How do the Crew do the voodoo that the Crew do so well? No clue, dude. But Crew voodoo turned deep doo-doo into a 2-2 "woo hoo!" against the loathsome Chicago Fire on Saturday night at Crew Stadium.
Twenty-five minutes into the game, with the Crew trailing 2-0, I was already trying to imagine cheesy holiday-themed newspaper headlines (e.g. "Fire Works Crew At Stadium"). Ninety minutes into the game, I was standing above the stage, all my thoughts drowned out by the jet-engine roar of the Nordecke, as everyone on the railing twitched with anticipation of a seemingly imminent Columbus game-winner. What a night.
On the whole, the Crew's performance may not have been a work of art, but it was definitely a work of heart. At this point, it would be foolish to expect anything else.
"You wish to have a team like this that will fight until the end," said Crew assistant-turned-head-coach-for-a-day Robert Warzycha. (Head coach Sigi Schmid was in Los Angeles for his daughter's wedding.) "If you give up after the first 15 minutes, then why even be here? We've tried to get a group of guys who fight until the end and I think today was a very exciting game."
Bad Start
The Crew fell behind early when Chris Rolfe converted a rebound in the 8th minute, snapping Chicago's 341-minute scoring drought in league play. The Fire doubled their advantage in the 25th minute when Calen Carr capped a nice Chicago counterattack with a sliding finish from the middle of the Crew's box.
"To be honest with you, I wasn't worried," said the unflappable Warzycha. "Chicago came out flying and the two goals they scored were pretty good. They caught us on the counterattack. With Rolfe and Carr, who are so fast, they did good. But I wasn't worried, to be honest with you. I knew we were going to score goals."
When asked if the early deficit was the result of poor Crew defending or excellent Chicago attacking, Warzycha split the difference. "In soccer, it is always a combination of things," he said, "but those were good counterattacks by Chicago. As I said, they came out flying."
The Comeback Begins
The Crew started their comeback in the 36th minute. After Bakary Soumare dispossessed Alejandro Moreno at the edge of the box, Moreno battled long enough to give Guillermo Barros Schelotto time to enter the fray. Schelotto picked Soumare's pocket, then quickly played a low cross into the box that was redirected into the net by a streaking Emmanuel Ekpo.
Fire coach Denis Hamlet thought that play was the turning point. "We had a very good start to the game," he said, "but I think giving up that first goal off our mistake gave them life when we had control of the game."
Steven "The Equalizer" Lenhart
With the Crew trailing late, Warzycha made some moves to bolster the offense. The most notable was the 77th minute pulling of defender Andy Iro in favor of forward Steven Lenhart.
"I knew the guys in the back were going to do their job and not allow any more goals. To be honest, it wasn't much of a gamble," Warzycha explained. "(Lenhart's) the type of player who can change a game for you. As a coach, when you're 2-1 down, you have to decide on Steven Lenhart or Jason Garey. I decided on Lenhart, and sometimes you're right."
Lenhart, who tallied the 88th-minute equalizer at Los Angeles two weeks ago, made a genius out of Warzycha by netting the 87th-minute equalizer against the Fire, bouncing home a cross from Schelotto. The ball literally bounced off of Lenhart and went into the net.
Lenhart was equal parts giddy and goofy when asked about his late-game heroics. "I just ran into the ball," he said. "I have no idea what happened. My eyes were closed. I ran to the far post and Guillermo put it there. I got lucky. The ball was as good as it could have been."
He shrugged off his knack for scoring big goals in the waning moments of matches. "I feel great, but that's soccer," he said. "I'm happy any time I can help the team, but someone else scored the first goal, you know?"
Since Lenhart was reluctant to toot his own horn, we'll let his captain do it for him. "Steve did well to battle in the box again," said Frankie Hejduk. "He's a beast in there, and he makes it tough for defenders. He's in the right spot at the right time, and that's what a forward does. He's hot right now, so he gets in the right area and the ball is coming to him."
Frankie on the Two-Goal Comeback
Hejduk shared his thoughts on the Crew's two-goal rally. "The first 20 minutes killed us, and then we had to chase the game," he said. "Having said that, we chased it pretty well. We created a lot of chances. It was a strange game in that it felt like there was no midfield for either team. It was back and forth, back and forth. I thought we played well enough in the end to win the game, but Chicago did well with what they had to do too. They are a thorn in our side. They made it difficult for us, but we did well by battling back and not giving up. We easily could have lost this game 2-1 if we didn't believe in each other."
