The Columbus Crew certainly lived up to their moniker as the hardest-working team in America on Saturday night, producing a never-say-die performance against D.C. United at RFK Stadium only to come up just short in the final moments as the home team slipped away with a 3-2 win.
United took the lead on a Christian Gomez tap-in, but rookie striker Kei Kamara gave his side new life with an equalizer just before halftime. Even after D.C.'s possession-oriented style and smooth strike force produced two more goals in the second half, the Crew kept their noses to the grindstone and were rewarded when Eric Vasquez's piledriver found the net in the 72nd minute to set up a nerve-wracking conclusion for both sides.
"It's hard," said Kamara. "We went out there and played hard. Everybody, I think, played with heart. Everybody was pushing it. We had chances that we should have kept alive but were just a little bit unlucky I guess."
Vasquez was one of a trio of substitutes who sparked the Columbus attack and pushed United back onto their heels, but despite a late flurry of chances the Black-and-Gold were unable to produce the third goal they desperately wanted.
"In the second half, I thought Eric Vasquez brought some life to the team," said Crew boss Sigi Schmid. "He was good - he helped us. I thought [Marc] Burch helped us, brought some life to our team. And at the end of the day, we were unlucky not to get a tie out of the game. But we're a team. What I think our guys need to understand is that we're not going to get any breaks."
Vasquez came on for Leo Bisaku in the 62nd minute, and 10 minutes later he stepped up to rifle Burch's layoff past Troy Perkins into the upper left corner as the United defense failed to clear their lines. The second-year midfielder has seen little action so far this season, but Schmid was encouraged by his display in D.C. and is eager to see more of the same from the talented 23-year-old.
"Vasquez is playing right now because he's changed his attitude in training," said the veteran coach. "How he's performed in the last month in training has been much better, and that's what's pushing him into the 18, and that's what's gotten him minutes on the field. And that's why he'll continue getting minutes on the field, as long as he continues to perform."
When you're in fifth place and haven't won a league match in more than a month, lucky breaks can be extraordinarily hard to come by - especially against the most dominant team in MLS, as the Crew found out to their dismay.
"The first two goals that we took in the game today were both situations where we're looking for a foul, and I'm sorry, right now, we're the Columbus Crew, and we're not going to get the foul," lamented Schmid. "Like on the second goal, if that's a challenge between [Jaime] Moreno and Leo [Bisaku], and it's Leo who knocks Moreno down, they get the whistle, and they get the foul. It's just because they get more respect.
"It's just like Shaq O'Neal in the NBA is going to get a foul, and that rookie center's not going to get it. I told my team you have to understand that, you have to accept it and you have to stop looking for the foul. And that cost us the first two goals. At some point we have to earn the respect. The only way we win respect around the league is we have to win games. We have to play better."
Charles Boehm is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
