As demolition derbies go, it wasn't bad. An ugly game produced an ugly win for the Columbus Crew, who defeated the San Jose Earthquakes, 2-1, on Wednesday night at Crew Stadium. For a team that has spent the spring collecting disproportionately more style points than standings points, it was a welcome reversal.
"Soccer is a funny sport," said Crew coach Robert Warzycha. "We played not the best game, but we won the game and got three points. That's what happens. We played better in previous games and only got one point."
But it was just what the doctor ordered. Rather, it's what the doctor would have ordered if he had a moment to spare between tending to the Crew wounded.
As always, here's a bunch of gibberish from my Notebook....
Bad Start
The Earthquakes were the last team to beat the Crew in Crew Stadium. That was way back on June 7, 2008, when San Jose rode the momentum of an early Ryan Johnson goal and shocked everyone in pulling off a 2-0 upset. In retrospect, it turned out to be the low point of the Crew's season. It was the deepest bulge in the trampoline, moments before it retracted and shot the Crew upward to the top of the standings and an MLS Cup title.
The 2009 Earthquakes entered the match having lost four in a row, and having conceded 7 goals in their last two matches. They seemed ripe for the picking. Maybe even a blowout. With a positive result, might this year's Quakes game serve as a similar turning point as last year's?
Well, San Jose once again jumped out to an early lead thanks to a Ryan Johnson goal. It was a case of déjà doodoo.
In the 2009 version, Eric Denton sent a long ball into the Crew's penalty area. San Jose's Quincy Amarikwa did a great job in sealing off Gino Padula as he chested the ball down for Johnson, who rode off a stumbling challenge from Eric Brunner and calmly finished to the left side of the net from close range. The Quakes led 1-0 in the 23rd minute.
"Ryan's done well," said Quakes coach Frank Yallop. "He's got five goals in ten games for us. He leads the line well. He's tough, aggressive, good in the air, and he's got quite a bit of speed. I wish all the players had his heart, because we'd be fine. They've got to look at him and see what he does every day, especially in games. He gives everything he's got."
His teammates might not wish to emulate his defiant tough-guy staredown of the Nordecke, though. It's rarely wise for a team on a major skid to get cocky on the road. It usually doesn't end well.
Equalizin' Eddie
Here's a quirk. Last year's Crew team made a habit of coming back to win after allowing the first goal, yet couldn't do it against lowly San Jose. This year's Crew team had yet to win a game when allowing the first goal, but on Wednesday, they wasted no time finding the on-ramp to victory lane.
Just six minutes after Johnson's goal, the Crew equalized at one on Eddie Gaven's 2nd goal of the year. After a Schelotto corner kick sailed across the box, left back Gino Padula floated a ball toward the right post. Eric Brunner got on the end of Padula's cross and headed the ball across the goalmouth. Gaven made the far post run to nod the ball home past San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
"It was just like the Colorado game where I curled my run, and luckily Eddie was unmarked," said Brunner. "Gino hit a frickin' money ball in. I thought about shooting it, but I looked across the goal and there was nobody there, and Cannon was still on his line. So I played it across and prayed that somebody would be coming. Eddie made the back post run, and that was a smart play to make that run."
"Brunner played me a perfect ball and I just headed it in," said Gaven. "It was a very easy play for me. I actually thought their goalie was going to punch my head off, to be honest, but luckily I got to the ball first."
Welcome to the Second Half
The Crew scored the winning goal just 28 seconds into the second half. Alejandro Moreno headed the ball to Emmanuel Ekpo in the right side of the box. The Nigerian then squared a ball to a streaking Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The reigning MVP knifed through the defense and scored on a sliding left-footed shot. It was his 6th goal of the season.
"Ekpo was sick and we were thinking about taking him off at halftime," said Warzycha. "But then we told him 'You score two goals and we'll take you off.'"
"I just felt sick," said Ekpo, who was subbed off in the 58th minute. "An assist was good enough."
Ekpo was not the only one who felt sick. Yallop was quite ill after seeing his players give up a goal inside half a minute.