Hamlett on the Loss. I Mean Tie.
"It's disappointing," said first-year Fire coach Denis Hamlett. "It feels like a loss, but there were some positives. We haven't been scoring goals, and we got two goals tonight. We got a point, but we're (ticked) off because we thought we had three points in the bag and we let it slip away tonight."
Loud Crowd
The combination of the Crew's good play, the hated Fire, Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco and a beautiful night contributed to the largest crowd of the season at 17,172. Not only was it a large crowd, but it was passionate. The Fire fans did their thing in the south end of the stadium, but unlike years past, when the Chicagoans dominated the proceedings, the Nordecke drowned them out from the northeast corner. It was an exciting game for both sets of fans, giving everyone a reason to go at it in full voice.
The action in the stands did not go unnoticed by the participants. "It's always fun playing Columbus because our fans come down and it makes for a good atmosphere," said Hamlett. "It was a good game and a good crowd."
"You can't ask for anything more," said Hejduk. "We're in Columbus, it's against the Fire, and it's the day after the Fourth. It was awesome. Both teams' fans were into it and were singing the whole time. It would have been more of a storybook ending if we could have sent all those people home with a win, but the fans never gave up on us, and it keeps us motivated because we don't want to let them down."
Rolfe Rules Crew Stadium
Fire forward Chris Rolfe played his college ball for the Dayton Flyers after growing up in the Dayton suburb of Kettering. Although it's an hour east from his true hometown, Columbus Crew Stadium has been Rolfe's personal playground as a professional. Rolfe's goal in the 8th minute was his fifth goal in just six career matches at Crew Stadium. He's been consistent, too, scoring in four of those six games.
"Whenever you come home, I think there's some extra incentive," said Fire coach Denis Hamlett. "He's from this area and I think he wants to play well in front of his friends and family."
Rolfe confirmed his coach's comments. "It always feels good to get a goal, especially in front of my friends and family here at home."
For those who like to extrapolate statistics just to make your teeth hurt, Rolfe's career pace at Crew Stadium is the equivalent of a 25-goal season. That's Stern John territory.
At one point a year or so ago, my good buddy Flick, in an effort to simultaneously boost his Flyer pride and Crew loathing, conducted research that revealed that at that time, no active Crew player had scored more career goals at Crew Stadium than Chris Rolfe had for the Fire. If I recall, Eddie Gaven was tied with Rolfe at four Crew Stadium goals, with at least one of Gaven's tallies coming when he was with the MetroStars.
Thankfully that's one stat that's in the past. Without doing too much research and/or compiling a thorough list, since all I want is a single exception to knock Rolfe off the top spot and to make everyone (especially Flick) feel better, I can verify that Alejandro Moreno has six goals at Crew Stadium as a member of the Crew, not even digging into his pre-Columbus past. And best of all, Moreno's got time to pad his lead since Rolfe isn't scheduled to score again at Crew Stadium until next year.
Robbie's Chance to Say "I Told You So"
Since I didn't catch up with Robbie Rogers for last week's notebook, I made a point to visit with him Saturday. I rehashed our conversation from after the San Jose game, when he very convincingly stated his case that the Crew would score goals and turn their slide around. Credit where credit is due, he was right. The Crew have gone 2-0-2 in league play since that conversation, scoring 10 goals in those four matches.
I gave Robbie his shot for an I-told-you-so, but he kindly declined, instead opting to reiterate his belief in the Crew.
"Well, I have a lot of confidence in this team, and we all have confidence in each other," he said. "I knew the media - no offense - was going to make a big deal out of that scoreless stretch, but we had scored goals in Open Cup games and I knew we have guys that can put the ball in the back of the net. We knew we were going to turn it around. We didn't stop believing in each other."
Robbie said that belief came in handy in Saturday's comeback against Chicago. "After we got that first goal, it was like we knew we could do this and we didn't panic," he said. "We eventually tied it up and had even more chances at the end. We wanted that third goal, but that's the way it goes."
The Importance of the Regular Season
At 8-4-3, the Crew have reached the midpoint of their schedule while locked into second place in both the Eastern Conference and the overall league table. They trail first-place New England by six points, but control their own destiny in terms of making up that ground since they have two games in hand.
