It was home sweet home for the Columbus Crew in their first four matches, but it took going on the road to erase the bitter taste of the past two games at Crew Stadium.
After picking up four points in matches at Kansas City and Los Angeles, the Crew return home to face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday for the first time since a 2-0 setback to San Jose on June 7. That followed a 1-0 defeat to visiting New England two weeks earlier. The pair of losses dropped the Crew's home mark to 4-2 after a promising start at protecting its home field.
"It's always harder to get points on the road so it built our confidence," defender Danny O'Rourke said. "We're not really looking back at those home games. We're trying to get back into that mindset that we need three points every home game."
If there was a common theme in the two home defeats -- besides the lack of goals -- it was poor starts.
"Our energy and mindset wasn't right," midfielder Robbie Rogers said. "The first 20 minutes of both of those games at home we didn't come out right so we have to focus and come out with a lot of energy, get a goal the first 20, 30 minutes and set the tone for the rest of the game. We can learn from our mistakes and have to come out with even more energy than we did on the road."
A 3-0 win against the Wizards was highlighted by a third-minute goal from defender Chad Marshall that broke a 371-minute scoreless streak. Last week, the Crew was victimized in the fourth minute by Landon Donovan; trailed 2-0 and 3-2 in the second half but rallied for a point on a late goal by rookie forward Steven Lenhart.
"I was very happy the way we started in K.C.," coach Sigi Schmid said. "Even in L.A., with the exception of the early goal we gave up, I thought the first 15 to 20 minutes we were OK. We had somebody make an individual mistake that caused the goal."
He's well aware that home teams sometimes relax early and are vulnerable as was the case in the games against New England and San Jose.
"We have to make sure we're fresh. That's why (Thursday) with the heat we wanted to keep practice short and sharp and we accomplished that," Schmid said. "A lot of it is our mentality and making sure we go into the game with the right mentality. The first time we started talking about it was on Tuesday and have their mindset on it. Now it's a matter of turning it into action. I can talk about it until I'm blue in the face but they've got to bring the mentality to the field."
The Crew are not only slow off the opening kickoff but it has also struggled after halftime. They have been outscored 4-2 in the first 15 minutes and 2-0 in the opening quarter-hour after the halftime break.
"We figured out that the first 15 minutes of the first half and second half have to change dramatically," midfielder Brad Evans said. "We've been working on that in practice this week. That's something that definitely is going to change Saturday."
Getting the early jump on the Rapids could mean playing hard but smart.
"Sometimes you've got to force the issue but you don't have to force the issue by exposing yourself," Schmid said. "You want to play the game in the opponent's half of the field. Early in the game you don't want to try to play through them when they have a lot of energy and are closing things down. You've got to read a little bit what they're doing. If they push up and are playing with a lot of energy and are tight with people maybe you've got to exploit those spaces behind them and the ball into their end of the field."
That happened against the Galaxy but the Rapids should offer a more cohesive defensive effort. Still, scoring as many times as the Crew did in their past two road matches has done wonders for the psyche.
"We're pretty positive," defender Frankie Hejduk said. "It would have been one thing not to have any goals but the last two games we scored six goals. In both those (home) games against New England and San Jose we had many chances. It wasn't like we weren't creating chances. We weren't putting the ball in the back of the net. We have to try to keep it at zeroes and hopefully our forwards can sneak a couple in."
There is another incentive for the Crew. There is a chance Schmid could be selected as the coach for the MLS All-Stars in the match against West Ham United in Toronto on July 24. The Crew must beat the Rapids to keep Schmid in the running based on a points-per-game formula at the completion of play Sunday.
"Obviously, that's tremendous," Evans said. "It's good for him but it also benefits our team."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
