Crew 2 - Real Salt Lake 0

Firstly, my apologies to all for not having updated before now. I have a (relatively long) story and rant to go through, so if you want to skip my personal anecdotes, go ahead and scroll right on down to the match analysis (I promise I won't be offended).

A little background before I get started on my rambling. I work at a restaurant in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and, unfortunately, I always work on Saturday nights. I try to get off work when the Crew play at home, but I'm not always able to do so. This weekend was one of those times when I wasn't able to get off work. I usually watch the Crew game when I get home (around one in the morning), but this time, the folks at MLSLIVE.TV let me down, and didn't archive the game until Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I had to work on Sunday as well, and wasn't able to watch the game until Sunday evening when I got home from work. Now, here's where I really got upset at the MLS web staff. Firstly, the whole first half was without commentary, for whatever reason; I'm not sure if that was a technical error on MLS' part, or if it was the fault of CSN (I hope it was MLS' fault, so I have more reasons to be upset at them). So when I made it to halftime, I put the screen on the smallest setting so that I could fast-forward through half-time, and the damned news ticker that MLS put under the screen read: Saturday - Columbus Crew 2, Real Salt Lake 0. After thrashing about in a fit of rage about having the scoreline revealed to me inadvertantly, I watched the second half of the game, but it wasn't as interesting or suspenseful as it would've been if I'd been able to watch my game without knowing the result. If I would've wanted to know the result of the game, I'd be on the MLS homepage, not watching the game itself. Maybe there are some people that like to know the score of a game before they watch it, but I'm not one of them, and I don't imagine that there are a whole lot of people who re-watch games to further analyze them. To put the scores of games on that page is sheer idiocy and poor website design. Anyway, I'll be writing the MLS website staff about it, and let them know about my displeasure. Sorry that you had to sit through my rant if you're still reading this, but I just wanted to get it off my chest.

The other reason that I didn't update until now, is that, in an unfortunate episode, some Coca-Cola classic found its way onto the keyboard of my laptop, leading me to partially disassemble the keyboard and clean it off, which took a while, and I'm just now getting around to posting here. So, finally, onto the match.

Clearly, The Crew deserved to win, and although some might say that it's not much of accomplishment to beat RSL, I think it shows how far the Crew have come along the course of this year that they are now able to put away teams that are clearly inferior (no disrespect intended, RSL fans) to the Crew. Still, it took a very long time for the Crew to get on the scoreboard, and perhaps longer than it should have taken. Real showed almost no offensive bite whatsoever, and it was fairly obvious that, should the Crew score, Real would have no answer. When the Crew did get their chance at goal from the penalty spot, I was VERY glad that Guille stepped up and took it - something that he did not do in the game against LA, and the ensuing penalty was saved by Joe Cannon. Penalties have been the bane of this team for well over two years, and it's nice to finally have someone who I am sure will put the ball in the back of the net.

There's really not much else to say about the RSL game except that the Crew were clearly the better team. Real is, quite frankly, terrible, and it was their lack of offense and inability to hold the ball that handed the Crew their first victory by two goals all season (the participants in Grouchy's polls on BigSoccer must have all wet their pants in excitement). I must say, it was nice to watch a Crew game where I really and truly expected the Crew to win, and they didn't disappoint. I can only hope that Saturday's game against Chivas will be as good.

Again, apologies for the lateness of this post. I plan to attend a Crew practice either tomorrow or Thursday, and I'll have that update on here in the next few days. Until then, Crew fans!

Crew 0 - Colorado 0

The Crew game against the Rapids on Wednesday was possibly the biggest waste of two hours of my life since I went to see Panic Room a few years ago. The play from both teams was uninspiring to say the least, with almost no highlight-reel near misses or otherwise dramatic action. Were it not for the in-game thread on BigSoccer, I probably would've fallen asleep watching it. I'm not even going to really bother to analyze the match; it was that bad. However, for as bad as the Crew played on Wednesday, the end result is that we got a point on the road against a team that plays at a disadvantageous altitude. If it had been a thriller 5-5 goal-frenzy, we'd all be celebrating the point that we'd won, but a 0-0 snoozer provides us with the same one point. So, we'll take the point, try to forget that this game ever happened, and celebrate the fact that the Crew are unbeaten in five matches. With bottom-feeders RSL coming to town on Saturday, the Crew should stretch that run to six matches, and hopefully capture three more points.

