Couldn't Go to the Match, Bummer...Columbus Crew 2, Houston Dynamo 2 9/14/11

I hate missing home Columbus Crew matches. I just couldn't make it tonight. And it was Buck-a-Brat night too.

So I was stuck watching the Crew on Direct Kick. Worse yet, I had to watch the Houston Dynamo broadcast and listen to Glenn Davis piss and moan about the two penalty kicks that were called against the Dynamo and ultimately converted by Andres Mendoza to earn the Crew a hard fought draw and put them back into first place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Division.

I predicted a Crew win, so a home draw was not only disappointing from that standpoint, but it also was disappointing as I fully expect the Crew to get 3 points out of every home match.

But maybe the Crew can get a lift out of this result. Emmanuel Ekpo was ejected with a straight red in the 11th minute, leaving the Crew with 10 men for the balance of the match. They were up 2-1 until the 86th minute when the Dynamo got the equalizer. That was certainly disappointing, but the Dynamo possessed the ball for more than 70% of the match, so you could say there was a certain inevitability to this match ending in a draw.

Of greater concern to the Crew is Chad Marshall being substituted at the half with a hip injury. That would be a devastating blow if it is anything serious.

But I'm going to maintain my optimism. It still looks good for the Crew to make the MLS Playoffs, but they may do it limping in.

Breathe...Toronto FC 4, Columbus Crew 2, 9/10/11

Final score, Toronto FC 4, the Columbus Crew 2. At COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM!

Breathe, deep breaths...

Tell yourself everything is going to be OK with the Columbus Crew.

Tell yourself that giving up 10 goals in their last two matches is nothing to be concerned about.

Tell yourself that seeing William Hesmer play his worst game...ever...is nothing to be concerned about.

Tell yourself that the starting back four of Sebastian Miranda, Chad Marshall, Julius James and Josh Gardner will communicate better in their next match.

Trillium Cup Goes to Toronto FC (Getty Images)

Tell yourself that the Crew midfield will not fail to connect on their passes like they did last night.

Tell yourself that losing to Toronto FC...FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER is only a blip, the Crew will recover.

Tell yourself we will see Eddie Gaven return to the line-up.

Tell yourself that the Crew will get things together in time for their Wednesday night home match against the Houston Dynamo.

Tell yourself the Crew will still be in playoff position after their next five matches, where they play four other teams in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference who are in playoff position (the Houston Dynamo, Philadelphia Union, Sporting Kansas City and DC United) and the best team in all of Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Breath...

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!

My Man Crush for Emilio Renteria! Crew win 1-0! 7/23/11

It's the 24th of July and we find the Columbus Crew tied with the Philadelphia Union on points for first place in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference. How about that!

Crew Goal Scorer Eddie Gaven and Emilio Renteria!

Another Budweiser $1 draft night at Columbus Crew Stadium last night drew 11,246 people to the match, which was pretty boring and uneventful until the 66th minute when Emilio Renteria entered the match as a sub for an ineffective Jeff Cunningham.

Maybe it was the $1 drafts, but immediately after Renteria entered the match, the energy in the stadium increased 10-fold, and the Crew, feeling the love, began to play with a sense of urgency that ultimately lead to a goal by Eddie Gaven and a 1-0 victory over the Portland Timbers.

It's very obvious that with Emilio Renteria on the field, the Crew are a different team. He is a handful for defenses to deal with, and when he is on the field, good things just seem to happen! I have to admit I have a man crush for Emilio!

The Crew's defense have only allowed one goal in their last four matches. And quite frankly the goal that the LA Galaxy scored last week would have been saved by William Hesmer last week if the shot hadn't been deflected by Eric Gehrig.

Andy Gruenebaum got the starting nod at keeper last night after it was determined that William Hesmer's quad was too hurt to make a go of it. Between him and the Crew's back-line of Sebastian Miranda, Chad Marshall (who in my opinion is the biggest MLS All-Star game snub this year), Julius James and Josh Gardner the Timbers could not reach the back of the net.

I feel very optimistic about the Crew right now. With two legitimate starters missing from last night's line-up due to injury (Andres Mendoza and Rich Balchan) the Crew still found a way to win. And this Crew team knows how to play defense, which should serve them well going into the final third of the MLS season.

The Crew hit a pretty rough part of their schedule over the next two weeks. First, a Tuesday night friendly versus Newcastle United of the English Premier League, and then two tough road matches at Real Salt Lake and at the Colorado Rapids. Getting 2 points minimum out of the matches at Rio Tinto and Dick's Sporting Goods Park would be a great result.

The Crew Win! Columbus Crew 2, Real Salt Lake 1, 6/8/11

Nothing better than Buck-a-Brat night at Crew Stadium! Except for Buck-a-Brat night and a Crew victory!

The Crew beat Real Salt Lake tonight, 2-1. After giving up another early goal (The 4th time in past six games The Crew has allowed a goal in first 10 minutes.), The Crew and Real Salt Lake played 67 minutes of scoreless soccer until Crew halftime sub Justin Meram drew a foul in the Real Salt Lake penalty area. Andres Mendoza converted the PK (more on that later) to tie the match in the 76th minute.

Seven minutes later, Crew defender Josh Gardner ripped a long distance shot that was deflected by a Real Salt Lake defender into the net to give The Crew a 2-1 victory. The Crew have temporarily moved into 3rd place in the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference.

Jeff Cunningham and Andres Mendoza

I was sitting in the North stands at Crew Stadium when the PK for The Crew was called at the South goal. I assumed that Jeff Cunningham (starting for the first time this season) would take the PK, and he actually walked to the spot. But Andres Mendoza waived him off. It looked like several Crew players, including Captain Chad Marshall, approached Mendoza about Cunningham taking the kick. But Mendoza stood firm, and converted it.

