COLUMBUS CREW vs D.C. UNITED
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
July 4, 2009 (WEEK 16) / MLS Game #112
7 p.m. ET (ESPN2/Deportes)
Bitter rivals from the inception of Major League Soccer, the Columbus Crew and D.C. United again renew acquaintances on ESPN Primetime. When the teams last met, a late Columbus goal completed their Supporters' Shield-winning campaign - while knocking United out of the MLS Cup Playoffs. This year, the teams are separated by just a point at the top of the Eastern Conference, the defending MLS champion Crew with just one loss in their last 11 games, United with two losses in their last 12.
REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo. SAR (bench): Chris Strickland; JAR (opposite): Bill Dittmar; 4th: Mikael Lundqvist MLS Career: 76 games; FC/gm: 26.5; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 29; pens: 32
INJURY REPORT: COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: MF Adam Moffat (L hamstring strain) ... D.C. UNITED - OUT: FW Jaime Moreno (hamstring strain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Luciano Emilio (bone bruise); PROBABLE: MF Fred (adductor strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: CLB: Chad Marshall, Robbie Rogers (USA; CONCACAF Gold Cup) ... DC: Dejan Jakovic (CAN; CONCACAF Gold Cup); Santino Quaranta (USA; CONCACAF Gold Cup)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: CLB: Guillermo Barros Schelotto ... DC: Dejan Jakovic, Rodney Wallace
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: CLB: Emmanuel Ekpo, Danny O'Rourke ... DC: Christian Gomez, Clyde Simms
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (45 meetings): Crew 17 wins (0 shootout), 66 goals ... United 21 wins (5 shootout), 70 goals ... Ties 7
AT COLUMBUS (23 meetings): Crew 12 wins (0 shootout), 34 goals ... United 7 wins (2 shootout), 22 goals ... Ties 4
RETURN MATCH: 10/17: Columbus Crew at D.C. United, 8 p.m.
LAST YEAR (MLS):
4/17: DC 1, CLB 2 (Namoff 42 - Moreno 32, Peralta 43 og)
10/26: CLB 1, DC 0 (Evans 77)
• The Crew won both meetings a year ago - including a dramatic 1-0 victory in the season finale at Crew Stadium that left United outside of the MLS Cup Playoffs field, and put in the New York Red Bulls, the Crew's eventual opponent in MLS Cup 2008.
• The Crew have won three games in a row against United, and four of the last five meetings. They've won the season series the last two season after going three years without winning the season set, United taking it in 2005 and '06 after they split the four meetings in 2004.
• Columbus has won the last two meetings at RFK Stadium after going three seasons without a win on East Capitol Street.
• This is the second of two meetings between the long-time Eastern Conference rivals this season, the only one to be played at Crew Stadium. United had won four of the six meetings, with two ties, after a 3-2 Columbus overtime win Oct. 19, 2003.
• Last year was the first year since 2004 that United did not come away with one victory from their travels to the Ohio state capital.
• One of the more heated rivalries in the early years of MLS, the clubs met in the playoffs three of the first four seasons (with D.C. United winning all three). But they have not met in the postseason since 1999.
• Coaches record: Robert Warzycha vs. DC: P1 W0 L0 D1 ... Tom Soehn v CLB: P5 W1 L4 D0
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew returned to their winning ways in a rematch of MLS Cup 2008, defeating the New York Red Bulls 1-0 on Saturday evening at Crew Stadium. The Crew have 22 points from 15 matches and moved into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with Toronto FC, just a single point behind leaders D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• The MLS Cup Final rematch featured a pair of teams going in completely opposite directions. The Crew had seen their nine-game undefeated streak come to an end with a late draw in Dallas the week before; they hadn't lost at home in more than a year, in 18 games in all competitions at Crew Stadium. The Red Bulls were riding an eight-game winless streak, with losses in six, and hadn't won on the road in 21 regular season games.