I apologize for the tardiness and the shortness of this update, but I just couldn't bring myself to write about that awful game in Colorado. I'll have analysis of the RSL game on Sunday, and I plan on attending a Crew practice sometime in the middle of next week, so check back in for all that. Thanks for reading!

Colorado Pre-game

The Crew now enter into what is really the easiest part of their schedule. The three teams that the Crew play before the All-Star break combine for a 9-18-13 record. The only one of those teams that has won in the last few weeks is RSL, and we all know how terrible they are. This is a crucial time for the Crew, with some easy points on the horizon, and a real chance to climb up the standings. This is really where we find out if the Crew have indeed turned the corner. They may have beaten the good teams (Kansas City, New York), but now they have to show that they can put away the teams nearer to the bottom of the table.

The Crew's first of the three games before the All-Star break is against Colorado tomorrow night. Colorado will be fielding a patched-together lineup, with Pablo Mastroeni definitely out due to an injury, Herculez Gomez and Kyle Beckerman with the Nats, and several other potential starters for the Rapids are listed as either doubtful or questionable on the injury report. The Crew, meanwhile, will have Ezra Hendrickson and Danny O'Rourke returning from suspension, and Guillermo Barros Schelotto should return from the hamstring strain that kept him out of the lineup against New York. Virtuoso and Evans are listed as definitely out, while Miglioranzi and Oughton are listed as questionable, which is certainly news to me. The Crew can certainly survive without Miglioranzi and Oughton, but it makes putting together a lineup for Wednesday all the more of a guessing game. I would expect to see an unchanged backline from the game against New York, but the midfield and forward positions contain a few more question marks. If either Oughton and Miglioranzi are good to go against the Rapids, we would most likely see a midfield triangle consisting of the two defensive midfielders and Grabavoy at the attacking midfielder slot. If Oughton and Miglioranzi are both out, it would be interesting to see how Sigi adapts, but I would imagine that Grabavoy would slide back to a more defensive midfield role and Schelotto would drop back a little into the midfield. Up front, Schelotto and Moreno are both near-certanties, while Kamara, Thomas, and Herron will battle it out for the third forward/winger spot. I'd imagine that Kamara will get the nod after scoring against New York.

Conventional wisdom says to never bet against the streak, and the Crew are unbeaten in four and on a three game winning streak, while Colorado is winless in six. In my mind, the Crew blanks the Rapids 2-0 for the second road win of the season, and continues to climb the standings. Another thing to keep in mind when considering the importance of this game is that Colorado is potentially one of the teams that Columbus could be fighting for a playoff spot later in the season, depending on the fortunes of both teams, and it'd be nice to have the tie-breaker in our favor - if the Crew win, they can't lose to Colorado on the head-to-head tie-breaker. We could play the what-if game until the cows come home, however, so I will bid Adu (yukyukyuk)for now, and I hope the next time I'm writing in here that the Crew will have three more points. Thanks again for reading, all!

Crew 1 - RBNY 0

Hey folks,

Let me start out by apologizing for not updating again as promised this past week. Things have been a little hectic, but after this weekend, my schedule evens out, and I will have literally more time on my hands than I know what to do with - depending on my work schedule, I will most likely have time to attend a practice or two in the coming weeks and do my best Walt Wheeler impression (no encroachment on your readership intended, friends at HPI!). But my plans and scheduling issues aren't what you're here to read about, so on we go...

It really is a great time to be a Crew fan. I'd like to point out that, since I've started this blog, the Crew have yet to lose a game. In fact, they've won all three. I guess a massive club like the Crew just needed that extra little media reinforcement that I, fortunately, am able to provide. Self-centric kidding aside, this is really the best I've felt about this team for a VERY long time. After the New England game and the Kansas City game, I felt like the next two games would be the crucial point in the Crew's season, and now that those two games have come to pass in the form of victories, I now publicly declare my belief that the Crew are actually on a roll. Earlier in the season, we saw some good play from the Crew, but through a lack of finishing and some other problems, the W-Column was looking pretty short. Are the Crew actually playing better now? Maybe slightly, but most importantly, they are playing with confidence, and seem to have survived the infamous "gel time" to finally generate some goals, and, if tonight's game is any example, the defense looks back to its best as well.

