The Columbus Crew stayed on pace to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs when they held on for a 1-1 tie against Houston Dynamo on Saturday evening in Houston. The Crew went up in the first half with a goal from former Dynamo forward Alejandro Moreno in the 38th minute, then survived after playing a man down for more than 50 minutes to earn a share of the points.
"In the first 20 or 25 minutes, we dominated," Moreno said. "Then we scored the goal and, like I said, the red card changed the face of the game. We tried to manage the game intelligently, we took a point home and we leave content."
That one point puts the Crew three points ahead of the Colorado Rapids for eighth place in the MLS overall standings and the last spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Rapids have a chance to make up those three points when they play the LA Galaxy on Sunday night.
Columbus midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who had the assist on Moreno's goal, agreed with his teammate's assessment of the game.
"Houston played better in the second half when we were a player down," Schelotto said, "but when it was 11 against 11, we were winning and Houston didn't have a single goal opportunity against us."
Columbus went down a man in the 38th minute, when defender Marcos Gonzalez received his second yellow card of the match within six minutes, both for fouls on Dynamo forward Joseph Ngwenya. Though no one specifically disputed that particular call, many in the locker room were unhappy with the quality of the refereeing during the match.
"The only thing I ask from the referees is consistency," Moreno said. "What's a foul for the other team should be a foul for us, as well. That's what we miss a lot in this league. We've just got to improve it. It's as simple as getting better and being more consistent with the officiating."
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid said that he wasn't pleased with the way referee Abbey Okulaja called the second half of the game.
"I don't think we got a lot of breaks today on the calls," Schmid said. "We were unlucky with the officiating. If you look at Alejandro, he's got cleat marks on his back, so that's just something that happens. At times I felt that we were playing against more than Houston's 11."
It wasn't just the Crew who were unhappy with the officiating -- the Houston fans booed Okulaja lustily on a number of occasions during the second half.
Playing down a man forced Schmid to modify his team's strategy in the second half, but he tried to keep his team focused on the attack despite being outnumbered.
"We tried to play a 4-3-2," Schmid said. "We tried to stay together and stay compact. We had Guillermo drop off of Alejandro a little bit to join the attack. It didn't help us in the second half when Rusty Pierce had to come out due to cramps. We were hoping to make a substitution up front, one more substitution to get us fresh legs to join the attack, but that was impossible once we had to take Rusty out of the game."
Schmid said that the Houston heat and the intensity of Dynamo's play meant that his team was more tired than he would have liked as the match progressed.
"It's very warm, it's very humid, and it expends a lot of energy from your team," Schmid said. "It's tough against Houston; they're a good team. Playing a man down is not the ideal situation."
Despite playing in less-than-ideal circumstances, the Crew came out of the match with an important point on the road.
"We leave with a point that is very valuable to us," Moreno said, "and we're content with the result. Now we're going to look for positive results at home."
The Crew will return to Columbus to face the Colorado Rapids on Sunday, September 2 at 3 p.m. ET, in a game that could have real ramifications if the Black-and-Gold are to snap their two-year postseason drought.
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
