The San Jose Earthquakes came into Columbus looking for an answer to the road woes they had been experiencing this season and they found it in the form of two header goals and a stalwart defense to shut out the Crew 2-0 on Saturday night.
"We've been overpowered in away games and I thought tonight was a good example of a fantastic away performance," said head coach Frank Yallop. "We made it miserable for the other team to play us, we took our chances when they came along and we were all over them. We fought until the very last kick, the last whistle and that was excellent.
"Tonight is great win for us because, no matter how you look at it, Columbus is a good soccer team," Yallop continued. "Sigi (Schmid) has done a great job of building a team that is going to be a force."
The game was very physical, with referee Ricardo Salazar handing out eight cards, including a red card to both teams in the final 10 minutes.
"It was a bit chippy," said Ned Grabavoy, who was a member of the Crew at this point a year ago. "It seemed like neither team wanted the other one to get a good flow going, but sometimes that's what it takes."
To a certain extent, Yallop did not apologize for his team's approach to the match.
"That's what's been missing from us. It might not be pretty, but I'll tell you what, we fought for every ball. We might have mistimed some tackles, we might have got in some challenges that were fouls. That's football," he said.
"We knew it was going to be like that," said Earthquakes captain Ramiro Corrales, who netted their second goal. "We just had to be ready to go 90 minutes but we came out on top so it was good."
Ronnie O'Brien assisted on both San Jose goals, both well placed crosses. Ryan Johnson got a head to the first one and his shot took a deflection on its way in, putting the Quakes up in the 10th minute. Corrales netted the second in perfect fashion, nodding home a free kick out of reach of Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer with a half-hour to play.
"It's big," said O'Brien of the importance of getting the second goal. "We've been up at halftime quite a bit this year and we've let it go, and at some points we haven't even looked like we're getting back in it when we're down a goal. One up at half and then to go and get that second goal in the other half is a real testament to how this team has grown."
After the Quakes went up two, they did the smart thing and packed in the back, leaving little room for the Crew attack to maneuver.
"We were very compact in the back and in the middle, and I think we made it difficult for them to play through us," said Corrales. "Then we got the second goal and it was pretty much over."
Nathan Linton is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
