COLUMBUS CREW v NEW YORK RED BULLS
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
7:30 p.m. ET (MSG)
July 19, 2006 (WEEK 17) / MLS Game #107
The day after Bruce Arena was named as head coach and sporting director for Red Bull New York, his new club travels to Columbus to take on the Crew, as both teams try to begin to pull themselves back into the four Eastern Conference playoff positions. The Red Bulls put an end to their five-game winless streak in their last match - the only victory for Richie Williams in his five matches as interim head coach. The Crew come in still mired in a eight-match winless run, after losing both ends of a home-and-home series with D.C. United over the past two weekends.
REFEREE: Ricardo Salazar. SAR (bench): Kermit Quisenberry; JAR (opposite): C.J. Morgante; 4th: Mikael Lundqvist
MLS Career: 47 games; FC/gm: 32.2; Y/gm: 3.7; R: 11; pens: 18
MLS 2006: 5 games; FC/gm: 33.0 (avg: 28.8); Y/gm: 2.6 (avg: 3.44); R: 0 (MLS: 12); pens: 1 (MLS: 20)
Games involving Crew: P13 W7 L3 T3; FC/gm: 31.7; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 2; pens: 7
Games involving Red Bulls: P11 W4 L6 T1; FC/gm: 30.6; Y/gm: 3.2; R: 2; pens: 4
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: GK Jonny Walker (lower back), DF Jed Zayner (L knee ACL); DF Frankie Hejduk (R knee ACL); GK Jon Busch (R knee ACL); DF Rusty Pierce (L hamstring strain); MF Ned Grabavoy (sport hernia); MF Ricardo Virtuoso (groin); DOUBTFUL: GK Andy Gruenebaum (R broken hand); MF Sebastian Rozental (R knee MCL sprain); MF Danny Szetela (L foot fracture); FW Joseph Ngwenya (R knee MCL sprain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Jason Garey (R hamstring strain) ... NEW YORK RED BULLS - OUT: GK Tony Meola (R foot/ankle bacterial infection); FW Youri Djorkaeff (personal reasons); QUESTIONABLE: MF Mark Lisi (lower abdominal strain)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CLB: Jose Retiz ... NY: Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CLB: Ritchie Kotschau, Brandon Moss, Joseph Ngwenya ... NY: Mike Magee, Danny O'Rourke
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (37 meetings): Crew 17 wins (0 shootout), 49 goals ... Red Bulls 16 wins (0 shootout), 52 goals ... 4 draws
AT COLUMBUS: (18 meetings): Crew 9 wins (0 shootout), 28 goals ... Red Bulls 8 wins (0 shootout), 30 goals ... 1 draws
This is the second of the four meetings between the clubs this season, the first of two at Crew Stadium. They next meet for the second time at the Ohio State Fairgrounds on Aug. 19, before concluding the season set in E. Rutherford on Sept. 16.
A year ago, the MetroStars won three of the four meetings between the two clubs, winning both at Giants Stadium and splitting the two at Crew Stadium.
Columbus last won in New Jersey on April 12, 2003, a span of six games (though three have been played to draws). The Crew haven't won the season series since 2001, when they won both meetings played that season (two were canceled). But they split the series in 2002 and 2004.
Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. NY: P15 W5 L7 D3 ... Richie Williams v CLB: P1 W0 L0 D1
2005 (MLS)
6/28: NY 0, CLB 0
In their first meeting this season, Richie Williams saw a familiar result in his first game in charge of the New York Red Bulls, as his team and the Crew played to a scoreless draw at Giants Stadium. Williams was making his debut as interim head coach for the Red Bulls after Mo Johnston was dismissed the day before.
While the Red Bulls created more chances than they had in any game during the season, it was the Crew who came closest to breaking the deadlock, Joseph Ngwenya's skimming angled shot in the 64th minute beating Red Bulls 'keeper Tony Meola but hitting the base of the left-hand post.
In the end, the Red Bulls played to their then MLS-leading eighth draw while the Columbus Crew drew for a third consecutive game. The league record for draws in a season is 13, set in 2004 by Columbus.