"I haven't seen the goal on TV yet, but we had talked about being real tight at the start of the second half...and then here we go again," he said. "We concede a goal on nothing but our own mistakes again. It's killing us. We talked about it at halftime, but we can talk all we want. We said let's win this half. If it's nil-nil, great, we'll take that. If we come away with a tie, that's fine. They're a good team and it's a tough place to go. We talked about keeping our shape and not having any gaps against them. And then...I don't know how long it was, like 30 seconds, and it's a goal."
"That was awesome," said Brunner. "We said at halftime that we wanted to come out and take it to them, and we did a good job of that. We came out pumped and I think we caught them a little off guard."
Buck-A-Bruise Night
Wednesday's game seemed to be the most top-to-bottom physical match of the 2009 Crew season. That doesn't mean it was necessarily a dirty or dangerous game-the games at Chivas and vs. Chicago definitely had more dangerous and violent plays- but this was a bruising affair from the opening whistle. The Crew were only whistled for 9 fouls and received no yellows, while San Jose was only whistled for 14 fouls and received 3 yellows. There was a generous contact threshold.
"It's a physical game," said Yallop. "I think sometimes the referees ruin the game. You should be allowed to challenge for the ball. I think there is sometimes too many fouls called, to be honest, in the league. Maybe they should let play go a little bit more. It just gets the players tougher. We just go for the ball. We try hard. You should be able to do that, I think. If you go after the ball fairly, which I think most of our challenges are, then a good tackle is always good to watch."
What's even better to watch is free-flowing, attractive, entertaining soccer. But with a struggling team playing on the road, it is what it is.
"I got knocked around a little bit battling, but I expected it," said Brunner. "I've watched the video and have seen how their forwards are strong on the ball. I know from a team perspective that if things aren't going well, you have to try a little bit harder. And if trying harder means you get a little knick in there, or play 50/50 balls a little harder, then that's what they had to do tonight."
The Crew received a pair of early scares when Chad Marshall took a couple of knocks to the head. Then goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum suffered from a goalmouth collision with Ryan Johnson in the 20th minute. As Gruenebaum hit the deck to smother a low cross, Johnson slid right into his face.
"He got me in the face, shoulder, and quad, and somehow my quad took the worst of it," Gruenebaum said. "It was a weird deal. I'm not sure what happened. His intention was not to take off my face. It's just one of those plays that happens. It was a through ball from the side, I cut off the cross, and I knew it was coming. Even before it happened, I knew he was sliding in. His intentions weren't bad. I'm a big hockey fan, so I say you have to take it and get right back up."
One person who would not get right back up is Brian Carroll. His 67th minute entanglement with San Jose's Simon Elliott ended with Elliott falling on Carroll as his arm was in a strange position. Carroll left the game with dislocated shoulder, leaving the Crew without an invisibly indispensible player. Carroll puts the "key" in "low-key."
"BC does it all," said Gruenebaum. "He's quiet, but he has such a huge presence on the field."
"Brian asked me if we won the game and I said 'no'," Warzycha said, getting a big laugh in his press conference. "That's because we lost him. I would rather take the loss and have him for the next games."
Coaches don't often rationalize bargains to give back points, so that in and of itself reveals Carroll's worth to the Crew.
"He's a big piece of the puzzle," Warzycha said. "Brian has played every game for us. It's a tough loss, but we have some players that need to step up now and lay the role that he did."
The Debut of Kevin Burns
One player who may see some time as a result of Carroll's injury and the international absence of Duncan Oughton is Kevin Burns. A 2007 draft pick who missed all of 2008 due to injury, Burns made his years-in-the-making MLS debut when he subbed in for Carroll. He produced a solid 21 minutes of gritty work.
"It's definitely exciting," said Burns, who seemed rather calm in the afterglow for a guy who finally got his chance with the first team. "I didn't know if I would have this chance for a long time, so I've got to thank the coaches for having a little faith in me, but it's still (only) 20 minutes, so I'm definitely not there yet. I'm just playing, like everyone else.
"I came on and just tried to win a couple of headers and win a few tackles. When you have a 2-1 lead and you're playing the last few minutes, no matter what, I'm not going to be able to play pretty or anything like that. I just tried to complete whatever pass I got."
Warzycha liked what he saw. "He was in good position, he made some passes, and he broke some plays up, so I think he did well for his first game."
