COLUMBUS - In the busiest stretch of the season, the Columbus Crew are in the midst of playing four games in 11 days.
After a 1-1 draw with the New England Revolution at Crew Stadium on Wednesday, the Black-and-Gold are right back at it, completing the season series against Chivas USA on Saturday night - a club that has beaten the Crew already this week.
Combined with the summer weather, the schedule could lead to fatigued players and hurt the Crew's performances.
"The first thing we need to do is just recover," said coach Sigi Schmid. "We have some tired people."
Veteran Ritchie Kotschau echoed similar thoughts, but he does not think the game-laden portion of the schedule will undermine the Crew's level of play.
"We just need to get the recovery going. Guys need to take care of their bodies," said Kotschau. "It is not going to affect us too much."
In addition to recovering, Schmid also thinks smarter play could relieve some of the fatigue problems. In particular, Schmid wants his players to be smarter in choosing to make runs late in the game and to take defenders in one-on-one. In other words, let the ball do the work.
"As we prepare for Saturday, we need to play more intelligently," said Schmid.
In particular, the Crew will look to shut down the Chivas attack that piled up the shots against the Crew in the 2-0 Chivas victory last Sunday at The Home Depot Center.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
