A Great Atmosphere, But the Crew Disappoint. LA Galaxy 1, Columbus Crew 0 9/24/11

It was great to see a sold out match at Columbus Crew Stadium. The Plaza in front of the stadium was packed. There was a huge line to get into the Crew store. The Nordecke was in full throat! And the weather was perfect.

The Nordecke Was Awesome Last Night!

I would like to think the crowd came to cheer on the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew against the Western Conference leading LA Galaxy. But I do understand that the casual fans who came out wanted to see the Galaxy's Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Robbie Keane. As it turned out, David Beckham flew back to Los Angeles earlier this week as he was being rested, Robbie Keane had a minor injury that kept him out of the 18 for the match, and Landon Donovan didn't start.

But the fans were absolutely treated to a very exciting match that ended with the Galaxy scoring a second-half extra-time goal to give them a 1-0 victory. I hope the fans make it back to more Crew matches!

Crew Coach Robert Warzycha started the match in a 4-5-1 formation, which didn't make a lot of sense to me when the Galaxy's two best midfielders, Donovan and Beckham weren't in the match. Predictably the Crew couldn't produce quality chances in the first half, although they played very well defensively.

It was only when Coach Warzycha brought on Emilio Renteria in the second half, switching to a 4-4-2 formation that the Crew started getting great chances at goal. But ultimately they couldn't finish.

And when the Galaxy's Chad Barrett knocked in a deflected Landon Donovan shot in the 93rd minute (both were second half subs) the Crew were left with a home loss, and find themselves in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference.

Left defender Shaun Francis had a horrible match, giving the ball away on multiple occasions. The Crew also missed the injured Eddie Gaven as a stabilizing force in the midfield.

The Crew are in trouble and may not make the MLS Playoffs. They are currently playing worse than all of the other MLS Clubs based on their last five matches. They have four matches left, with only one of those at home. They will be lucky to get 4 points total out of those matches if they don't play better.

I'm an optimist when it comes to my favorite sports teams (the Columbus Crew, the Cincinnati Reds, Ohio State and Purdue football) but I'm not real confident we are going to see the Crew in the playoffs come the end of the MLS regular season.

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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.