• The game's lone goal came just before the halftime break. Guillermo Barros Schelotto swung in a corner from the right and Chad Marshall skied over a defender to powerfully head past Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven and goalkeeper Danny Cepero just inside the post, the second goal of the season for the Columbus center back.
• Crew head coach Robert Warzycha made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 to FC Dallas the week before. William Hesmer and Frankie Hejduk both returned from long-term injury absences as Andy Gruenebaum and Emmanuel Ekpo both went to the substitutes' bench, and Steven Lenhart started in attack in place of Alejandro Moreno.
• Here's Warzycha's team (4-4-1-1): William Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Eric Brunner, Chad Marshall, Gino Padula - Eddie Gaven (Emmanuel Ekpo 74), Danny O'Rourke, Brian Carroll, Robbie Rogers - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Steven Lenhart (Jason Garey 67). Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Burns, Andy Gruenebaum, Andy Iro, Alejandro Moreno, Jed Zayner
• "I think they came to Columbus to get a point. They played a 4-5-1 formation which was difficult for us to break their defensive line. We created a couple of chances especially with our set pieces," said Warzycha. "Basically in the end of the first half we got a goal which was huge for us. In the second half we created a few chances and I have to say in the end of the game I wasn't worried too much."
TEAM NEWS
• Warzycha made a couple of key changes to his team for the Red Bulls match. Emmanuel Ekpo did not start for the first time in the 2009 season, though he came on as a late substitute.
• "It was just to give him some rest," Warzycha said. "It was to the point that in the second half he was getting tired. If you see his games, when I was taking him off the field the first few games it was between 80 and 90 minutes. Then it was 70 to 80 and then it was 70 and 60. He was tired. It's the first time ever he's played so many in a row. He played 14 games. We thought it was best to give him a night off. If you're playing fatigued you're going to get injured."
• As well, Alejandro Moreno did not play a single minute after playing for Venezuela at midweek, in a friendly against Mexico in Atlanta. "We gave him the night off. We didn't have to use him (Saturday), which is good," Warzycha said.
• After playing in a central midfield role for eight matches, moving there for the May 2 vs. Toronto FC, Eddie Gaven moved back to the right flank with Danny O'Rourke and Brian Carroll filling the center of midfield.
• "I hadn't played out there for awhile but it felt good," said Gaven. "Toward the end of the game I was getting a little bit tired but Manu came on did a good job. It was nice to be able to hold on and get a win at home. ... The running is a little bit different out there. It's more straight up and down where in the middle it's side-to-side. I don't mind. I'm ready to go out and play wherever the team needs me."
• Right back Frankie Hejduk played for the first time in six games with just his fourth outing of the season, after being injured while on U.S. national team duty.
• "It's tough always getting back into the swing of things. You have to pace yourself, I'm still trying to get my fitness back and I think I'm about 90 percent. Defensively I felt solid, I tried to keep my ground and make it tough on them," he said.
• Goalkeeper William Hesmer made his first appearance in 10 games, since a 1-1 draw with Colorado on April 11, and posted the Crew's second shutout in four games. "(Hesmer) had two weeks of training. He was very sharp, especially last week. That's why he played," Warzycha said. "There's always competition. Andy didn't lose the job because he lost at Dallas. It's a healthy competition. Whoever is best is going to play."
• On Tuesday, the Crew were eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup by the USL-1 Rochester Rhinos, falling 5-3 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes. Colorado Rapids loanee Ty Harden (32) and Duncan Oughton (37) traded goals in the first half, then Oughton had his penalty saved while the Rhinos hit all five of theirs for the win.
