I’m in a fight with Columbus Crew SC.
Sure, Kei Kamara scored his 13th goal of the season, best in MLS. And yes, Ethan Finlay provided the assist, his league-leading 11th on the year.
But it should have been more! It should have been so much more.
Against a patchwork Chicago lineup, Crew SC had several amazing chances to find the net – especially in a lopsided first half where the Crew outshot their opponents 10-3 and bossed 61 percent of the possession. The field was practically tilted to one side in that first half, with Columbus agonizingly spurning chance after chance in front of the Chicago net.
Kamara notched seven shots in that half and eight shots for the game. Finlay had a few chances to score himself, including a couple of breakaway chances that were thwarted by Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Take nothing away from Johnson, who was excellent all night. But many fantasy owners, including myself, were waiting to see Columbus put an exclamation mark on this one. With the Fire failing to possess the ball or create meaningful chances, fantasy owners rued the lack of a killer instinct from visitors.
With a little more sharpness in front of goal, you’d be seeing a lot of really happy fantasy managers this morning, especially the 37.8 percent who have Kamara on their squads.
Round 20 Midweek Dream Team
On the other side of the ball, the Fire rebounded from the abysmal first half to stabilize the team and eventually challenge for an equalizer. However, at this point of the season there still aren’t any Fire players worth owning on the offensive side. Fantasy stalwart of yesteryear Harry Shipp leads the team in scoring, but only managed three points last night. David Accam shows flashes – he forced a fine save from Steve Clark last night – but hasn’t been a regular part of Frank Yallop’s lineup due to injuries and earned a silly -1 for a yellow card.
In terms of the Fire’s fantasy points, Johnson and budget defender Matt Polster led the way with five points each. Polster also provided some good options going forward, including this nice Pass Of The Week nominee, And finally, Jason Johnson might be watchlist-worthy after he came close to scoring his second stoppage-time goal in as many games. Perhaps he’ll get a start as these two teams run it back in Columbus on Sunday (5 pm ET, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes in the US, TSN2 in Canada).
If you’re Chicago, you’ve got to try something, right?
Were you happy with the results last night or did you want Crew SC to pour it on? Did you go in big on the DGW or keep your roster pretty steady? Let us know in the comments below.
