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COLUMBUS CREW v NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
COLUMBUS CREW STADIUM, Columbus, Ohio
7:30 p.m. ET (FSN-NE)
June 21, 2006 (WEEK 13) / MLS Game #74
The regular season Eastern Conference winners the last two seasons, the Columbus Crew and New England Revolution meet in a midweek encounter looking just for victories. The Crew have lost two games in a row - both by shutout - and have taken the full three points just once over the last month. The Revolution also haven't won since May 13 - a stretch of five games - though last-gasp draws in their last two games certainly feel almost like victories.
REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. SAR (bench): George Gansner; JAR (opposite): Joe Ellis; 4th: Hilario Grajeda
MLS Career: 40 games; FC/gm: 30.0; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 10; pens: 20
MLS 2006: 3 games; FC/gm: 20.3 (avg: 29.7); Y/gm: 2.0 (avg: 3.79); R: 0 (MLS: 9); pens: 1 (MLS: 17)
Games involving Crew: P9 W1 L6 T2; FC/gm: 27.3; Y/gm: 4.0; R: 3; pens: 6
Games involving Revolution: P6 W1 L2 T3; FC/gm: 26.3; Y/gm: 1.5; R: 1; pens: 3
INJURY REPORT: NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION - OUT: DF Marshall Leonard (L Achilles tendon repair); DF James Riley (R ankle peroneal strain); MF Leandro De Oliveira (R knee sprain); DF Joe Franchino (R ankle sprain); DOUBTFUL: MF Khano Smith (L knee surgery); QUESTIONABLE: MF Daniel Hernandez (L ankle sprain); FW Pat Noonan (lower back); PROBABLE: MF Ryan Latham (abdominal strain); GK Doug Warren (R knee sprain) ... COLUMBUS CREW - OUT: GK Jonny Walker (lower back), DF Jed Zayner (L knee ACL); GK Bill Gaudette (R broken hand); MF Danny Szetela (L foot fracture); DF Frankie Hejduk (R knee ACL); GK Andy Gruenebaum (R broken hand); GK Jon Busch (R knee ACL); MF Jacob Thomas (R oblique strain); PROBABLE: DF Ezra Hendrickson (L wrist sprain); DF Marcos Gonzalez (L groin strain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: NE: Clint Dempsey (USA; 2006 World Cup); Avery John (Trinidad & Tobago; 2006 World Cup)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS: NE: Sharlie Joseph (suspended next yellow card)
LEAGUE HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (38 meetings): Crew 20 wins (4 shootout), 58 goals ... Revolution 12 wins (1 shootout), 49 goals ... 6 draws
AT COLUMBUS: (19 meetings): Crew 11 wins (1 shootout), 37 goals ... Revolution 4 wins (1 shootout), 22 goals ... 4 draws
This is the first of four meetings between the Eastern Conference clubs this season, the first of two in the Ohio capital. They won't meet again until Aug. 26, in Foxborough, when they meet three times over the final eight weeks of the campaign, with a Sept. 2 game in Columbus, then in the season finale at New England on Oct. 14.2006 (MLS)
4/9: NE 3, CLB 0 (Dempsey 64; Noonan 82; Dorman 85)
6/22: CLB 1, NE 3 (Buddle 4 - Noonan 24, 68; Dempsey 45)
9/10: NE 3, CLB 1 (Twellman 6, 39, 63 - Hejduk 86)
9/21: CLB 1, NE 1 (Cameron 66 - Twellman 90)
A year ago, the Revolution won three of the four meetings between the teams, with the fourth and final encounter a draw. Columbus last won in the series on June 6, 2004, a span of six matches (three NE wins, three draws).
The teams also met in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals in 2004, the Revolution advancing 2-1 on aggregate as Matt Reis saved two penalty kicks in the second leg in Columbus.
Coaches record: Sigi Schmid vs. NE: P13 W6 L5 D2 ... Steve Nicol v CLB: P15 W6 L4 D5
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew fell for the third time in four games, dropping a comprehensive 2-0 decision to Chivas USA on Sunday evening at The Home Depot Center. The Crew are still in third place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points from 11 matches, a point ahead of the fourth-place tie between New York and New England and three behind the Kansas City Wizards.
LAST MATCH
Chivas USA saw their club record three-game winning streak put to an end the weekend before in a loss at FC Dallas, but had still had already matched their win total from their inaugural season, while the Crew had just one win in their last four games.
Ante Razov put Chivas into the lead after just five minutes, rising up above defender Ritchie Kotschau to head home Francisco Palencia's cross from the left touchline to create history, becoming the first player in MLS history to score at 10 goals in six different seasons.
Chivas dominated the proceedings, allowing the Crew just a single shot on goal, that coming midway through the first half. Then five minutes from the end the home side put the game away, Juan Pablo Garcia waltzing through the Columbus defense before shooting from just inside the penalty area and beating Noah Palmer inside his left-hand post.
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made four changes to the team that lost 1-0 to the Kansas City Wizards the weekend before at Arrowhead Stadium. Ezra Hendrickson and Rusty Pierce came into the back four for Marcos Gonzalez and Chris Leitch, Leonard Bisaku came into the midfield for Ned Grabavoy for his first MLS start, and Knox Cameron made his first start of the season, coming in for Jason Garey.