Moving on to the specifics of the game, I thought it was a good effort by the Crew, although I don't believe it was quite the monumental smackdown that the good denizens of BigSoccer believe it to be. The Crew played well, and created a lot of opportunities, mostly from corner kicks and crosses, but with the final scoreline of 1-0, Sigi's boys could certainly have been made to rue some of the many missed chances that they had, but a good effort on the part of the Crew defense combined with a fairly impotent New York attack made sure that the Black and Gold got their third successive victory. If Kei Kamara had missed on his goal, and the game ended 0-0, I'm not entirely sure that the general populace would be writing epic poems about this performance (of course I know that people would be less happy with a draw, but I'm referring more about the performance itself and not necessarily the result). I'm happy with the way that the Crew is playing as of late, but they could be more than a good team (which they are), and if they are more clinical on their chances, they could certainly be a championship contender.

That being said, the defense certainly did themselves proud tonight. New York's attack was not the juggernaut that it has been in previous games, but even so, the defense did a good job in limiting Angel and Co.'s chances all night long. Hesmer was good when needed (which wasn't very often), and looks to have comfortably taken hold of the #1 keeper spot (which, if you read my last post, is fine by me). The defense was helped tremendously, however, by a magnificient performance from the Crew's defensive midfielders, who emphatically shut down Claudio Reyna's midfield throughout the whole 90 minutes. One of the things that made the defense so good in the Crew's start to the season was that the whole team contributed to the defense, and tonight was a good example of how the forwards and attacking midfielders can really help out their defense colleagues.

On the offensive end, it wasn't too bad, given Schelotto's absence. Thomas, in his first MLS action this season, defenitely showed some rust, but also made some good plays, and once he's back to total fitness, should definitely challenge for a starting position. Kamara was very active throughout his time in the game, and his goal was certainly well-taken. He also had a few opportunities where he should've done better, and one or two times where he probably should've crossed/passed instead of taken a shot, but is acquitted in my mind by his goal. Grabavoy looked pretty good out there, but, in my mind, hasn't really shown the ability to take control of a game and dictate his team's offensive play the way the best players of his position do (see Riquelme, Juan Roman), which is something that was made all the more imperative by Schelotto's absence. Ned is certainly a good player, but still has a fair amount to learn (I'll talk more about that in a later post). On the whole however, the offense was good in creating chances, but not quite as adept at finishing off those chances.

So, to wrap up, it was a good effort by the Crew tonight, and especially by the midfield. They showed several times that they could string some good passes together, and a solid defensive effort helps the Crew on the way to their third win on the trot (does anyone know where the hell that phrase comes from?). Having beaten two of the best teams in the league within a week's span, I feel damn good about this 2007 Crew team. I realize that this is the unofficial Team of Broken Dreams, but I'm going to enjoy this streak while I can, and hopefully it won't end anytime soon.

This time I PROMISE to make at least one post this week in addition to my analysis of the next two games. Thanks for reading all, and I'd appreciate any comments you have for me. If I don't start to get some feedback, I might assume that no one is interested in what I have to say, and I could stop writing, and we wouldn't want that, would we? (If you do, please let me know! I want some feedback!). So, on the subject of commenting, I will leave you with a question for you to answer in the spirit of Mascot Soccer: Who would win in a race - Sonic the Hedgehog, or the Road Runner?

Thanks again for reading!

Crew 3 - Galaxy 2

Two words have not been uttered in Columbus in rapid succession for quite some time. Those two words? Winning and streak. Don't look now, but now the Crew are unbeaten in three matches, and have won their last two. In those last three games, the Crew have fought back from a deficit, and overcome a one-man disadvantage to win the game anyway. It seems the Crew have fought through their funk to gain a winning mentality, and have used that to play with true heart on the field. Let's just hope they can keep it up.

Unfortunately, I had to work on Saturday night, and therefore was not able to see the game live. Thanks to MLSLIVE.TV (not all of us can afford the luxury of DK and DVR), I usually watch the games the next day if I happen to miss one. Unfortunately for me, I accidentally learned of the score on a website that I didn't expect to see the score on, so I already knew the result when I watched the game. I don't know if everybody else feels the same way, but I always find it difficult to truly enjoy a game when I already know the outcome, and I found my attention wandering from the match on more than one occaision. Because of this, I won't be analyzing the match the way that I usually do, and so I'll just go over the basics of the game.

So what did we learn from the Galaxy game? At the beginning of the game, the Crew came out and played good attacking soccer, and were rewarded with Chad Marshall's goal after Schelotto was fouled outside the area. Things were looking very good for the Crew until the red card to EZ Ezra Hendrickson. It certainly didn't look like a red card offense to me (certainly worthy of a yellow, however), and was reminiscient of Pablo Mastroeni's sending off against Italy in the World Cup. However, the Crew showed remarkable character in recovering from the red card, and after two saved penalties following two soft calls, the Crew took a 1-0 lead into halftime. One thing Sigi is known for is having his teams play very organized soccer, and the Crew did just that for the remainder of the game.

