A moment of brilliance from Joseph Ngwenya propelled the Columbus Crew past the New York Red Bulls 1-0 at Crew Stadium on Saturday night, putting an end to the club's 13-match winless streak.
The 82nd-minute goal put an end to the Red Bulls five-match unbeaten streak, handed Bruce Arena a loss in his second game in his return to coaching in Major League Soccer, and more importantly put the Ohio club right back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
The Crew made several changes from the side that fell to Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, the biggest the addition of which was Duncan Oughton, who was making his first start since Oct. 31, 2004. Oughton first suffered a knee injury on that occasion, only to re-injure it in preseason and miss the entirety of the 2005 season. After being re-signed yesterday, he was given the captain's armband by Crew head coach Sigi Schmid.
He and Jose Retiz were given the start in the midfield in place of Brandon Moss and Jacob Thomas. Thomas was out with a calf strain that occurred on Wednesday. In addition, Chris Leitch and Rusty Pierce replaced Chad Marshall and Ritchie Kotschau in the backline. Marshall missed the match after being shaken up in training on Friday.
Arena made just one change in his second game in charge of the Red Bulls, as Seth Stammler came back from suspension in place of the injured Mike Magee.
The Crew got a couple of good looks early through combinations by Joseph Ngwenya and Jason Garey. In the 11th minute, Ngwenya beat Todd Dunivant at the corner of the penalty box and sent a cross to Garey at the far post. The rookie forward struck the ball first time with a sliding volley that went wide of goal.
Seven minutes later, Ngwenya again found Garey at the back post. Garey beat Red Bull 'keeper Tony Meola to the ball near the end line, but could not cut the ball back to the target and instead put it into the side netting.
In between the Crew's two attempts, the Red Bulls tried to test Bill Gaudette from distance, but could not get a shot on frame. The wall deflected a free kick by Youri Djorkaeff from 25-yards out for corner. Another effort from the former French international and one by Dema Kovalenko similarly failed to force a save from Gaudette.
The home side nearly went ahead 10 minutes before the break, but a nice combination of passes ended with an off balance shot wide by Garey. Sebastian Rozental played Oughton wide on the left. The captain served the ball to the back post where Garey and Ngwenya were coming on. Garey got to the ball first and put a lunging shot just wide.
After a back and forth opening after the break, the Crew organized a classic counterattack in the 63rd minute. Rozental corralled a defensive clearance and quickly moved forward. He found Ngwenya right down the center of the field with a perfect pass. Ngwenya shot the ball with his first touch, but Meola stopped the shot with a diving catch.
Meola made another save in the 75th minute to keep the match scoreless. Rozental made a penetrating solo run before unleashing a blast from 25 yards. The shot looked destined for the upper corner before Meola punched the ball out for a corner kick.
The Black & Gold tallied a rare late goal in the 82nd minute to take the lead. Three Crew defenders pried the ball away from Djorkaeff in the Crew penalty box. Chris Leitch chased down the ball and quickly flighted it down the right flank for Ngwenya to run onto.
After dribbling about 40 yards to the edge of the penalty box, Ngwenya toyed with Carlos Mendes by beating him with pace and then cutting back inside him. The third-year striker then shot low between Mendes' legs, slotting the ball inside the near post past Meola to bring great joy to the Crew faithful.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
