Columbus Crew Upset by The Richmond Kickers 2-1 in US Open Cup Round of 16, 6/28/11

1,845 of my closest friends and I watched the Columbus Crew get upset by the USL Pro League Richmond Kickers 2-1. The loss eliminated The Crew, who lost in the finals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup last year to the Seattle Sounders, from the 2011 tourney tonight.

I thought it would be interesting to attend tonight's match. My daughter Mallory came with me. I anticipated seeing several Crew players who have not seen first team action this year, and rumors were that Robbie Rogers, returning from National Team duty, would play, as would Danny O'Rourke, in his first competitive match following knee surgery.

You can read the recap of the match on thecrew.com:

http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/06/recap-crew-vs-kickers-usoc

Pretty uninspired performance. Danny O'Rourke got a straight red in the 67th minute when the game was 1-1. The ten-man Crew still were able to attack, but the defense (no regular starter played in defense tonight) looked unorganized when Richmond knocked in the winning goal in the 85th minute.

I was a little surprised with the lack of effort put in by Jeff Cunningham who played 90 minutes at striker. He seemed to disappear for several minutes at a time in tonight's match.

Robbie Rogers looked good in his return, creating several scoring chances for The Crew with some good one-on-one effort.

But The Crew lost. Should have figured it wouldn't be a good night when Mallory and I noticed that only half of the Crew Stadium lights came on as the sun set. I thought the match was going to have to be finished in the dark. Late in the match all of the lights did finally come on, but The Crew still couldn't find the back of the net.

Columbus Crew 1, Sporting KC 0 (4/16/11)

My wife Tammy, my youngest son Michael and my daughter Mallory joined me and 7,695 of my closest friends who braved the horrible weather last night to watch our Columbus Crew get a very good victory over Sporting KC, 1-0.

Check that. My wife and daughter sat in the Upper 90 club (no longer the best kept secret at Crew Stadium) and watched the match on TV, while my son Michael and I braved the elements and stood on the Upper 90 club's porch and watched. I drive from Cincinnati for every match, so if I'm going to make the effort to drive up, I'm going to stand in the crappy weather.

OK, I was standing under a canopy.

Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven Celebrating Robbie's Goal (http://www.thecrew.com/ Josh Couper/Skyler Schmitt)

This was the 4th straight shutout for the Crew's defense. Sporting KC entered the match as one of the highest scoring teams in the MLS. Once again, the Crew's central defense of Julius James and Chad Marshall led the way with solid goalkeeping from William Hesmer.

Coach Robert Warzycha started Emilio Renteria up top, with Eddie Gaven right underneath him rather than at his traditional outside midfield position. Dilly Duka went the full 90 minutes and earned an assist on Robbie Rogers' second half goal. I give coach Warzycha a lot of credit for conjuring up this inspired line-up. It definitely worked.

Man of the Match? Robbie Rogers, both for his goal and his outstanding midfield play. He continues to play well following his benching in the Crew's first match of the year. Coach Warzycha obviously knew how to light a fire under Robbie.