13 games without a victory -- in a 1-0 win at Crew Stadium. Crew forward Joseph Ngwenya struck late in the second half, beating 'keeper Tony Meola inside his near post for the game's lone goal.
Despite showcasing their best defensive display of the season just days prior, New York's backline was easily penetrated in the early minutes of Saturday's match by the Crew attack. The trend continued throughout the opening half: Columbus applied constant pressure to the New York goal, threatening Tony Meola with four first-half shots. New York's opportunities, on the other hand, were limited to sparse counterattacks and the remnants of unforced Crew errors.
In the 10th minute of action, the Crew were handed perhaps their best opportunity for goal in the first half. After an impressive display of footwork and trickery, Ngwenya left his defender in the dust and sent a hooking pass across the box which was met by a volley from forward Jason Garey. But the Red Bulls were relieved to see the attempt drift above the exposed upper-left corner of the goal.
Possibly sensing the desperation of their troubled hosts, New York organized and pressed forward. In the 14th minute, New York was awarded a free kick after Youri Djorkaeff was taken down by the Crew's Ezra Hendrickson. Djorkaeff's resulting effort was struck beautifully, but ricocheted off the four-man Crew wall and sailed harmlessly out of play.
Columbus was awarded a free kick of their own in the 30th minute after the newly acquired Dema Kovalenko was booked for an aggressive take-down of Ngwenya. Moments later Kovalenko was again penalized for aggressively pursuing and tackling Duncan Oughton. Columbus was unable capitalized on either free kick opportunity.
By halftime, the teams had combined for just one shot on target. The Crew had four total attempts at goal while New York produced five total shots, with none on target.
Any difficulty that New York had controlling the ball in the first half was clearly present in the second half. The Red Bull attack had several bursts of promise but on each the club failed to connect.
Columbus' second half action was plagued by the same scrappy but sloppy play - the hosts continually surrendering possession after careless unforced errors. The Crew did manage to put a ball past Meola in the Red Bulls goal, but Duncan Oughton -- making his first start since October, 2004 when he suffered a knee injury -- was offside before knocking the ball home from a nice pass by Sebastian Rozental.
But the Crew managed to take the lead in the 82nd minute. After Ezra Hendrickson tackled the ball away in the Crew penalty area, Chris Leitch sent a long ball down the right flank. Ngwenya latched onto it and carried it down the right touchline with Carlos Mendes in pursuit.
At the edge of the penalty area, he cut back inside Mendes and hit a low shot through the New York defender's legs that went between Meola and his near post. The goal was the third of the season for Ngwenya, drawing the third-year forward even with Kei Kamara for the team lead.
When the final whistle came, the Crew had won for the first time since June 3, and Bruce Arena had suffered a loss in his second league match in charge of the Red Bulls.
The Red Bulls next play Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup, when they travel to RFK Stadium in Washington to take on D.C. United. The teams played to a scoreless draw at Giants Stadium in league play last Wednesday.
Ryan D. Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
