Crew vs. Wizards: Match Report

By: James | July 24th, 2008

Crew 3, Wizards 3
Kansas City: Own Goal (Hejduk)22, Espinoza (Jewsbury/Morsink)24, Wolfe (Jewsbury/Morsink)75
Columbus: Schelotto (unassisted)26, Moreno(Schelotto,Rogers)33, Marshall (Schelotto)38

Well, I’ll be a suck-egg mule.
That should have been 3 points in the bank. you can bet that this game ends up on the Wizard’s highlight reel for the season. They almost doubled their goals on the road and increased their overall goals per game above one. Ohio-State standout Roger Espinoza gets a well-taken scorcher for his first professional goal. The first time he played here he was shown a red card. And Josh Wolfe scores in his first MLS game after a rough two-years in the Bundesliga. In the second half Arnaud, Wolfe, and Lopez looked like they deserved the tie if not a win.

The Crew had 2 games in hand on New England and would have tied for first if they’d gotten all six points. With a loss in Salt Lake and a tie against KC, the Crew’s played as many games as the Revs and is still 5 points back. This was their best chance to catch up. The Crew will be without Ekpo and Rogers until the Olympics are over.

Craziness. For all that, the Crew looked like serious business for a good chunk of the game. They went 22 whole minutes without letting KC score. That’s better. Own goals happen. The Crew made a slightly clearance after a set piece which allowed Morsink to chip the ball into the box, dead center. Hejduk and O’Rourke had Victorine well covered, but Hejduk was a split second slow on heading the ball out wide. The ball hit his head as he pulled back to strike it, and deflected into the corner of the net. A bad break. Espinoza’s goal came just 2 minutes later on a quick counterattack. Jewsbury kept his quick, curving center on the ground and Espinoza made the run to the near post, and hit the ball sharply. The Crew is susceptible to attacks in the middle, and get caught flat on counterattacks. Every team that plays Columbus is going to prep for this kind of attack. There needs to be some sort of adjustments made to keep a playoff berth.

There’s just one thing to say about the rest of the first half: Guillermo Barros Schelotto is a god. Watch the highlights. In just 12 minutes he manufactured 3 goals and brought the Crew into the lead. Guille showed up Hartman while he futzed with the wall on a free kick. Rogers, Schelotto, and Moreno combined on the second goal. And Schelotto laid his best hit corner in weeks directly to Chad Marshall on the third. Those are just the plays that connected though. There were 6 other shots between Columbus’s first goal and the half. Schelotto’s direction on the pitch drove the intensity of the attack with Rogers, Moreno, and Hejduk all stepping up. Well, Hejduk had a couple he probably should have been able to convert. I think he’d be right back on form if he could get a goal at home. He seems to want it so badly he’s psyching himself out.^{(psych out? what is this, 1986?)}

When the first half ended I felt pretty good. We sat above the Nordecke for the first time. The Crew had come back from 2 down in a game they had every reason to win. Four points in 2 games, and closer to first place than third.

And then the second half started. I don’t know if the Crew is addicted to coming from behind, or what, but they seem to really buckle down and play their best kind of game when they’re down. Mind you, this is just since that Galaxy game. Before that they were on it all the time. They have a calmness and intensity that is unrivaled. But against Kansas City they started the second half looking panicked and impatient. They took some of the riskiest chances to move the ball forward.

They played as if they had to scramble and hurry to keep the win and did so to the detriment of possession and composure. When you’re chancing every ball that might advance the ball, you’re giving your opponent easy pickings. Schelotto is unable to coordinate an attack if his side can’t hold onto the ball. Most of the second half was played in the center third or with Kansas City on range of the attack. While the goal they got didn’t seem inevitible, a goal of some kind sure did.

There were a few attacks from the Crew that looked good. Really good. Lenhart had a goal called back for pushing Conrad. Rogers had a try. Moreno had a close one. Brian Carroll hit a ball that must have had a metaphysical reason for not going in. But they were overall too concentrated on countertattck and not focused enough on possession.

Kansas City, on the other hand, looked like they were running a passing clinic in the second half. They held the ball well, moved the ball forward methodically, and should great combinations against a side that looked outclassed despite having played the best 12 minutes in MLS less than an hour before.

Kansas City’s goal came when Danny O’Rourke committed to a ball that maybe he shouldn’t have. But the fact remains that if you can get the ball into the box at center, there’s not going to be a Crew player there to stop you. I want to see what they’re going to do here. I still think they might want to drop to a 3 man back line. It’s counter-intuitive, but it seems less about personnel (although there are weak moments) and more about absorbing attacks coming into the final third. The thing they could and should do to reduce goals against, without personnel or formation changes: Hold the &@#%*# ball.

Any ideas why I might have such a visceral dislike of Michael Harrington? I can’t help but like Jewsbury, but that Harrington kid makes me nuts.