As they had at home in the first week of the season, the Columbus Crew battled to another scoreless draw, this time on the road Saturday night against Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
The Crew offense pressured the RSL goal early and were rewarded with a dangerous chance only six minutes in. Eddie Gaven earned a corner by trying to get around Carey Talley and forcing the RSL midfielder to play the ball over the endline.
On the resulting set-piece, Gaven found an open Marcos Gonzalez at the top of the goal area. Gonzalez drove his diving header toward the inside of the post, but it was cleared off the line by Mehdi Ballouchy.
Columbus played the long ball early and often through the first half, looking to try and get Garey behind the Salt Lake defense.
The Crew had a choice look at the goal in the 14th minute when Ned Grabavoy played a ball through the defense to Garey, who beat Real 'keeper Nick Rimando to the ball and found himself chasing the ball towards an empty net. But RSL's Eddie Pope sprinted back to clear the ball away after Garey's narrow-angle shot.
Then a rare mistake from MLS all-time leading scorer Jason Kreis at the center of the park provided Gaven with a golden opportunity and acres of open space between him and the goal. As he reached the penalty area Gaven laid a pass off to Garey who couldn't quite cut his shot back enough, pelting the side netting.
Gaven continued to to harass the RSL defense. In the 30th minute he pulled a quick move that put Talley out of the play just wide of the penalty area and caused the RSL midfielder to commit late and taken Gaven down. Talley was booked for the offense. The resulting free kick was sent over everyone and the contest remained scoreless.
When Salt Lake did make their way toward the Crew goal the Columbus defense was stubborn and stifled the attack. In the 35th minute a high ball came bouncing across the front of the goal. Chris Klein stepped up to pound a close-range volley, but at the last moment Rusty Pierce came flying in to clear the ball out of Klein's reach.
In the final minute of the first half Herron beat Jack Stewart on the left wing and sent a low cross into Gaven, who sent a weak shot right at Rimando.
The half closed with a breakaway from Cunningham, who was sent through by Kreis. But Gruenebaum was easily able to smother the low shot from Cunningham just before the halftime whistle sounded.
The home side pressured early in the second half. An RSL shot forced Gruenebaum to punch away a dangerous ball, but the deflection landed at the feet of Freddy Adu at the top of the box. Adu sent in a strike that Gruenebaum cradled into his chest.
Gruenebaum averted disaster in the 59th minute, stifling a chance from Cunningham. Adu pushed a clever ball through to the RSL striker, and with Ezra Hendrickson pressuring, Cunningham hit a shot that was directly into the chest of a rushing Gruenebaum.
A ray of hope nearly appeared in the 64th minute. Joseph Ngwenya was sent in behind the Salt Lake back line and his shot slipped through Rimando's hands, but because there were no other Crew attackers in the area Rimando was able to recover the ball.
Five minutes later, on the other end of the park, Gruenebaum collapsed onto a free kick from Jason Kreis that was skipped quickly toward goal through the wall from straight out. The Crew goalie initially bobbled the strike, but quickly pounced on the loose ball.
In the very next minute Gaven unleashed a rocket that was heading just inside the near post that was slapped away by a diving Rimando. The ball stayed in play and led to a scramble that resulted in a yellow card being given to RSL defender Danny Torres for catching Herron with his cleats.
The final 10 minutes saw both sides frantically trading offensive moves toward goal. As the pace through midfield was furious, few of the strikes at goal were on frame or posed any danger.
A close call came in stoppage time when a cross from Frankie Hejduk found Kei Kamara just inside the six-yard box. Kamara beat Rimando to the ball, but his leaping header went inches wide.
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
