Real Salt Lake hoped to make Columbus the start of their comeback plans in an effort to salvage their 2007 season. But the Crew had other thoughts, netting two goals in close succession late in the second half to claim a 2-0 victory.
After a scoreless first half that saw very few decent opportunities for RSL, the team knew it had to come out in the second and turn up the heat to get the result it wanted.
But Real were unable to do so. The breaking point for RSL came in the 75th minute when former Crew defender Ritchie Kotschau was whistled for bringing down Columbus striker Andy Herron in the penalty area, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto knocked home the penalty kick for the lead.
"It seems like every game we play it's always the second half -- we play the first half good and somehow we seem to give up a goal or a penalty," said RSL 'keeper Nick Rimando. "It seems like the story of our year so far."
Rimando was forced to handle the ball much more than Crew 'keeper Will Hesmer on the night, and was a big reason that his team held on to a scoreless tie as long as they did.
"They were in our half [of the field] most of the first half and in the second it seemed like they never got out of it," said Rimando of the flow of the game. "They kept on pressing us and it was only a matter of time until they got a break or something happened."
Said RSL head coach Jason Kreis: "Nick [Rimando] is playing extremely well and I feel badly for him that we are not getting better results. He had a good game for us tonight, and he's had a lot of good games for us this year."
The Crew outshot RSL 10-2 in the first half, with Real unable to get a single shot on goal. RSL started to put more of an attack together over the first 20 minutes after the break, but the Crew once again started to pin Real into their own end before Herron won the decisive penalty call.
"I know for sure that I didn't get him," said Kotschau of the call. "Obviously we were in a situation where [the referee] was put under pressure to make the call, and he made the call."
The Crew might have been able to make the one-goal lead stand up for the remainder of the game but there was no need, as only four minutes later Columbus got the insurance goal from the foot of Eddie Gaven.
"The worst thing about it is that we let it get to us and we don't bounce back, and they got another goal right away, Rimando said. "Give credit to them, because they were all over us and we just couldn't bounce back."
In the final minutes of the game the frustration for RSL boiled over and Alecko Eskandarian was sent off for an exceptionally hard foul on Schelotto right in front of the Crew bench, nearly instigating a full-field brawl.
Kreis was not happy about the situation, but not necessarily surprised by it either.
"He's a fighter, and he's quite frankly fed up with all this, so I know that is going to happen," said Kreis.
RSL must now put behind them the first half of the season and take advantage of the time off for the All-Star break to try and right their sinking ship and salvage something from their season.
"I would be lying if I said that it wasn't anything but extremely difficult," said Kreis of the team's current state of affairs. "I want things to go right in the worst way. This is a process and the transition is going to take time."
Nathan Linton is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