And who was the first person to reach Mendoza and congratulate him after scoring the goal? Jeff Cunningham!

It will be interesting to get the post match story on what actually happened on the PK.

So The Crew win on Buck-a-Brat night, sending home the 9,650 fans who attended the match both happy and well-fed.

And in case you were wondering, I only ate two brats.
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$1 Beers and Good Weather! Columbus Crew 3, Chivas USA 3, May 28, 2011

Finally! The weather was great for a home match at Crew Stadium last night.

And The Crew had $1 Bud and Bud Light drafts!

And The Crew scored a first half goal!

The only thing missing was a Crew victory.

The match won't be mistaken for the quality of soccer that I saw this morning watching the DVR'ed UEFA Champions League Final. But six goals (three scored by The Crew), a red card and a back and forth tempo made the match very entertaining. And the $1 drafts made the crowd in section 132 very entertaining too. (Big drunk dude trying to pick up on a girl who kept telling him she was gay.)

The Columbus Crew's Andres Mendoza

On the field The Crew's defense looked very disorganized and ultimately very porous. Keeper William Hesmer and the back four didn't seem like they were on the same page for the first 60 minutes of the match. Interesting as last night's starting four of Sebastian Miranda, Julius James, Chad Marshall and Rich Balchan have started almost every match this year, yet have given up seven goals in their last 3 matches, as opposed to six goals in the first 8 matches of the season.

Andres Mendoza scored two goals last night, finally showing that he deserves the DP status (and corresponding salary) the Crew have given him. Emmanuel Ekpo also scored his first goal of the year.

So The Crew is now showing some offensive punch, but their defense is not looking good at all. With their next two matches against the New York Red Bulls away and Real Salt Lake at home they are going to have a tough time getting results. Luckily they are catching both clubs at a time when they are losing several players due to CONCACF Gold Cup call-ups, not to mention that that they are both on current runs of poor form. (New York Red Bulls 0 wins in their last 5 matches, Real Salt Lake a loss and 2 draws in their last 3 matches.)

A Rain Drenched Draw, Columbus Crew 1, Seattle Sounders FC 1, 5/8/11

When are the Columbus Crew and it's fans going to get a break from the weather? I walked into the match at about 7pm last night, went to the Upper 90 Club to have a beer, and then the torrential downpour began.

So my wife Tammy and I started the match on the Upper 90 Club porch, then move to the Southeast corner of the stadium and huddled under an umbrella for the balance of the first half.

We saw Fredy Montero of Sounders FC split Chad Marshall and Julius James with a very good run, and flick a header into the net from off a very good service from Erik Friberg. 1-0 Sounders.

And we left at halftime...stopping for pizza at one of our favorite spots, Rubino's in Bexley, before heading back to Cincinnati.

The Crew have had bad weather for 4 out of their 5 home matches this year. Both the Crew and it's fans deserve better.

The Crew earned a draw last night after Chad Marshall was pulled down in the box in the second half, earning a PK that was converted by Emilio Renteria. This match was the Crew's 7th straight without a defeat.

Emilio Renteria Scores the Equalizer! (Jamie Sabau-Getty Images)

But back to the weather. The Crew are a good team. They deserve our support. After yesterday's MLS fixtures they now stand in second place in the Eastern conference. It's admittedly tough to stand in a downpour to watch them play, but their style is very attractive, with a rock solid defense. They need to score more goals out of the run of play, (4 of their 8 goals this year have come from the spot) but they will come.

The Crew's next home match is Saturday, May 28th versus Chivas USA. The weather will be great! (I hope) And I will never again leave a match at halftime.

Note: My man of the match for last night's game is Rich Balchan. His offensive runs out of the back and crosses into the box were very threatening and kept the Sounders FC on their toes all night.

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!

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 vs Real Salt Lake CONCACAF Quarterfinal First Leg-Opportunity Lost For The Crew

2/22/11: Sitting in my hotel room trying to warm up after attending the first leg of the CONCACAF quarterfinal match between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake in Columbus, Ohio. Don't know what the temperature was, but at least it wasn't windy. I'm guessing 25 degrees at best.

I'm a Crew season ticket holder so please excuse my bias towards the Crew as I write this.

I really didn't expect much from the Crew this match. Their roster has changed dramatically since last season and based on the fact that Real Salt Lake was very strong last year and fielded essentially the same team as last year I felt that a 1 goal loss was the best that the Crew would do tonight.

I was pleasantly surprised and ultimately disappointed in how the match turned out. It ended in a 0-0 draw. Suprising in that the Crew was missing William Hesmer in goal, Shaun Francis at left back and Chad Marshall at centerback, yet played very well in the first half in dominating Real Salt Lake. Disappointing in that Real Salt Lake was a man down for the last 38 minutes of the match (a second caution resulting in a red card in the 52nd, then both teams receiving red cards in the 72nd) yet the Crew couldn't mount a sustained attack to get a home goal. They looked pretty tired in the second half.

The Crew will have a chance to advance when they play the second leg March 1st in Salt Lake City. Away goals are a tie-breaker in the elimination rounds this year, so a 1-1 draw would do the trick for the Crew in the match.

Who stood out for the Crew tonight? Rich Balchan at center back, Sebastian Miranda at right back and Emmanuel Ekpo in the midfield.

Who struggled for the Crew? Josh Gardner at left back

Match report: http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/02/crew-rsl-finish-scoreless-testy-ccl-opener