Here's Williams' team (3-4-1-2): Tony Meola - Jeff Parke, Carlos Mendes, Steve Jolley - Chris Henderson (Mike Magee 71), Amado Guevara, Danny O'Rourke, Seth Stammler - Youri Djorkaeff - Jean Philippe Peguero, Edson Buddle (Marvell Wynne 85). [Substitutes Not Used: Blake Camp, Jordan Cila, Jon Conway, Taylor Graham, Joe Vide]
Here's Schmid's team (3-4-1-2): Noah Palmer - Marcos Gonzalez, Ritchie Kotschau, Chad Marshall - Ezra Hendrickson, Brandon Moss, Jose Retiz, Tim Ward (Chris Leitch 76) - Eddie Gaven - Knox Cameron (Sebastian Rozental 70), Joseph Ngwenya (Ricardo Virtuoso 89). [Substitutes Not Used: Leonard Bisaku, Dominik Jakubek, Kei Kamara, Eric Vasquez]
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew lost for the second time in eight days to D.C. United, seeing their winless run extended to eight games with a 3-2 loss to the MLS overall leader on Saturday evening at RFK Stadium. The Crew are still in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 18 points from 18 matches, one ahead of the New York Red Bulls and two behind the third-place tie between the Kansas City Wizards and Chicago Fire.
United and the Crew were meeting for the fourth time this season and the second in successive weekends, with the Black-and-Red having won the last two after playing to a draw in their first encounter this season.
And for the first 45 minutes, it seemed certain that trend wouldn't change. In a dominant opening half, United took the lead in the 16th minute when Ben Olsen was freed on a break and hit a low shot that Crew 'keeper Noah Palmer was unable to hold, Christian Gomez gliding in to bang home the rebound for the seventh goal of his campaign.
But in the first minute of stoppage time, the Crew pulled level. A long shot from Leonard Bisaku took a pair of deflections and fell into the path of Kei Kamara, who hammered a wicked swerving blast inside the near post to pull the visitors level at the break.
United re-took control of the game with two goals inside the first 19 minutes of the second half. Brian Carroll ran onto a deflecting shot and found the back of the net with an absolute ripper from outside the area (50), then Olsen collected his second goal of the season in the 64th minute. He nabbed a loose ball in the Crew area, and cutting away from goal, cleverly pulled a rolling shot back inside the far post that eluded the entire Columbus defense.
The Crew pulled back within one 18 minutes from the end on another long-range blast, this from Eric Vasquez from the top of the restraining arc. The Crew caused some tense moments for United over the final stretch, but the home side still survived to extend their winning run.
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made two changes to the team that lost 1-0 to United the Saturday before in Columbus. Chris Leitch came into the back three in place of the suspended Marcos Gonzalez, and Kei Kamara came into attack, replacing the injured Joseph Ngwenya.
Here's Schmid's team: (3-4-1-2): Noah Palmer - Ritchie Kotschau, Chad Marshall, Chris Leitch - Ezra Hendrickson, Leonard Bisaku (Eric Vasquez 62), Jose Retiz (Brandon Moss 68), Tim Ward (Marc Burch 67) - Eddie Gaven - Kei Kamara, Jacob Thomas. [Substitutes Not Used: Ivan Becerra, Knox Cameron, Bill Gaudette]
"We just gave up too much space in the first half. We wanted to play a little bit deeper and look for opportunities to counter, but you still have to get tight to people," Schmid said. "Once they got into the middle third of the field, we didn't get tight to people, so as a result they had too much space to play, and they were able to open the game up in the first half."
TEAM NEWS
Now eight games without a victory, and just one since mid-May, the Crew are battling through a tough streak when they are trying to pull back into a playoff spot.
"The first two goals that we took in the game today were both situations where we're looking for a foul, and I'm sorry, right now, we're the Columbus Crew, and we're not going to get the foul. Like on the second goal, if that's a challenge between [Jaime] Moreno and Leo [Bisaku], and it's Leo who knocks Moreno down, they get the whistle, and they get the foul," Schmid said.
"It's just because they get more respect. It's just like Shaq O'Neal in the NBA is going to get a foul, and that rookie center's not going to get it. I told my team you have to understand that, you have to accept it and you have to stop looking for the foul. And that cost us the first two goals. At some point we have to earn the respect. The only way we win respect around the league is we have to win games, we have to play better."
While the Crew are finished with United in league play, they still have one more meeting this season - the fourth round of the U.S. Open Cup, on Aug. 1 in Germantown, Md.
