the winner of the MLS Golden Boot a season ago -- opened his 2007 season in fine fashion, scoring on either side of halftime to nose the home side back into the lead. First, in the 29th minute, Chris Klein swung in a big cross from the right touchline. Cunningham's touch put two defenders out of the play, and he slotted home past Shaka Hislop to level the score.
• Then in the 51st minute, Hislop saved a Jason Kreis shot from the top of the restraining arc, from a pass from a short corner. But the rebound slid to Cunningham just beyond the right-hand post, and he knocked it in from a tight angle for his second on the night.
• In stoppage time, FCD defender Clarence Goodson drove a long restart into the heart of the penalty area. But it sailed over Rimando, and as RSL defender Nik Besagno and Hoops striker Carlos Ruiz went up to battle for the bouncing ball, it caromed into the goal for the leveler.
• John Ellinger had few surprises in his team for the season opener, as Freddy Adu played in a wide role on the right and Mehdi Ballouchy in behind Cunningham, figuring as the lone striker.
• Here's Ellinger's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Jack Stewart, Eddie Pope (Nikolas Besagno 61), Daniel Torres, Willis Forko - Jason Kreis (Luis Tejada 88), Carey Talley - Chris Klein, Mehdi Ballouchy (Kenny Cutler 79), Freddy Adu - Jeff Cunningham. Substitutes Not Used: Chris Brown, Atiba Harris, Chris Seitz, Andy Williams
• "It's one of those things. It's the first game. I can't get too fired up about it because there's 29 to go, but we have to close the game out," Ellinger said. "You can't go, you know, 'like here we go again.' But we missed the playoffs last year by two points and we just gave two points away."
TEAM NEWS
• With his pair of goals, Cunningham now has 92 for his MLS career. The Golden Boot winner last year when he scored 16 times, he seems well on his way to breaking the century mark - a club which currently has two members (D.C. United's Jaime Moreno and Jason Kreis), though Chivas USA's Ante Razov has 99 goals entering the weekend.
• "I think it's great that Jeff got two goals today. We all know that strikers, when they get hot they can put chances away," Ellinger said. "It's a good thing for us that Jeff got goals in the opening game, so he'll have his confidence and we'll just build off of that."
• After his first goal, Cunningham jumped over the advertising hoardings and kissed himself on the lips - kissing a large banner with a blown-up picture of his face hanging from the Rice-Eccles Stadium wall. As well, Cunningham changed his number to 90 this season (his career goals coming into the year) and said he hopes to change his number each succeeding year to reflect his MLS goal-scoring total. But he said he would have traded the two goals for three points for an RSL win.
• "We let two points slip away. I felt like we were the better team tonight and we just didn't close the game out well enough, myself included," he said. "As a veteran in the league and a more experienced player, there were several situations in the last couple of minutes where I felt like, even though I had two goals on the offensive end, I made some bad decisions that may have led to that last goal. I had a few opportunities to hold the ball and keep possession and we chose to play direct and turned it over and that led to their goal."
• Ellinger was pleased with the work of the two wide midfielders, Adu and Klein, and thought they were especially effective. "I thought that in the first half [Adu] played very well. He had less chances in the second half. I didn't think their outside backs were trying to go forward more, they were just trying to contain Jeff [Cunningham], Freddy, and Chris [Klein], not letting them get behind them. They tried to limit the one-on-one situations as much as they could."
• Ellinger's three substitutions were necessary ones. Eddie Pope came out of the game in the 61st minute after the veteran defender sustained an injury to his left hip in the early minutes of the second half. Nik Besagno entered the game for Pope to play the right wing, and Jack Stewart slid over to Pope's spot in the center.
• Ellinger also replaced Mehdi Ballouchy with Kenny Cutler in the 79th minute. Ballouchy had sustained a muscle strain in practice prior to the game, and during the game got kicked in the same spot on his left calf. Ellinger's third substitution was bringing on Luis Tejada in exchange for Kreis in the 88th minute.
