The Columbus Crew had a terrific opportunity to put themselves in control of their playoff destiny Sunday afternoon. After failing to do so, to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs will now mean traveling down a very difficult road.
After the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids had failed to win over the weekend, the Crew came into Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Galaxy knowing a victory would put them back into eighth place overall. But despite an early goal, they allowed two goals in four minutes in response and the Galaxy left town 2-1 winners.
"We have got to win these games at home," said an obviously frustrated Crew head coach Sigi Schmid. "These are big games, and every time we have big games we have found a way to come up short, and that is a problem that we have to solve."
The Crew dominated the statistics, with eight corners to none for the Galaxy, and forcing Joe Cannon to make five saves in the LA goal, while Will Hesmer made none for Columbus. But the Galaxy scored on both of their only two shots on target.
"We're right there, we're close, we didn't get dominated, we didn't get outplayed, we're in the game, we had our chances to win the game, but at the end of the day the final result is we didn't win the game," Schmid said. "We did not win the game. So all the play, and all the stats mean absolutely nothing."
Alejandro Moreno put the Crew ahead in the second minute when he headed home Andy Herron's cross from the right corner. But the Galaxy answered quickly with two of their own from Troy Roberts (his first in MLS), in the 13th minute, and from Kyle Martino, who was a fan favorite as a Crew player earlier in his career.
"We've managed to waste a lot of games in the last month or month and a half, and it's been really disappointing," said Moreno. "You can say a lot of things about what has gone wrong, but you hope that an early goal like that can show the way for the rest of the game. Then you find yourself down 2-1 chasing the game and that's always difficult."
Crew Stadium had been sold out for months before Sunday's game with the Galaxy, mostly thanks to the much anticipated appearance of the injured David Beckham. The Crew had organized a "Blackout," encouraging fans to adorn black clothing, and the home team followed suit wearing their all-black kits, but the end result was little more than another disappointing home loss.
"What we need to take that next step is we have to be able to find that resolve when the game is going against us," said Schmid. "When the game tips a little bit, and every game is going to tip in favor a little bit. No matter who you play every team is going to have moments when they are down in the game, and that is when we need someone to stand up, step up and say, 'I'm in charge here,' because we are not a sport where that can happen from the outside."
Now, the Crew find themselves two points behind the Fire in ninth place overall, with both teams having three games to play. The Crew play host to FC Dallas next weekend before heading on the road for the final two games in the regular season -- taking on the two top teams in the Eastern Conference in D.C. United and the New England Revolution.
"Every game since the All-Star break has been the same thing, pretty much," said a distraught Ned Grabavoy. "Get a lead, give away a lead. Have a lead at the end of the game, give the game away. Lose points here and there. Basically it became that every game got bigger and bigger and bigger because we kept giving points away."
Answers need to come very quickly in Columbus if the Crew are to have any hopes of reaching the postseason. The team is ready to look anywhere they can for an immediate resolution.
"As a coaching staff, we have to look at ourselves and say, 'Are we putting the right guys on the field?,' said Schmid. "Maybe there is somebody else here that we need to give a chance to."
Nathan Linton is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