Here's Schmid's team (4-4-2): Noah Palmer - Ezra Hendrickson, Chad Marshall, Ritchie Kotschau, Rusty Pierce - Jacob Thomas (Jason Garey 13), Leonard Bisaku (Tim Ward 76), Jose Retiz, Eddie Gaven - Knox Cameron (Ned Grabavoy 65), Joseph Ngwenya. [Substitutes Not Used: Marcos Gonzalez, Dominik Jakubek, Chris Leitch, Sebastian Rozental]
"They scored a good early goal and they had chances. We were lucky at halftime to get off the field 1-0," Schmid said. "Probably been little bit better in the second half - you know when we got at their defense we could create some chances. I thought we had a PK but it's a referee's decision. But overall we can't really complain."TEAM NEWS
Schmid gave a third consecutive start to Noah Palmer in the Crew goal. The second-year player, acquired from Real Salt Lake when the Crew first had their goalkeeping injury crisis hit, made his MLS debut in his first start, a win against FC Dallas.
"He's basically the fifth goalkeeper we've had this year, so that's been a big issue in just getting trying to get the confidence of the defense and getting to know each other and everything else," Schmid said. "That's been just the challenge, but overall he did OK. I thought he should have come for the cross on the first goal because that ball was up in the air for an hour and he has to catch that. But overall he's done all right.
But Schmid's injury woes continued when he was forced to remove Jacob Thomas after just 13 minutes when he suffered a pulled muscle.
"It seems like with our luck this season every game we end up losing a player or two. We've been able to fight through most of those things most of the season so far, but now it's catching up with us," Schmid said. "Tonight we expected a very important role from him and for him to do well. One of the things we talked about, as a coaching staff, is that when we play really well offensively he's been really good in those games. So losing him that early changed the way we were going to play."
The change meant putting Jason Garey in a wide midfield role, though he and Joseph Ngwenya and Eddie Gaven rotated behind Knox Cameron as a spearhead.
"We just struggled holding onto the ball. I mean it's tough for the midfield to do much when the forwards can't hold the ball up for you," Schmid said. "I thought Knox Cameron did a decent enough job with that, but his fitness is not there for 90 minutes. Jason Garey right now has hit the wall and is just struggling, so when your forwards don't hold the ball it's tough for your midfield to get into play."
Schmid said the club's injury battles are easing. "Actually right now we are about as healthy as we've been but the problem is with all the injuries we've had is that we got guys that aren't quite 90 minutes there," he said. "So we got to make evaluations because we can't start all those injured guys because you can only sub three. You can start maybe one or two and then you got to make a change."NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution saw their winless streak extended to five games, but still came back with a late goal to claim a result, gaining a 1-1 draw with D.C. United at Gillette Stadium on Saturday evening. The Revolution are now in a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference with the New York Red Bulls with 13 points from 11 matches, one behind the Columbus Crew and 11 points in arrears of East leader D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
United hadn't lost since May 6, but saw a three-game winning streak put to an end in Los Angeles on an 88th-minute leveller. For the home-standing Revolution, their last win came May 13.
Jaime Moreno gave United the lead just before the halftime interval with a powerful strike. He took a simple square pass and let fly from nearly 25 yards, the ball flashing past Matt Reis for his eighth goal on the campaign.
But four minutes from the end, the Revolution pulled level through some good fortune. A free kick was served into the mixer where it bounced off a couple of legs, last United defender Bobby Boswell. With his back to goal, Andy Dorman hooked the ball home to give New England a third draw in four games.
Revolution boss Steve Nicol made one change to the team that came back to claim a dramatic 3-3 draw with the Chicago Fire through two stoppage-time goals the Sunday before in Bridgeview. Kyle Brown was given his first MLS start as Joe Franchino was unable to go, which also meant a reshuffling of the lines for Nicol.
Here's Nicol's team (3-4-1-2): Matt Reis - Jay Heaps, Michael Parkhurst, Tony Lochhead - Andy Dorman, Jeff Larentowicz, Shalrie Joseph, Steve Ralston - Jose Cancela - Taylor Twellman, Kyle Brown (Danny Wynn 89). [Substitutes Not Used: Jani Galik, Pat Haggerty, Willie Sims, T.J. Tomasso, Adam Williamson]
"They keep the ball well, and obviously when they go ahead it makes it real tough for us. The spirit we've got is incredible - we see (our players) pushing and pushing, and D.C. gets some chances before we got ours, purely because we're trying to get ourselves in the game," said Nicol. "We're kind of doing ourselves in at present. We're getting chances and not taking them, and that usually ends up biting you in the backside. Has done again, a wee bit today, but we fought back and got a point."
TEAM NEWS
With the lengthy list of players on the club's injury list, Nicol put two developmental players (Tony Lochhead and Kyle Brown) into the starting lineup, with the entirety of his options off the substitutes' bench also developmental.
"We got a point. I have no complaints. The effort from the players is phenomenal. We have an 18-man roster here, with nine of them injured for today's game. Then we got two developmental players in the starting 11 and another six sitting on the bench. The effort from all those guys and the guys on the roster who have played consistently, the effort is phenomenal."
For Brown, it was his first MLS start. He had a glorious chance in the first half, but shot over the bar from close range. "I thought I worked hard, which was my main goal going out there today. Go out and work hard, and hopefully something good would happen. I don't know, I should have hit a couple of them," he said.
After a couple of matches in a center midfield role, Dorman moved to a wide role on the right, with Jeff Larentowicz and Shalrie Joseph in twin holding roles behind Jose Cancela.
"The job of an attacking midfielder is to get on the end of the balls that Taylor and Kyle were winning," Dorman said. "On the right, you don't get yourself involved as much and I did have to keep stopping myself drifting inside. Those guys in the middle did a great job, which meant that I was able to play higher up the field."
The comeback against United started a run of seven matches over three weeks for the Revolution, with the hope the squad can see some additions back from the training table before long.
"We're a confident team. We have a great spirit and we'll need it in the next few weeks," Dorman said. "Hopefully we can get a couple of players back. At least we didn't lose anyone tonight. We might be able to field the same team in our next game, which we haven't done too much this year."
