With just four games remaining on the year The Crew closes out its home portion of the 2006 season with home games on Saturday, Sept. 23, and Saturday, Sept. 30.
Columbus faces the Houston Dynamo on Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Crew Stadium and FC Dallas on Sept. 30. The Crew is in sixth-place in the Eastern Conference at 6-14-8 (26 pts.) on the year and is seven points out of the last playoff spot. Houston is 10-8-10 (40 pts) and is in second-place in the West.
The game can be heard in English on The Brew @ 105.7 or in Spanish on Radio Sol, AM-1550. Both the English and Spanish radio broadcasts can also be heard on-line at TheCrew.com.
The top four teams in each conference make the MLS Cup Playoffs. Four teams are within nine points of each other in the East, with The Crew at 26 points, New York in fifth with 32 points, Kansas City fourth with 33 points and New England in third with 35 points.
Click here for complete league standings >
COLUMBUS CREW vs. Houston Dynamo
Saturday, Sept. 23 - 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Crew Stadium
Crew Radio: The Brew @ 105.7 (English) and Radio Sol, AM-1550 (Spanish)
Crew Webcasts: TheCrew.com and MLSnet.com (English and Spanish)
CREW TRAINING AND GAME SCHEDULE
September
Tues., 19: 10 a.m. training at Obetz
Wed., 20: 10 a.m. training at Obetz
Thurs., 21: 10 a.m. training at Obetz
Fri., 22: 10 a.m. training at Obetz
Sat., 23: Crew vs. Houston - 7:30 p.m. at Crew Stadium
SATURDAY'S GAME FEATURES A $10,000 KICK AND ZOO WITH THE CREW
Don't miss your chance to win $10,000 during the Crew halftime. One fan will get a chance to make a goal for $10,000 courtesy of adidas and US Youth Soccer. Kicker will be chosen on The Crew Kicker Plaza.
Saturday is also Zoo with the Crew night. Learn about and see real animals from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.
SEPT. 30 GAME WILL FEATURE "SHIRTS OFF THE PLAYER'S BACKS" AND CREW TEAM POSTERS
Lucky Crew fans will receive the shirts off the player's backs following the last home game of the regular season. The first 5,000 through the gates will receive a Team Poster presented by the American Dairy Association.
BID TO WIN SIGNED PLAYER POSTERS
The Columbus Crew is auctioning off all Autographed Player Posters from Autograph Alley this year. The auctions are on TheCrew.com and will last through the month of September, with all proceeds benefiting the Crew Soccer Foundation.
CREW RECOGNIZED AT SEPT. 11 COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL MEETING
Columbus City Council Member Patsy Thomas, Chair of the Public Utilities Committee, introduced a Resolution of Expression at last Monday's (Sept. 11) council meeting recognizing and expressing appreciation to the Crew organization for its support of and involvement with the City of Columbus' Keep Columbus Beautiful program. General Manager Mark McCullers, Director of Community Relations Dave Stephany and defender Jed Zayner were on hand to accept the resolution, accompanied by Sherri Palmer and Jim Robinson of KCB.
The Crew's community partnership with Keep Columbus Beautiful has included neighborhood cleanups involving the entire team and the Crew Soccer Foundation rewarding young people who participate in any KCB cleanup, or otherwise volunteer their time or talents to support its efforts, with a complimentary Crew ticket through its Kicks for Kids program. Keep Columbus Beautiful is a City of Columbus community-improvement program that is a unique arm of the Refuse Collection Division of the Columbus Department of Public Service. The award-winning program's mission is to promote and coordinate litter cleanups, graffiti prevention and removal, recycling, and beautification projects.
TITAN AUTO INSURANCE COPA VICTORIA TOURNAMENT MOVES TO SEMIFINALS
C-D- Aguila, C.D. Metapan, Real Sociedad and Tapatio advanced to the semifinals of the Titan Auto Insurance Copa Victoria, the Crew's annual adult Hispanic soccer tournament, on Saturday, Sept. 16. Both semifinal matches will kick off at 2:30 p.m. this Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Crew Training Center at Obetz (4153 Alum Creek Drive). The winners of those matches will meet in the final on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Crew Stadium, prior to the Crew's regular-season home finale.
The 24-team, single-elimination tournament, which is also supported by Roush Honda, Budweiser and adidas, kicked off on Saturday, July 29, and it is representative of the Columbus Crew's longstanding relationship with the Hispanic community in Central Ohio. In addition to coordinating the popular tournament, each year the Crew organizes Fubolito, the official 4v4 tournament of Major League Soccer, as well as Budweiser Hispanic Heritage Night. The Crew and Spanish radio broadcast partner, WXOL RadioSol, also air each home match in Spanish.
CREW RESERVES FALL TO NEW YORK RESERVES 2-1 ON SATURDAY IN NEW YORK, FACE FC DALLAS RESERVES ON OCT. 1 AT HOME
Two Red Bull rookies scored as the New York Reserves topped the Columbus Reserves at Giants Stadium on Saturday. Blake Camp scored the game winner in the 89th minute.
The game started out slow for the Red Bulls as they found themselves down 1-0 in the 10th minute after Ned Grabavoy converted a penalty kick for the Crew. Peter Canero was called for taking down Columbus's Knox Cameron in the box.
The Red Bulls tied the game when first year midfielder Joe Vide headed home a rebound of an Amado Guevara shot. Columbus goalkeeper Andy Greunebaum made a spectacular diving save on the initial shot and appeared to have made another great save on Joe Vide, but the referee signaled that the ball crossed the line, evening the score at 1-1 before halftime.
The second half became a wide open game with both teams having good scoring chances. Michael Behonick kept the Red Bulls level making two great saves off point blank Grabavoy shots. The Red Bulls broke through in the 89th minute when Reserve Call Up Hugo Lourenco collected a ball on the right sideline, after beating two defenders he slipped a ball to Peter Canero who took one touch and crossed the ball to the back post where Blake Camp slotted home the game-winner.
The Crew Reserves fell to 2-8-0 and play next on Sunday, Oct. 1, vs. the FC Dallas Reserves at Obetz.