• Here's Warzycha's team: Andy Gruenebaum, Jed Zayner, Eric Brunner, Andy Iro, Alex Grendi, Cory Elenio (Emmanuel Ekpo 86), Kevin Burns (Danny O'Rourke 90), Duncan Oughton, Stanley Nyazamba, Steven Lenhart (Alejandro Moreno 77), Jason Garey
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United return to action after a weekend off after finishing a two-game Western road swing with a 3-0 loss to the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. United have 23 points from 16 matches on the campaign, still leading the Eastern Conference, but now by just a single point ahead of Toronto FC and the Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• The Rapids were coming off a second bye week of the season with two wins and four draws in their last six games, while United had played a fiercely contested 3-3 draw at Seattle just three days earlier.
• It took the Rapids just 11 minutes to open the scoring. Pablo Mastroeni played a through ball up the middle of the park and Omar Cummings outraced a United defender into the area before collecting himself and coolly curling home a shot inside the right post.
• Then just before halftime, Cummings doubled the Colorado lead. Racing onto a poorly hit backpass, Cummings rounded goalkeeper Josh Wicks wide and drove the ball into the goal for his fifth goal on the season and third in the last two games.
• Cummings played provider four minutes after the restart. Racing down the left flank, he rounded the corner and laid the ball across the goal where Colin Clark tapped home first-time at the far post for his third goal on the season.
• With a second game in four days, United head coach Tom Soehn made four changes to the team that played to a 3-3 draw with Seattle Sounders FC the Wednesday before. In came Avery John, Greg Janicki, Ben Olsen and Christian Gomez, and out went Marc Burch, Andrew Jacobson, Fred and Luciano Emilio.
• Here's Soehn's team (4-3-1-2): Josh Wicks - Bryan Namoff, Greg Janicki (Thabiso Khumalo 46), Dejan Jakovic, Avery John - Ben Olsen (Ange N'Silu 64), Clyde Simms, Rodney Wallace (Devon McTavish 64) - Christian Gomez - Chris Pontius, Santino Quaranta. Substitutes Not Used: Brandon Barklage, Marc Burch, Andrew Jacobson, Milos Kocic
TEAM NEWS
• United had suffered just one loss in their last 10 games heading to Colorado, but left the Rocky Mountains with their heaviest defeat of the season.
• "I think I underestimated how much that last game (Wednesday at Seattle) took a toll on us. If I would have to do it again, I probably would have made wholesale changes and got some of the other guys out," Soehn said. "I just felt like we were tired tonight. We need a break right now. That's the point we're at. We need to get some guys rest, and we're going to use that time to get everybody where they need to be."
• It was the third time on the season United had allowed three goals - twice in back-to-back games after conceding five total in their previous five games.
• "The way we gave them goals were not the greatest ways," midfielder Ben Olsen said. "Seattle, they did a pretty good job of earning goals. Tonight, we gave (Colorado) goals. If teams are good enough to play and earn goals, fine. But we gave up too many goals on our own accord."
• Soehn also went with four in the back for the first time on the season, though he reverted to his preferred 3-5-2 scheme at halftime.
• "It was simple play of giving the ball away. Whether it's the formation or not it doesn't matter. I don't think we gave them a whole lot besides the two chances we gave them and it was our doing. If we get into the locker room 0-0 I think there's some momentum building. No formation is going to make up for the mistakes we made," he said.
• On Tuesday, United continued defense of their U.S. Open Cup title with a 2-0 victory against the PDL Ocean City Barons at the Maryland SoccerPlex. Christian Gomez finally calmed the home side's nerves by converting a 74th-minute penalty kick, then Ange N'Silu sealed the match with a stoppage time goal.
• "For them, it's a big game and they came out and competed hard. Defensively I knew they were going to tuck in, and they did, and looked for us to make a mistake, and we almost did in the first half," said Soehn. "At the end they gave it a push. So you credit them for competing."
• Here's Soehn's team: Milos Kocic; Devon McTavish, Greg Janicki, Marc Burch; Brandon Barklage, John DiRaimondo (Christian Gomez 68), Ben Olsen (Chris Pontius 46), Andrew Jacobson, Anthony Wallace (Clyde Simms 75); Boyzzz Khumalo, Ange N'Silu.
