The last time Columbus Crew SC played a midweek match between two weekend games, a heavy rotation helped the team grab a difficult point in Vancouver before an even more important draw with New England days later.
Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter tried a similar strategy Wednesday, starting rookie Sergio Campbell, defender Chad Barson and striker Aaron Schoenfeld for the first time this season, as well as resting Tony Tchani in favor of Kevan George. Golden Boot leader Kei Kamara started the game on the bench, coming on after the game was all but decided.
The move seemed to backfire, and Columbus were beaten soundly in a 3-0 drubbing at PPL Park at the hands of a Philadelphia Union team that Berhalter said "completely dominated" Crew SC.
"They were first to the ball, they took advantage of their goal chances that they had and defensively they got a shutout," he said. "So we were left without much to do. A lot of times, your performance depends on the opponent, and they were dominant. They started out the game and dictated the tempo, and they gave us a hard time."
But while Berhalter gave credit to the opponent, he admitted his team's performance wasn't good enough.
"Of course I'm not pleased," he said. "If I wanted to evaluate all 11 positions on the field, I'd say there aren't too many positions that we won. When you have that, it's going to be hard to win a game."
Schoenfeld – who had a golden chance for a goal turned away by Union goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre with the game still scoreless in the 27th minute – said an early goal could have changed Crew SC's fortunes on the night but cited parity in MLS for the result.
"I think it just wasn't our day today," he said. "We had a couple chances early, and if we take one of those it changes the game. They scored a goal and got some confidence behind them and started moving the ball around a lot better. Any given day in this league, any team can win."
The loss is the third match in a row where Columbus have dropped points against Eastern Conference opponents. Chicago and Orlando each scored late goals to draw Crew SC in their previous two games, and Wednesday's loss hurt even more.
"It's definitely not the result we wanted," defender Chad Barson said. "Three games in a short amount of time, all against Eastern Conference teams, so they're obviously very important games for us. It [was] an opportunity to get results and move up in the standings."
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Will Berhalter think twice next time about changing the squad so much in midweek games? He says he'll evaluate the process.
"We wanted to build a deep squad," he said. "We have a couple injuries now to key guys and have some guys not with the team who could potentially be starters, so that takes some depth out of the squad. But you want to give guys the opportunity when they're training well and they're working extremely hard.
"That's the message. We're not happy with the loss, losing 3-0. But it's good that we got to evaluate some players and we move forward and focus on Montreal."
Fortunately for Columbus, the Montreal match Saturday comes at home, where Schoenfeld says the team can rebound.
"We've got to re-find our identity," he said. "We have to find a winning mentality. This has been three games without a win, and at home we've been killers. So once we get back at MAPFRE Stadium and get our fans behind us, we've just got to regroup."