"For sure right now D.C.'s a better team than we are. That's basically the whole truth of it. We'd like to be the team D.C. is one day, but we're not that team right now," Schmid said. "They've also had a group together for the last three years, and that group understands each other, plays together. When you look at their starting lineup that they put out there, that's a group that in a majority has been together for three years, for at least two for almost everybody and three for like 90 percent of them. So, we have to get to that stage, but we have to also come at it from a standpoint that we need to earn everything everyday.
Eric Vasquez made just his fourth appearance of the season - and like his other two career goals, scored with a wicked blast from outside the area. He appeared in two of the first five games of the season, then went nearly two months without seeing first-team action.
"Vasquez is playing right now because he's changed his attitude in training," said Schmid. "How he's performed in the last month in training has been much better, and that's what's pushing him into the 18, and that's what's gotten him minutes on the field. And that's why he'll continue getting minutes on the field, as long as he continues to perform."
NEW YORK RED BULLS
The New York Red Bulls put an end to their five-game winless streak with their third win on the season, Richie Williams getting his first victory as head coach in a 1-0 win against the Colorado Rapids on Friday afternoon at Giants Stadium. The Red Bulls are still in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, but now with 17 points from 17 matches, they are just a point behind fifth-place Columbus Crew and three adrift of the Chicago Fire and Kansas City Wizards for the final playoff place in the division.
Stadium conflicts led to a rare Friday afternoon contest, played under a blazing sun on the new FieldTurf surface. The Red Bulls hadn't won since June 17, while the Rapids came in riding a winning streak for the first time this season.
The game's only goal came in the 35th minute, from the penalty spot. Chris Henderson burst into the area on the right and was clattered into by defenders Eric Denton and Dan Gargan, referee Jair Marrufo immediately pointing to the spot. Amado Guevara finished off the spot kick for his second goal of the season, first since April 15.
Red Bulls interim head coach Richie Williams made one change to the team that lost 2-1 to FC Dallas the week before. With Tony Meola out with an infection in his right leg, Jon Conway came in between the posts for the third time this season.
Here's Williams' team (4-3-1-2): Jon Conway - Marvell Wynne, Carlos Mendes, Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler - Mike Magee, Danny O'Rourke, Chris Henderson (Joe Vide 84) - Amado Guevara - Edson Buddle (Jerrod Laventure 69), Jean Philippe Peguero. [Substitutes Not Used: Josmer Altidore, Michael Behonick, Peter Canero, Taylor Graham, Steve Jolley]
TEAM NEWS
It was a fourth consecutive game with Guevara as the hub of the Red Bulls attack, and then against the Rapids, he wore the captain's armband with Meola out. The result was an end to the winless run, with the game's only goal coming from Guevara.
"He does seem more comfortable, a little happier...I just thought he needed to raise his level of play, he needed to perform better, he needed to lead the team this afternoon," Williams said. "We made him the captain, he played well, he went out there and did the job he needed to do."
"I was more focused today," said Guevara. "I didn't just control the midfield by myself, it was all four of us together. Danny [O'Rourke], Mike [Magee] and Chris [Henderson] helped me a lot to get the ball in the midfield."
For Conway, his third start of the season was his first shutout. It was just the second clean sheet for the Red Bulls in the last 12 games.
"[The defense] did a great job in front of me," Conway said. "They performed outstanding. I just picked up a few loose balls, a couple crosses and maybe one real shot, but other than that, my job was easy and it was great."
"I'll tip my hat off to the defense and the midfield," Williams said. "They did well and they were solid in the back. We had made a couple of mistakes in the last three or four games that led directly to goals and I think today, they were focused, they were concentrating for 90 minutes and we need them to continue to do that.
Guevara's penalty kick conversion was the first goal from the spot for the Red Bulls this season. Last year he scored four goals from the penalty spot.
"I think our team goes around him," Henderson said of Guevara. "When he's on, we play off him and we have to give him the ball and I think if we continue this way we're going to have some more success."
On Tuesday, Red Bull New York announced Bruce Arena will take over as the club's new head coach and sporting director. Arena just finished an eight-year run as U.S. national team coach, leading the USA to two World Cups and a quarterfinal finish at Korea/Japan 2002. In three seasons with D.C. United (1996-98), he guided the club to a 61-35 regular season record and two MLS Cups, along with a CONCACAF Champions Cup and Interamerican Cup, a U.S. Open Cup and an MLS Supporters' Shield. Arena will officially take over as head coach on Aug. 12 for the Red Bulls friendly against FC Barcelona; Williams will be "acting head coach" until then.
