showed incredibly lethal passing on the attacks they were able to open up, but a less methodical attack would have been squealched in the midfield.
That said, it seems like the best way to score on the Crew is to lay the ball to the top of the penalty box, dead center, and rocket the thing in. Don’t worry about angles, or crosses crowding the box. Just kick it. These are the balls that are going in. Again, I think it’s a coaching issue, and possibly an unintended consequence of other adjustments. On the last 3 goals against the Crew defenders have been caught up flat at the top of the box. In an idealized 4-man zone defending scenario the defenders sort of corral the attacking players in the bottom of a U shape, but as the Crew defenders back up to the penalty box the U flattens out into a horizontal line parallel with the penalty box. I’m guessing that this might be intended to create an offside trap, but it so doesn’t work: just one offside call each against Colorado and Chicago. Anyway, the defenders are being caught flat and giving the attacking players the whole goal to shoot on. Hesmer can’t be expected to defend the entire width time after time. This needs fixed.

I thought the Crew looked really good in controlling the middle third and holding possession as they looked for attacking opportunities. The defenders were integral to this success, so it’s not like their is a problem with their game awareness, or the quality of their play over all. When the Crew controlled the ball the defenders did a great job finding targets and playing accurate balls forward when the ball was dropped to them. The Crew used negative space more effectively to control the flow of play in this game than in any other this season. They found solid opportunities to switch fields, set up probing attacks, and create lanes down the sidelines to build an effective attack against the Fire.
My wife felt that the Crew played the best attacking football she’s seen out of them, and I’m inclined to agree. Schelotto had an exceptional game. Some of that he conjured out of thin air - like Ekpo’s goal - but he had opportunities largely because the Crew fought for every ball, controlled possession better, and kept to their game even when they were down by two.
Brian Carroll was matched against Cuauhtemoc Blanco and definitely rose to the occassion. I was impressed. He seemed to be just about everywhere, all night. Blanco was stimied more often than not when he encountered Carroll. I think the focus on improving possession in the midfield showcased Carroll’s intelligence for the game. He played a strong role in developing offense play out of the back field. Where early in the season the Carroll’s focus was on just clearing forward to attacking players, this week he acted as part of both offensive and defensive units. He took a couple of shots late in the game that went well above the goal. I don’t begrudge him those. He was right to shoot. I’m sure he’ll spend some practice time getting over top of those so he’s on frame even when he’s exhausted.
Brad Evans also looked pretty good to me early in the game. He played to negative space effectively, and had a couple sharp give and go runs with Schelotto. He faded a little into the second half, but I think it was his best effort since his first start against San Jose.
I loved the attacking play. Ekpo’s goal pleased me. Schelotto stole the ball from Soumare on the left edge of the box. Moreno (who’d just lost the ball to Soumare himself), Evans, and Rogers were slow to react to the change of possession, but Ekpo reflexively ran to the near post, as he should. That reflexive goal-hound mentality that made Moffat dangerous in the margins is nice to see again.
Rogers is making effective runs without getting beaten up by the defense. They’ve been better giving him a man for a give and go, with Carroll, Evans, O’Rourke, or Schelotto laying the ball into the corner for him to outrace the defender. He’s crossing well and knows when to shoot rather than play across. Ekpo is largely Roger’s match, but he seems to be a little less willing to drop a ball back to Hejduk or Carroll. His ball handling is exceptional but sometimes a less clever, more effective choice could be to pull back a little rather than try to finesse his way to an open lane.
Schelotto’s set pieces have returned to form for the most part, but I’d like to see some more variety of execution. Offensive play seems well concieved and executed right now. I think there’s some room for experimentation, especially if we see a new addition to the roster in the transfer window.
Also, I’m wondering about the goals being scored against the Crew and whether the Crew is leaving similar opportunities out of their attack. If Columbus is vulnerable on direct shots from center, possibly other teams are as well. The Crew attack tends to be built around crossing balls from deep inside the final third where a head, foot, or hand of god might deflect the thing in. They might want to experiment with sending the ball to the top of the penalty box, dead center, at least on some counter attacks. Let’s say one time every ten attacks.

I liked the second half adjustments. The Crew controlled the entire second half, except for the first few minutes after Lenhart and Miglioranzi came in for Iro and Evans. It took a few minutes for Columbus to adjust to the new formation and I was ready to call the adjustment a failure about the time that Lenhart scored. Those last 10 minutes were insane. If there had been another 5 minutes in the game I think we’d be looking at a Crew win, for what it’s worth.
So yeah, the Crew gutted out an awesome fight to get the tie. Kudos. But who wants a tie when they’re in second place?