It has been a popular theory amongst soccer traditionalists that the regular season does not matter in Major League Soccer because of the existence of playoffs. The argument is that as long as you sneak into the playoffs, you can get hot for four weeks and walk away with the trophy, rendering the games in June and July meaningless.
It would be a fantastic theory if 12 years of MLS history didn't say otherwise. For example, 22 of the 24 MLS Cup finalists have finished first or second in their conference. The two exceptions were both fourth-place finishers-the 1997 Colorado Rapids and the 2005 Los Angeles Galaxy. That's it. Two squeaker-inners out of 24 finalists.
Of the 12 MLS Cup champions, 11 of them finished first or second in their conference. The lone exception was the 2005 Los Angeles Galaxy.
Looking at it from a league table perspective, 17 of 24 MLS Cup finalists have finished in the top three in the league, and that number becomes 19 of 24 when you look at the top four. There have been three #5 finishers in the final-the 2001 San Jose Earthquakes, the 2002 New England Revolution, and the 2006 Houston Dynamo. The aforementioned '97 Rapids finished 7th overall, while the '05 Galaxy finished 8th.
When it comes to winning MLS Cup, eight of the 12 champs were top-three clubs, and nine of 12 were top-four. The two fifth-place teams that won the title (the '01 Quakes and '06 Dynamo) were each two points away from leapfrogging from fifth to third in their respective seasons, so they were certainly in the mix.
That basically leaves the awful 2005 Galaxy as the exception that people can latch onto when saying that the regular season does not matter. The Galaxy finished 13-13-6 that season, with a (-1) goal differential. While that may seem more mediocre than awful, consider that they feasted on expansion Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake that year. Against established clubs, the Galaxy were 7-12-5 with a (-10) goal differential, yet this was the team that nobody could beat with everything on line. One could argue that MLS had no deserving champion that year, and the Galaxy were proof of that.
Anyway, one of the most encouraging signs about the Crew's season thus far is that they are in the thick of the race for the conference and the league. The last dozen years have shown that to be a serious MLS Cup contender, conference and league contention are more or less a prerequisite. Whether it's because teams who don't value the season as highly learn harsh lessons about trying to restart their motor come playoff time, or whether it's something as simple as the notion that the better teams win more often no matter the time of year, I don't know. But the idea that just squeaking into the playoffs is sufficient for a shot at winning the title doesn't hold up. Sure, we all know a low seed may upset a higher seed in the first round, since many in Columbus still carry the razorblade scars from the Crew's ill-fated 2004 playoff campaign. But only twice in 12 years has such an upset been an underdog's stepping stone toward suiting up in the MLS Cup final.
Intrigued by these numbers, I decided to run them past Frankie Hejduk for his thoughts.
"Those stats speak for themselves," said Hejduk. "There's always some chance for a dark horse team to have a good run, so obviously making the playoffs beats missing the playoffs, but I think that the people who believe that the season doesn't matter as long as you get in are the teams that are squeaking in to begin with. It's been a few years since I've been in the playoffs, so I know squeaking in beats staying home, but the ultimate goal is to win a championship."
Hejduk wasn't too surprised to learn that 22 of the 24 MLS Cup finalists finished first or second in their conference, or that the odds of appearing in the final are heavily slanted toward teams that finished in the top three or four of the league. He believes that championship-caliber teams have the desire to win every time they set foot on the field, and as a result, that is also his approach to the game.
"Personally, I take it one game at a time, week by week," he explained. "I want to win every week, and I think that's important. I don't think things like, 'We can coast because as long we get in the playoffs, it doesn't matter.' I can tell you that the guys in this room are focused on playing hard every week. And like I said, if anyone thinks playing hard every week doesn't matter so long as you make the playoffs, I think those numbers will shut them up."
While finishing near the top of the conference and league does not guarantee playoff success, failing to do so is a strong indicator that a team will be watching MLS Cup from their couch, just like you and I. It's something to keep an eye on as the Crew begin the second half of their season.
Who Was That Masked Moron?
Late in the game, the proceedings were interrupted by a chubby chump in a luchador mask who ran onto the field from behind the north goal. He didn't get as far as the 18-yard box before his jiggling, shirtless carcass was slammed into the turf by a stadium worker.
