Goals by Emmanuel Ekpo and Jason Garey sent the Columbus Crew into extra time against the Chicago Fire Tuesday, but Andy Herron's second goal of the game, a penalty kick, dumped the Crew out of the U.S. Open Cup as the Fire claimed a 3-2 victory.
Playing before an ecstatic crowd of 3,829 at Bradley University, 150 miles south of Chicago, the Crew came back from a goal down twice in regulation to force the extra period, and had numerous scoring chances in overtime, only to see the game decided on a penalty kick after goalkeeper William Hesmer tripped Herron inside the box.P>
"I didn't think we started off really well, and obviously we put ourselves in a hole, but after that, the rest of the game, I thought we played fairly well," Columbus coach Sigi Schmid said. "I thought we had an opportunity to win the game at 2-2. I thought Duncan Oughton had a number of shots from 18 he just didn't hit well, and we almost had one at the end of regulation. Considering all the guys we have out and injured, we are really down seven players -- it was not even like our second unit out there."
Both teams used a mix of regular starters and reserves to begin the game. The Crew used starting goalkeeper Hesmer along with regular starters Danny O'Rourke, Alejandro Moreno, Eddie Gaven and Brian Carroll along with usual reserves Ekpo, Brad Evans, Andy Iro, Jed Zayner, Ryan Junge and Steven Lenhart.
Similarly, the Fire used starting goalkeeper Jon Busch, starting defenders Bakary Soumare and Brandon Prideaux, starting midfielders Logan Pause and Chris Rolfe, along with reserves Austin Washington on defense, Brian Plotkin, Tomasz Frankowski and Stephen King at the midfield and forwards Calen Carr and Herron.
The injury report got worse for the Crew late in regulation time when Eddie Gaven went down and had to be carried off on a stretcher. Schmid said he rolled his ankle, but wasn't sure of his status.
Stephen King scored on a missed clearance in the 10th minute, then the game exploded midway through the second half. Ekpo scored in the 63rd minute, sending an open shot past Busch, but Herron put the Fire ahead a minute later.
But in the 67th minute, second-half sub Jason Garey hit a shot from a tough angle deep on the right to the far upper corner to again pull Columbus level.
"That's the first game I played all season so it was nice to get the call and make an impact on the game," said Garey, who has dealt with injuries all season. "Jed (Zayner) did some great work on the right side to get the ball over and I just made a run."
The game was decided in overtime by Herron, when he waited on Hesmer to make a move toward the ball on a long run from 30 yards out. He was tripped up the 'keeper, setting up the winning penalty kick.
"We were forced to make some substitutions today we didn't want to make," Schmid said. "But I think a lot of guys grew up today."
Schmid used Oughton, Garey, Andrew Peterson and Robbie Rogers as subs (the Open Cup allows four substitutions).
The Crew took a bus from Columbus to Peoria Monday, and it ended up being an eight-hour trip. They will return to Columbus Wednesday before preparing for a road trip to Kansas City Saturday.
Kent McDill is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
