trying to fend off the crashing Moreno -- and into the net.
• Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made no changes to the team that defeated Chivas USA 4-3 at Crew Stadium the previous week.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-1-3-1-1): Will Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Gino Padula - Brian Carroll - Robbie Rogers (Ezra Hendrickson 90), Adam Moffat (Stefani Miglioranzi 85), Eddie Gaven (Brad Evans 63) - Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Andy Gruenebaum, Nicolas Hernandez, Andy Iro, Steven Lenhart
• "It means a lot. This is a very difficult place to win," Schmid said. "I thought D.C. was very good offensively. As much as I would have liked us to attack more, you could feel the rhythm of the game. We just had to defend and take care of business that way. Getting a win here was obviously very important."
TEAM NEWS
• Alejandro Moreno scored his third goal of the season and has scored in each of the Crew's victories on the campaign. It appeared as if he had a fourth, but United defender Gonzalo Peralta was first to a cross just before halftime though his header still went into the back of the net.
• "He's a workhorse. He's often doing the dirty work that no one recognizes and you know he is going to give more than 100 percent every game," said Frankie Hejduk, whose cross left to Moreno's goal following a deft pass from Schelotto to get him free. "All of his goals are well deserved."
• From the start of the campaign, Moreno has operated as a spearhead target striker, with Guillermo Barros Schelotto operating underneath.
• "He's been great ever since we started playing with each other last year. We compliment each other quite well and he knows my strengths and I know his strengths and we try to look for each other," said Moreno. "I've got to find open spaces. The more I find open spaces the more he is going to find me and that way we are more dangerous. The more we get together the more it allows Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven to get in behind defenders and it creates opportunities for them as well."
• Said Schmid: "Everybody said 'Alejandro is your center forward; is he a goal scorer.' Well he's got three in four games. My expectation is that he is going to get 10-15 goals for us this year and if he can do that, that helps us a great deal."
• Moreno also continued his good form at RFK Stadium, where he has five of his career 33 goals. It's the second-most he had in any one stadium (one more than he has scored in Columbus); his 10 goals at The Home Depot Center, where he called home for two seasons, are the most. Included in that total in the nation's capital was a hat trick - all scored in an eight-minute span - scored for the Galaxy on May 19, 2004.
• The victory in D.C. also gives Columbus some real momentum heading into back-to-back home matches against last year's Western Conference finalists, the Houston Dynamo and Kansas City Wizards.
• It's a great win because we can build on this. It gives us confidence to know that we can go into a tough environment against a tough team, a team people are touting to be the best in the MLS, and get a result," Moreno said. "It speaks volumes to how organized we were and the things that we can do in the future.
HOUSTON DYNAMO
The Houston Dynamo are still looking for their first victory on the season, playing to a draw for the third week in a row after seeing the Los Angeles Galaxy twice come back from a goal down for a 2-2 tie last Saturday at The Home Depot Center. The Dynamo have three points from four matches, tied for sixth place in the Western Conference with the San Jose Earthquakes and five points behind leading FC Dallas.
LAST MATCH
• The LA Galaxy were looking to get back to their winning ways in the third game of a four-game homestand, while the defending MLS Cup champion Dynamo were looking simply for their first victory of the season after a loss and two ties.
• The Dynamo went ahead after 37 minutes. Brian Mullan swung in a deep cross from the right, and after Franco Caraccio knocked it back goalward, Brian Ching missed in an attempt to turn it on target. But Brad Davis came swooping in to prod it home from close range for the opener.
• At the three-quarter mark, the Galaxy pulled level through a spectacular goal. David Beckham took a pass from Landon Donovan on the right flank and whipped in a bending cross to the near post. Donovan shook off the attention of Patrick Ianni and dove to head the ball inside the post to pull the Galaxy into a 67th-minute tie.
• But the Dynamo went back in front on 79 minutes. Brian Ching ended up with the ball on the corner of the six-yard box and hit a shot off the turn that clattered off the face of the crossbar. But Franco Caraccio followed up on the backside to turn the rebound into the goal for his second goal in MLS.
• Yet five minutes later the Galaxy again drew level, and again it was through the combination of Donovan and Beckham. Put through on the right by Chris Klein, Beckham rounded the corner and drove a low cross through the goal area to the back post where Donovan came sliding in to turn it into the goal for his fifth goal in the last three games.
• Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear made one change to the team that played to a scoreless draw at the Kansas City Wizards the week before. Patrick Ianni came back into central defense, in place of the suspended Eddie Robinson.
• Here's Kinnear's team (4-3-1-2): Tony Caig - Richard Mulrooney, Bobby Boswell, Patrick Ianni, Wade Barrett - Brian Mullan, Ricardo Clark, Brad Davis - Dwayne De Rosario - Franco Caraccio (Stuart Holden 81), Brian Ching. Substitutes Not Used: Corey Ashe, Kyle Brown, Chris Wondolowski, Geoff Cameron, Craig Waibel, Corbin Waller
• "As far as our game, that was a very good soccer game. I thought our team played very well. Some of the stuff in the first half we did was some of the best stuff I've seen all season, not only from this team, but others. It was good," Kinnear said. "I'm sure both teams will point to their missed chances. I thought we had some good chances. If we had a bit more of a cushion in the second half, it would have opened up things a little more. We just couldn't hold to the ball as well as we did in the first half. That hurt us a little bit."
TEAM NEWS
• In his second start of the MLS season, Brad Davis scored the Dynamo's first goal - his first goal against the Galaxy since the 2003 season. "We played a good game. It's on the road. It's a tough game. You want to come out of here with a point. We're happy to, kind of, I guess," Davis said. "Three points was our goal tonight and I think we had it in our hands a couple of times."
• Franco Caraccio scored what could have been his first MLS match-winner in the 79th minute when he finished off a sequence off a corner kick. It was his second MLS goal, in his third consecutive start. "Very happy but we didn't get the three points," Caraccio said. "It's soured a bit though since we didn't get the three points."
• Though the Dynamo surrendered two goals -- the third time in four games the club has allowed as least as many -- the backline and goalkeeper Tony Caig played well. "You can't point to him on either of the two goals," Kinnear said of his goalkeeper.
• Kinnear said his team did a good job of denying the Galaxy time and space in the first 45 minutes. But after the break, there were more holes - and they were certainly exploited by the Galaxy's most dangerous weapons.
• "When you make the field a little bit smaller, you're team is nice and compact. We did a good job, and they didn't move the ball as well in the first half. In the second half, it did get stretched and it opened up," Kinnear said.
• Said Davis: "To us, as a team we feel like we've allowed too many goals this year, and that's one thing we are going to continue to work on. But it is encouraging getting guys healthy and getting our team back. We've played a lot of games in the beginning of the year. We're going Saturday to Saturday now, so we need to focus on getting into a regular route, and coming back next week, not hanging our heads and working hard to get three points out of the Columbus game."
• Still looking for the first win on the campaign, it's certainly the worst by the Dynamo since their arrival in south Texas. In the club's previous 10 seasons in San Jose, it would also qualify as the worst start - the then-named San Jose Clash began the 1996 and 1998 seasons with 1-3 records.
• "We're having breakdowns in a lot of parts on the field, but we're also having great play in a lot of parts on the field, too," Kinnear said to the Houston Chronicle. "Consistency is a key word for us right now."
