COLUMBUS, Ohio – With their second victory in a row at MAPFRE Stadium, Columbus Crew SC have their first winning streak of 2016.
Thanks to an 18th-minute whistle that gave Columbus a penalty kick and sent off Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric, Crew SC ground out a 1-0 victory in a match that included nearly 70 minutes of scoreless soccer after Kei Kamara’s PK goal.
Columbus dominated the ball after the red card, racking up 73.4 percent of possession for the game, a club record and the seventh-highest MLS possession rate since the league started keeping track in 2011.
And while they didn’t find a game-clinching second goal in all of that possession, Crew SC coach Gregg Berhalter said it was a job well done.
“In my eyes, I’m proud of the team because I think it was a really professional performance,” he said. “You have a tendency to get sloppy and maybe discouraged if you don’t get that second goal [when] up a man. But I think it was a very professional performance and we really didn’t give them anything. I think it was good. I was happy with it.”
Midfielder Wil Trapp agreed, praising his team’s mentality after the win.
“The professionalism of the performance, the relentless effort, I thought was really key in finishing out the game,” he said.
Dynamo coach Owen Coyle said based on the first 18 minutes of play, his team could have gone on to score multiple goals if they had kept 11 men on the field. Berhalter wasn’t so sure.
“I can’t tell. I have no idea,” he said when asked how the game would have played out without the red card. “I know how the game went on the field. That’s part of soccer.”
Berhalter said playing against the heavily-bunkered Dynamo team will be helpful for future matches.
“It’s a difficult game,” he said. When the other team is very defensive and has a clear game plan to limit you from scoring, it becomes challenging. I’m looking at this as a positive thing because I think the mindset of the guys and the performance of the guys to keep going and keep going and stay balanced … is something that’s going to help us down the season.”
The Crew SC boss said his team is “comfortable” and likes the position they’re now in after earning two wins to ease their early-season struggles.
Trapp said there was never any panic, insisting he and his teammates have bought into Berhalter’s narrow focus.
“For us, it’s one game at the time,” he said. “I know we say that all the time and it probably gets old for you guys. But approaching each match as if it’s our most important game is the way we want to go about it.”