Holding On in the Rain
The Crew have squandered many a lead on a bad bounce or one broken play. When the rainclouds opened up in the second half as the Crew tried to close out the win, it was akin to placing banana peels in Wile E. Coyote's path.
Rain can be a multiplier of misfortune, as it increases the odds of broken plays or strange bounces. Wednesday's field was even more perilous because the area's long dry spell made for a strange surface.
"The field was weird because it was slick on top but hard underneath, so you couldn't wear studs," said Brunner. "We did a good job battling"
"Fluky things can happen in the rain, but the guys in front of me were solid," said Gruenebaum. "Since I've been in, I haven't had to make the spectacular save. There have been a few amazing shots, and there have been a few mistakes on my part, but those aren't on them. As far as those guys go, they have done an amazing job of containing what's going on in front of me."
"I think we learned out lesson," Brunner added. "When it was 85 minutes, I looked at all the defenders and we were going to lay our body on the line for this game. Chad did a great job, as did Jed and Gino. It was a good result for us, and I am excited."
Warzycha was satisfied with the team's ability to preserve the W. "The second half was a challenge for us, but the team was holding on and we did not give them many chances," he said. "We defended well and got the points. (San Jose) possessed the ball well in the second half, but it was 40 yards from our goal."
The Last Line of Defense
Wednesday's starting back line of Gino Padula, Chad Marshall, Eric Brunner, and Jed Zayner was literally the Crew's last line of defense. Due to injuries to Frankie Hejduk and Andy Iro, plus Danny O'Rourke's red card suspension, the Crew did not have a single defender on the bench. Warzycha had three midfielders and three forwards at his disposal.
"That was a concern," he said, "but we thought if we got an injury, we might switch to a 3-5-2."
The Crew also could have taken advantage of the versatility of rookie Alex Grendi and veteran Duncan Oughton, who plays right back for the New Zealand national team.
Gruenebaum revealed that the team's depth goes even further than that.
"(Midfielder) Stanley (Nyazamba) plays center back in our 11v11 scrimmages at practice," he said, before catching himself and realizing what he was saying. "He's definitely not a center back."
Crew-Galaxy Tiebreaker?
Many Crew people looked forward to the team's recent trip to Los Angeles to play the Galaxy. Not only does it seem like half the team has SoCal roots, but folks also got a chance to visit with Stefani Miglioranzi and his wife, Minta, who remain beloved members of the extended Crew family even though Stefani was traded back to the Galaxy this past offseason.
Wednesday night, I was told the following story. Or at least this is how I remembered it.
After the Crew-Galaxy game, which finished with a thunderous gut-punch of a stoppage-time goal by Eddie Lewis to give LA a 1-1 draw, the Miglioranzis invited members of both teams to their house for a friendly get-together.
At some point in the evening, the group of players, staff, and significant others wandered over to Redondo Beach to play some volleyball. Since their soccer game ended in a draw earlier that afternoon, the story goes that the Crew and Galaxy decided to settle matters on the volleyball court.
When I asked who won the tiebreaker, I was told it ended in a tie. Seriously.
Considering that the Crew and Galaxy left the Home Depot Center that day with a combined record of 2-3-13, I could not think of a better ending. To settle the tie, they tied a tiebreaker.
Surely the story wasn't told correctly or I misunderstood what I thought I had been told. Right? I mean, this was too good to be true.
I had to know for sure. Plus, if this happened, I wanted details. In my mind, I had visions of Tony Sanneh gifting Guillermo Barros Schelotto an easy spike to put the Crew ahead, and then Eddie Lewis burying a long range shot into the very back corner of the court to tie the match just as the sun set and the game had to be called for darkness.
I reached out to Miglorianzi to get the official scoop.
"After the game, Minta and I extended an invitation to a bunch of the guys on both teams to come to our house to hang out," he said. "A few showed up and everyone got along really well. It's a small world in MLS since people seem to know each other from other teams. We then went to the beach and played volleyball, but it was just a bunch of the guys and girls having fun on the court. It was mixed teams. No rematch was involved. We had joked about there being a tiebreaker on the beach, but it never amounted to anything. Too bad that isn't what really happened as that would have been a great story!"