After the game, I had a mega-brief chat with the stadium worker about his closing speed and textbook tackling technique. "My first 20 yards is exceptional," he said. "I hope Jim Tressel was watching because I still have four years of college eligibility left. If he needs an outside linebacker, I am ready."
Despite a Horseshoe-worthy tackle that earned the cheers of over 17,000 people at Crew Stadium, our dunce-dumping hero did have one tiny regret. In the heat of the moment, he forgot the conclusion of every Scooby Doo episode he had ever watched.
"I really wish I would have thought to take his mask off," he lamented. "I had him in a headlock, so it would have been pretty easy to unmask him, but I didn't think of it at the time."
U.S. Open Cupdate
Oh my. Such a clever word-merging that was.
Anyway, last week, I spoke with Adam Moffat and Nelson Akwari, who urged Crew fans to throw their U.S. Open Cup support behind the Cleveland City Stars and Charleston Battery, respectively.
Last Tuesday, the City Stars were dumped 4-1 by the Fire, while the Battery advanced past the Houston Dynamo on penalty kicks after a 1-1 draw, which the Battery finished while playing 9 v. 11.
I spoke with our two experts to find out what happened with their teams last week.
"Cleveland had a terrible start," said Moffat. "It just wasn't to be. I talked to their coach and he told me it was just a terrible start. They went behind 3-0 in the first 25 minutes. They got a goal back, but it wasn't enough. It was kind of like tonight's game, except we only fell behind by two and we were able to come back."
Meanwhile, it was a happier story from South Carolina. "I was a pretty crazy game," said Akwari. "Our fans were there in full force and going crazy, so I think that's what got us through those last 15 minutes in the second overtime while we were down two guys."
"Houston really didn't field their full team and the game was pretty even throughout the first half," he went on. "Once the second half began and we got the red card, Houston started to press, and we pretty much began to defend our 1-0 lead. Houston deserved the goal they scored because they played well throughout the second half and created a lot of chances. The second red card, which came in overtime, was a kick below the belt because the referee could have easily kept the card in his pocket. Despite going down another man, we actually played well and still created some scoring chances. I felt like we deserved to go to PKs because we limited a lot of Houston's scoring chances. We both know that it's anyone's game when it comes to PKs. Our shooters did well to score their goals and our goalie, Dusty Hudock, came up big on one of their shots. I was actually supposed to be the fifth shooter for our team, but I didn't need to take my shot. I'll be ready if I'm called on in the future!"
Tuesday night, the Battery travel to Pizza Hut Park for a quarterfinal matchup with FC Dallas. "We'll see what happens," Akwari said. "It will be cool to be back in the MLS atmosphere."
With the City Stars eliminated, Moffat has joined me on the Battery Open Cup Bandwagon. "I think Charleston is the way to go," he said. "Let's all cheer for Nelson."
Nelly welcomes the well-wishes from Ohio. "Thanks for giving the Battery a chance to get some extra fans," he said. "I know how die-hard C-bus fans can be, so we appreciate the support."
Questions of the Night
• "What is this, a doily?" - Fox Soccer Channel announcer / fashion critic Brian Dunseth, while fondling Duncan Oughton's white paisley necktie before the game.
• "It was good to see me, wasn't it?" - Standard Dwight Burgess farewell comment after our pregame chat.
• "What's the right order of swear word symbols for (bleep)?" - Columbus Dispatch beat reporter Shawn Mitchell, trying to accurately convey Crew President/GM Mark McCullers' pre-game speech to the denizens of the Nordecke. (For the record, Shawn settled on "@&*%#!")
• "Can we get a translator, please?" - MLSnet's Craig Merz, ribbing acting head coach Robert Warzycha before the Polish Rifle even said a word at his postgame press conference.
Apples Not Far From the Tree
The Crew's postgame locker room saw Alejandro Moreno Jr., playing with Maximo and Nicolas Barros Schelotto. The three youngsters giddily chased each other around the room, with each taking turns getting thrown to the carpet by his exuberant pursuers. Considering that the elder Moreno and Schelotto are tied for the league lead in fouls suffered, it was as if the kids took turns preparing themselves for a career in MLS as imagined from watching their padres play.
Steve Sirk is a contributor to TheCrew.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs. Questions? Comments? Think Shawn should have gone with "@^%$" or "@!$^#&"? Feel free to write at sirk65@yahoo.com