• "Losing those two (Kreis and Ballouchy) definitely hurt us at a crucial time as far as keeping the ball and keeping some composure," Ellinger said. "For the most part, though, I thought we were going to finish it out and get the win."
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew began their 2007 campaign with a scoreless draw against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday evening. The two teams were left tied for second in the Eastern Conference with one point, behind the Chicago Fire (the only East team to win on First Kick) - the Crew now out of last place in the division for the first time since last July.
LAST MATCH
• Freezing conditions also greeted the Columbus Crew and New York Red Bulls as they made their 2007 bow, with a rebuilt Red Bulls team taking on a Crew side looking to end a two-year run of failing to reach the postseason.
• But it was the goalkeepers who shone on the night. Crew 'keeper Andy Gruenebaum, who made three appearances a year ago in his rookie season, made three saves on the night, including good stops on Dave van den Bergh and Jozy Altidore just before halftime.
• Red Bulls 'keeper Ronald Waterreus was credited with five saves in the MLS debut for the former Dutch international - but was fortunate to see a Jason Garey chance two minutes from the end come back off the base of his left-hand post.
• Sigi Schmid had his first-choice lineup available to him, as Andy Herron made his Crew debut in attack alongside Jason Garey, as did Danny O'Rourke in the center of midfield.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-4-2): Andy Gruenebaum - Frankie Hejduk, Marcos Gonzalez, Ezra Hendrickson, Rusty Pierce - Joseph Ngwenya, Ned Grabavoy, Danny O'Rourke, Eddie Gaven (Brad Evans 88) - Jason Garey (Kei Kamara 75), Andy Herron (Duncan Oughton 71). Substitutes Not Used: Bill Gaudette, Brandon Moss, Robbie Rogers, Tim Ward
• "I think the people that came out saw a good game, a game that had chances at both ends of the field," said Schmid. "I don't think it was a 0-0 game that was a boring game. I thought it was an exciting game."
TEAM NEWS
• Schmid said the game was truly a tale of two halves, from his standpoint. "I thought we didn't play a good first half. I thought we were very tentative, played too many balls short and played in front of their 'D' way too much. In the second half, we wanted to get the ball to our forwards quicker, which I thought we did and I thought in the second half, we were the better team and we clearly had more chances, but we didn't finish them."
• A key component of the second half turnaround was the play of Eddie Gaven, who saw a pass across an open goalmouth just missing connecting just seconds after he went in alone on goal, only to be stopped by Red Bulls 'keeper Ronald Waterreus.
• "Eddie did a good job of finding that gap in front of their back four and start getting the ball (while) running at them," Schmid said. "When he plays like that, he definitely opens things up for us."
• It was a first career shutout for Crew goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum, who made three appearances (two starts) a year ago in his rookie season. "There were a couple times that I had to come up with some saves," he said. "But for the most part, our defense was awesome. If we play like that defensively, we will win a lot of games."
• Said Schmid: "I thought the defense did all right. I thought Rusty had to contain a pretty fast guy in (Dane) Richards. I thought he did a pretty good job with it. Ezra and Marcos Gonzalez were solid in the middle all night."
• Schmid also felt his central midfield duo of Ned Grabavoy and Danny O'Rourke did well. Schmid said O'Rourke disrupted the Red Bulls attack, and of Grabavoy, he said: "He is the one that got the ball to our forwards in the second half once they started making harder runs through. He is a player that if he gets out there week in and week out, his confidence will grow. It would be a big plus for us."
• Frankie Hejduk made his return to the Crew lineup, his first appearance for the team since April 22 of last season, when he suffered a knee injury that also kept him out of the U.S. team for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• "Both teams came out pumped up and ready to play and they really pressured us [in] the first half, but once we settled down a bit and I got my head right, I thought the second half was pretty solid for the whole team. I thought we played really well and we dominated in the second half and I think that we should have won the game."