Sigh. I know. The story I heard (or thought I heard) was doing just great on its own until Mr. Let Me Set the Record Straight chimed in with his pesky and inconvenient facts.
"We had fun, though, and it was great seeing everyone," Miglioranzi added. "As the evening was wrapping up, we did have a minor earthquake, which most everyone felt, so they really got to experience California life."
Mr. Numbers Nerd: Injury Seismology Edition
Root causation of nasty Brian Carroll shoulder dislocations...
Real life California earthquakes at Stefani Miglioranzi's house: 0
San Jose Earthquakes: 1
The Pros Are Fans Too
Even after a much-needed win, the team's inner fan bubbled to the surface. They follow other teams just like you and I follow them. For example, Chad Marshall said he was much more interested in the Lakers game than answering questions about playing against Sigi Schmid for the first time in Seattle. The rest of the SoCal Crew were also checking out the Lakers' playoff game on the clubhouse television.
Once the players left, equipment manager Rusty Wummel couldn't change the channel fast enough in order to check in on his beloved Chicago Blackhawks, who were entering overtime with their season on the line against team administrator Tucker Walther's Detroit Red Wings.
It didn't end well for Rusty. The Wings scored the overtime winner to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
"(BLEEP) THE WINGS!" Rusty yelled. "Please print that in your story as a direct quote from me. (BLEEP) THE WINGS!"
My pleasure. I wholeheartedly agree.
Rusty's despair over a 48th consecutive championship-free Blackhawks season was nothing more than a source of amusement for Andy Gruenebaum, who happens to be the No. 1 New Jersey Devils fan in Kansas. The Devils claimed Lord Stanley's Cup in 1995, 2000, and 2003.
"1961?" Gruenebaum chuckled. "2003 for my guys. Sure, they won three Cups in nine seasons, but it's been six years now. It's brutal."
I'm not in favor of picking on people who root for teams with excruciatingly long championship droughts, so I switched the subject to find out how a kid from Kansas conveniently grew up rooting for a three-time Stanley Cup champion located half the country away. (On the drive home, it hit me that the Devils began their existence as the Kansas City Scouts, but that was before Gruenebaum was born.)
"Martin Brodeur is my favorite hockey player in the world," Gruenebaum said. "I have been watching him since 1993. My cousins from Minnesota all play hockey, so I got into it through them. My brother played high school hockey. I should have been a hockey goaltender. Soccer was a bad decision on my part, because I try to emulate Brodeur. I don't use the butterfly style, but I still make some kick saves. But Brodeur is more of a hybrid. He doesn't just commit to the butterfly."
Brodeur is also a threat at the offensive end, joining Ron Hextall as the only goalie to score a regular season goal and a playoff goal in his career.
"Yeah, he was two goals in his career," Gruenebaum said. "I tried that tonight, but it didn't work. I blasted a punt as far as I could. I tried to Cepero it, but Cepero has magic in his feet and I don't."
While Danny Cepero scored a turf-aided goal against Gruenebaum last year, at least the Crew denied the Red Bulls' goalkeeper his spot alongside Brodeur and Hextall by keeping his magic feet off the scoreboard during MLS Cup 2008.
Fashion Lines
"Oh crap. San Jose wears blue and black, don't they?"- ONN sideline reporter Katie Witham, looking at her shirt an hour before kickoff and realizing that the blue and black accents probably weren't the best idea for the Crew-Quakes broadcast.
"Look! All he needs is a skateboard!"- Crew technical director Brian Bliss, upon seeing Columbus Dispatch reporter Shawn Mitchell, who looked quite youthful with his recently shorn hair, shades, backpack, and baggy jeans.
"Hey, it's Sonny Crockett!"- Crew PR Director Dave Stephany, cracking up the press box with a stellar Miami Vice reference upon seeing radio man Neil Sika on the CrewXtra television program. Sika had the sleeves of his light-colored, linen sports jacket rolled up, and also appeared to be going without socks under his white tennis shoes.
Steve Sirk is a contributor to TheCrew.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs. Questions? Comments? Have some scouting tips for the Quakes as they look to build on their Denton/Elliott/Leitch/Glen ex-Crew nucleus? Feel free to write at sirk65@yahoo.com.
