COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite stopping a visiting squad's win streak for the second week in a row, the Columbus Crew aren't happy with Saturday's 1-1 draw against the New York Red Bulls.
"It's what they expect of themselves," Crew coach Gregg Berhalter told reporters after the match. "They were disappointed that they didn't win the game, and I like that. I like that we were disappointed because it shows that we have high expectations of ourselves."
While he admitted the team weren't pleased after the match, Berhalter knows that a result against a hot Red Bulls team isn't all bad. The Red Bulls were coming off a 4-0 win Wednesday over the Houston Dynamo.
"Obviously, heads were down in the locker room that we couldn't close it out, we couldn't get the three points," he said. "But I think there were a lot of positives. This is a team that was coming off of a big win, and it's a good team."
Crew midfielder Wil Trapp echoed those sentiments.
"It's a quality team," Trapp said, "and it's never going to be easy against a team like that with the players they have. But it's disappointing for us because we want to win the game."
After a flurry of offensive attacks fizzled at the end of the match, winger Hector Jimenez said the Crew "definitely" should have broken the deadlock.
"When we came in at halftime [leading 1-0], we told ourselves it was really important for us to get the second goal," Jimenez said. "And I think we created some chances early. ... I thought we played well, and when you play like that you deserve three points."
After New York's equalizer, on a Bradley Wright-Phillips goal, most of the action occurred in New York's end, but Trapp said the Crew lacked the killer finishing they needed for the three points.
"I thought we were the better team on the day; I thought we played well," he said. "Our pressure was good, our possession was good, we created chances, we just didn't finish."
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But the Crew won't hang their heads long, Berhalter said, noting that his young team is still focused on gelling as a group, not just winning games.
"We want to just keep developing our play," he said. "We want to win the game, of course. We have expectations of ourselves to win the game. But we also want to develop our style and keep working at that.”
