Despite a valiant effort in the second half, the Columbus Crew were unable to climb out of the hole they dug for themselves in the opening 45 minutes against the Chicago Fire on Saturday night at Crew Stadium. The two goals allowed by the Crew late in the first stanza proved too much and prevented the Crew from a comeback.
"I think the game became difficult when we finished the first half down 2-0. That is the major thing to me," said goal-scorer Sebastian Rozental. "We didn't deserve to go down 2-0. It was very difficult to come back after the first half."
The Crew squad that began the match looked nothing like the side that shut down the New England Revolution 3-0 just one week ago.
"We didn't come out of enough energy at the beginning of the game," said Crew coach Sigi Schmid.
But unlike the Crew's dominating second half, the Fire took advantage of their chances through Nate Jaqua and C.J. Brown.
"Games are always about when a team dominates you need to keep the off the board and when you dominate you need to get on the board. We had a five-minute period at the end of the half where we gave up a couple of goals," said Schmid. "They weren't good goals necessarily, especially on the second one. We gave a corner away when we didn't need to give a corner away. Then, we were very naïve on the way we defended the corner."
After playing a lackluster first half that included the horrible ending, the Black & Gold fired back on all cylinders.
"It was a good response from the guys. It is sometimes tough to take a goal right before the half like that," said captain Duncan Oughton. "We bounced back and came out strong."
The chances of a comeback appeared to be enhanced once they received a man advantage. In the 63rd minute, Calen Carr earned a straight red card for a high kick that caught the face of Rusty Pierce. However, the Fire responded by consistently putting all of its remaining 10 players in their own penalty area, leaving little room for Crew creativity near the goal.
Rozental and the Crew did take advantage through a break in the 72nd minute. On a corner kick, the Chilean headed the ball towards goal where it was thwarted by Jaqua's hand. Rozental successfully converted the spot kick for the third time in three chances on the season.
Despite pressing more and more as the game approached full time, the Crew could never muster the final touch for an equalizer.
"It was a tough loss. The guys battled out there to the end," said Oughton. "We had chances, chances, and chances at the end of the game. Unfortunately, we couldn't stick one away."
Added Schmid: "There were a couple of scrambles inside of the box. They packed it in pretty well. We couldn't grab a second goal. I don't think Bill [Gaudette] had anything to do in the second half with the exception of distributing."
Even before the loss, the Crew had little room for error and are now even more pressed to come away maximum points in their five remaining games.
"In New York next week, we have to be thinking three points. And the next week, three points," said Rozental.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
