COLUMBUS, Ohio – In retrospect, Columbus Crew SC's 3-0 loss to FC Dallas on Sunday night slipped out of the home side's hands in the 27th minute, when only the first of the night’s three goals had been scored.
While Crew SC endeavored to play their usual attacking style, Dallas made it clear that they would take a disciplined, counterattacking approach. And after pushing the action for the first portion of the game, a missed penalty kick by Federico Higuain and a Dallas goal from a corner kick changed everything.
“We had the right mentality, we were doing things right, we had them under pressure, we were playing the game in their half of the field,” defender Michael Parkhurst said. “We were unfortunate not to take the lead with the penalty. I think if we’re able to make that, we go on to win the game.
“But when we don’t win that, we have to make sure we keep the zero at the back. In a game like this with a team playing the way they were playing, it’s imperative that we get the first goal.”
But they didn’t get the first goal, and they would fail to find any goals at all, thanks to a stingy Dallas defense that Crew SC head coach Gregg Berhalter credited after the match.
“Soccer is a game of moments, and that’s what defined this game,” he said. “There was a missed penalty, there was a corner kick, and as soon as we had the momentum for a chance, it turned the other way and they get a goal. Give them a lot of credit. That was the best defensive performance we’ve seen all year, it really was. And we didn’t have the answers for it.”
In a visibly frustrated Columbus locker room, Ethan Finlay said he thought the club’s response to a defensive approach from Dallas, which included a move to five defenders in the second half, should have been better.
“They were happy with 1-0, and I think they were shocked to be up 3-0,” he said.
Asked if he credited a poor offensive night from Crew SC or the defensive performance from Dallas, Finlay rolled his eyes.
“If five in the back is good defense, then five in the back is good defense, I guess,” he said.
Berhalter said it simply “wasn’t our day,” but Parkhurst seemed more worried about the fact that teams continue to beat Columbus by adopting a defend-and-counter approach.
“We know that the way we play, we’re able to do to teams what we want sometimes,” Parkhurst said. “But at the same time, we need to get better when teams are going to pack it in. This isn’t going to be the last team this year that packs it in against us and plays on the counterattack; we might even see it next week.
“It’s something we have to work on and break down.”
And though the club was missing regular starters Kei Kamara, Justin Meram, Harrison Afful and Waylon Francis, no one was blaming the absences for the loss.
“We could have won that game with the guys we had on the field,” Finlay said, “easily.”
