Robbie Rogers-Man of the Match! Columbus Crew 2, Philadelphia Union 1, 8/20/11

I have had a love/hate fan relationship with the Columbus Crew's Robbie Rogers. At times I have been completely frustrated with his play, expecting more of an effort, better finishing, better final passes.

But after Robbie's performance in the Crew's 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union last night, I can now declare myself a Robbie Rogers fan.

Robbie assisted on the Crew's first goal with a nice cross into Emilio Renteria. Later in the match Rogers forced a handball in the box by Philly defender Sheanon Williams that was converted for a goal by Andres Mendoza.

It was obvious in the first half that the Union were not going to let the ball get to Rogers playing left midfield for the Crew. They overloaded their midfield on his side of the field, which allowed the Crew to work the ball up the right side. Early in the match, The Crew did have one very good opportunity in the from the right, a Justin Meram cross that Rogers almost converted for a goal.

Once the Crew figured out how to get Rogers the ball with space on the left, they became very dangerous. He had one shot he fired high, and then later in the first half made the cross that resulted in the Crew's first goal of the night.

Robbie Rogers is showing that he is one of the best midfielders in MLS and is playing up to the potential we all new he had. He's also pretty interesting on twitter. @robbierogers

The Crew now have a 5 point lead over the Houston Dynamo for first place in the MLS Eastern Conference.

This team gets better and better as the season continues. Michael Arace posted a great commentary this morning on the Columbus Dispatch's website regarding the Crew and their success this year. I love the last line, "Open your window and sniff. Is that a trace of Massive in the air?"

Check it out:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/sports/2011/08/21/big-names-in-new-york-la-but-crews-in-first.html

A Set-Piece Goal! Sweet! Columbus Crew Beat the New England Revolutions 3-1, 8/13/11

I love this picture!

Julius James Heads-In The Crew's 2nd Goal (Getty Images)

In a thoroughly dominating performance, The Columbus Crew beat the New England Revolution 3-1 last night, adding an additional two points to their Major League Soccer Eastern Conference lead. (Both the Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls had draws in their matches yesterday.)

The win sets-up a big-time match this coming Saturday, as the current Eastern Conference second place team, the Philadelphia Union and newly signed Freddy Adu come to town.

What was the best part of last night's match?

So many choices:

It was Buck-a-Brat night. I had two.

Magic Hat #9 on tap in the Upper 90 Club.

One of the biggest crowds of the year showed up.

I saw great support for the Hudson Street Hooligans at their tailgate before the match.With the City of Columbus shutting their club down, they need financial support to keep their club open.  I donated and bought a backpack. Click on the picture to the right if you want to learn how you can help them out too.

The Crew fighting back after going down 1-0 at the end of the first half.

Julius James scoring the Crew's second goal off of a Josh Gardner corner kick. The first corner kick goal of the year for the Crew.

I'll pick the corner kick!

The Crew continue to play very well. It's very impressive to see the new players step-up, with the Crew suffering some key injuries as of late (Eddie Gaven most recently). When you can dominate an MLS opponent with the likes of Tommy Heinemann, Josh Gardner, Justin Meram, Bernardo Anor and Dilly Duka it shows that the Crew coaching and scouting staffs really did their homework when they acquired these players.

Robbie Rogers, coming off scoring the goal that earned the US Men's National Team a draw against Mexico on Wednesday night continues to play very well. Chad Marshall should now be considered the favorite for the MLS defender of the year. And Emmanuel Ekpo had an outstanding game, distributing the ball with vision while making the New England Revolution midfield look silly as they attempted to tackle him.

I can't remember having the same feeling of anticipation and excitement that I have for this Saturday's (8/20/11 at 7:30pm) match against the Philadelphia Union. Come out and join me at Crew Stadium to cheer the Crew on to victory!

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 Steal a Point at Red Bull Arena! 6/4/11

Rich Balchan Celebrates His Goal!

I usually only post my Crew game recaps if I actually attend the match, but I was pretty excited about last night's draw with the New York Red Bulls.

Briefly:

The Red Bulls fielded a relatively weak line-up against The Crew, with several of their starters out on National Team duties. The Crew were missing Robbie Rodgers who was called in to the US Men's National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and yesterday's friendly versus Spain.

Side note: Robbie started against Spain last night and played the first half. Spain drubbed the US Men's team 4-0.

The Crew/Red Bulls match was a back and forth affair, with The Crew giving up a goal in the 9th minute to Mehdi Ballouchy. The Red Bulls had the better of the first half possession, but The Crew recovered in the second half and created several scoring opportunities for themselves in the second half. Andres Mendoza, who I thought had righted himself with his two goals last week against Chivas USA, right-footed a cross from his right wide of the goal and 8 minutes later headed a open-netter wide left. Back to his old form.

Justin Meram entered the match for The Crew in the 74th minute, and in extra-time received the ball on the left, crossed the ball on the ground into the box, which fellow rookie and Big Ten alumnus Rick Balchan finished to earn the draw.

Demoralizing for the Red Bulls, but just maybe the type of result that The Crew can build on.
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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.

Big Win! Columbus Crew 2, FC Dallas 0-April 1st, 2011

Last night's game was big for the Columbus Crew. After last week's disappointing draw with a weakened New York Red Bull side, the Crew came back in a big way with a 2-0 victory against FC Dallas.

Eddie Gaven Down the Sideline (Josh Couper, www.thecrew.com)

The Crew dominated possession in the first half against a very strong FC Dallas side. Eddie Gaven, my man of the match (I had made that decision even before his goal in 2nd half stoppage time) played with an intensity we have come to expect from him, with outstanding runs down the right-hand side. In my stupidity I dropped Eddie Gaven from my FC Manager fantasy team ESPN.com. Going to have to correct that.

Also, for the third game in a row, Robbie Rogers played very well as Eddie Gaven's complement on the left side, earning an assist on Gaven's goal.

This was the second clean sheet in a row for the Crew. William Hesmer had to make several saves and the back line of Rich Balchan, Chad Marshall, Julius James and Sebastian Miranda held off a strong offensive push by the FC Dallas front line, although much of that push in the 2nd half was due to give-aways by the Crew's defense (see below). Even though the Crew had a one man advantage for almost 57 minutes after Jackson Goncalves of FC Dallas was ejected for a second caution, the 2nd half was a 50/50 affair, with the outcome never until Gaven scored the Crew's 2nd goal in stoppage time.

I like the line-up the Crew started with last night. It was the same as the match against the Red Bull last Saturday, essentially a 4-2-2-1-1. The same personnel started, with the only change being Miranda and Balchan switching sides. The Crew created plenty of chances, although they still struggle getting off quality shots in the penalty box. But first order of priority is to stop the other team from scoring, and the Crew are accomplished that.

A few other thoughts:

- The defense, especially James and Balchan, gave the ball away much too often in the second half. This allowed FC Dallas to continue to aggressively counter-attack.

- The return of Emilio Renteria was huge for the Crew. His energy and drive provided a real spark in the second half.

- FC Dallas started Ruben Luna, one of their home-grown signees and a graduate of their US Soccer Development Academy program team. Last time I saw Ruben Luna was against my son Michael's Development Academy team last Fall. Kind of cool.

Big win for the Crew!

Columbus Crew 0, New York Red Bull 0 March 26, 2011

Luke Rodgers, RBNY Sebastian Miranda, Crew (www.newyorkredbulls.com)

Wow, it was brutally cold at Crew Stadium this afternoon.

The Crew played to a 0-0 draw with the New York Red Bull today. After last week's debacle against DC United getting 1 point out of the Red Bulls today was OK. Problem was that the Red Bulls were missing several starters due to National Team call-ups. Also, Thierry Henry was ruled out due to injury. This was a perfect opportunity for the Crew to get 3 points from a weakened Red Bull side, but they didn't take advantage.

I thought the line-up Crew coach Robert Warzycha started was interesting and effective. The midfield combination of Eddie Gaven, Robbie Rodgers, Kevin Burns and Dejan Rusmir controlled overall possession for most of the first half. Emmanuel Ekpo was effective as a withdrawn forward.

The problem for the Crew this afternoon was poor crossing and finishing. Several of the Crew newcomers had great opportunities to serve the ball to teammates in the box, but their crosses were hit off target. Both Dilly Duka, on as a late substitute, and Andres Mendoza tripped over themselves when they had great scoring opportunities and were unable to get effective shots off.

Ultimately the Crew should be pleased that they dominated possession and demonstrated an overall good effort. By all rights they should have been able to get a victory in the match, but that's soccer.

An additional note: Only 10,306 people showed up for today's match. It was the home opener! I know it was cold, but c'mon Crew fans, show up!

I have to give the Crew Supporters groups credit...the Nordecke was packed and in full voice once again!

Crew Nordecke, 3/26/11 versus Red Bull New York! (Skyler Schmitt, www.thecrew.com)

DC United 3, Crew 1

Charlie Davies (Getty Images)

Had to watch this game on the DVR. Turned it off last night after Charlie Davies scored on a PK to make it 2-0.

Watched the rest this morning. Some quick thoughts, keeping in mind this is the first game of the year.

- DC United looks like a much improved team from last year. The additions of Dax McCarty in the midfield and Josh Wolff up top were certainly factors in the game.

- DC United and American soccer fans should feel great about Charlie Davies' return to competitive soccer. 2 goals, one on a PK and a second after he beat Chad Marshall were the feel good moments of the match, even for a Crew fan like me.

- The Crew have some work to do. The two goals scored by DC United during the run of play were off of defensive blunders by Rich Balchan and Chad Marshall. Both got beat one-on-one while losing their footing. Chad Marshall doesn't usually get beat like that. Rich Balchan is a rookie and is learning. MLS teams will continue to attack the right side so he will continue to be tested.

- The Emmanuel Ekpo experiment as a central midfielder should end now. Too many give-aways, no offensive creativity last night. He is best used wide.

- Robbie Rogers and Tom Heinemann provided offensive sparks off the bench late in the match. Admittedly the Crew were down 3-0 when they began to show life in the final third, but it is reason for optimism. Maybe Robbie Rogers got the message after not being in the staring 11 last night.

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Columbus Crew lose 4-1 at Real Salt Lake

This one was ugly. The Crew got it close early in the 2nd half on an Andres Mendoza goal off a cheeky pass from Eddie Gaven. It was 2-1 at that point.

But Real Salt Lake scored two more times (the first should have been disallowed due to a missed offside call) and clinched a spot in the CONCACAF Champion's League semifinals.

Rooting for Real Salt Lake to win The Champion's League, and they definitely have a shot as it seems no one can beat them at Rio Tinto Stadium.

Don't know what to make of The Crew. Thoroughly dominated tonight. Defense porous, very few chances on goal. It's early, the MLS season hasn't even started, but I'm worried.

Crew man of the match? Eddie Gaven for the assist. Mendoza played well too.

Not so good? Robbie Rogers, Jeff Cunningham, Ray Burse and Andy Iro. Ray Burse is the third goalkeeper on The Crew, so expectations are low for him anyway. But the other three need to step it up.
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