Things went from bad to worse, though, after Schelotto succombed to what looked like some kind of muscle injury. In general, you can almost always count on a team that has a man advantage to score at least one goal when they've had that advantage for longer than a few minutes, so it was a safe bet that the Crew needed at least one more goal to put the game away, and it wasn't looking good with their best offensive player on the bench. We all know that Schelotto is an incredible player, but no matter how crucial he is to the Crew's offense, the Crew were a team before he got here, and they will be a team after he leaves - and they showed that even without their talismanic Argentine, they can still produce some goals, as evidenced by Grabavoy's goal after some good work by Oughton and Gaven, as well as Moreno's header that put the game away. I predicted a 3-1 win for the Crew, and it looked like that was going to hold up, until Buddle scored a consolation goal to make the final 3-2, but I'm still going to pretend that I got the score right.

Overall, the Crew showed magnificient composure and heart on the field, and showed that they indeed can provide some offence without the presence of Guille. Truth be told, a better team than LA probably would've put the Crew away, having a man advantage for so long, but take nothing away from the Crew's effort in this game. It's matches like these that make me proud to be a Crew fan. For now, the infamous "gel" period looks to be over with, as Guille further adjusts to the play of MLS, and the rest of the team gets some much-needed swagger as they try to climb up the standings over the course of the next few games. There's a lot of the season left to play, but there is good reason to be optimstic. Hope springs eternal yet, Crew fans. Thanks again for reading, and I'll have at least one (if not more) posts before Saturday's game.

"It is good for us. We needed a win, and we were going to come out and get it. Right now we are a very confident team. We were also a confident team when we started the season, but we had some ties that we thought could have gone our way. We were patient, and this team is never going to give up; we are going to continue fighting. Winning streaks are a habit, so I hope we can continue this one for some time."

-Ezra Hendrickson on the Crew's win in LA.

Goalkeepers/LA Pregame

As promised, here is my latest entry, where I will discuss the Crew's goalkeeping situation, and look at the upcoming LA game.

Everyone seems to have a very strong opinion about who should be between the pipes for the Crew. Some people think it should be Andy Gruenebaum. A lot of people believe that Hesmer is better than the Hebrew Hammer. Some people think that all three Crew goalkeepers are inadequate, and that the Crew should bring in someone else to tend the nets for the remainder of the season. Which is the right decision? It's really hard to say at this point. All three keepers are around the same age, and all three have shown a fair amount of potential. Up until recently, Gruenebaum looked to be the #1 keeper for the Crew, and he showed some great athleticism and pulled off some great saves, but ultimately, his decision-making and positioning led Sigi to start the now-healthy Will Hesmer in goal. Is Hesmer an upgrade from Gruenebaum? It's hard to say at this point; a few more games will tell us much on the subject.

Now, it's really hard to guess what Sigi's train of thought was when he traded a partial allocation for Hesmer, who was Kansas City's backup goalkeeper until this season. How can you tell if one backup goalkeeper is that much better than another team's backup goalkeeper, given that each backup will only play a handful of games throughout the course of a season? It was a move that was (and quite frankly, still is) rather puzzling. If Sigi was going to make an upgrade at the goalkeeper position, he probably could've gotten a better upgrade than Hesmer. But the past is the past, and now the Crew find themselves with three goalkeepers who are all looking to seperate themselves from the rest of the pack. I am fine with Sigi giving Hesmer a chance, and over the next few games, we'll see how Hesmer does. My personal opinion is that unless Hesmer does spectacularly over the next few games, Gruenebaum should be put back in. Andy's problems stem from poor positioning and a few bad decisions, which are problems that are remedied by experience and good coaching - he's shown that he has the ability, and if he can figure out how to work on his weaknesses, he could be a great keeper.

That being said, I won't be terribly upset if Hesmer is given the #1 spot. I also won't be found crying in a corner if the Crew sign someone with more experience. Even turning back to Wild Bill Gaudette wouldn't be the worst thing in the world in my mind. I also hear there's this fantastic keeper out there named Dan Popik...

Whichever decision Sigi makes, I think it's best if the decision is made sooner than later, and that Sigi sticks by his decision. It won't be good for the team if the Crew rotates their keeper every few games, and whoever wins the starting keeper spot will need all the experience that they can get. I think it's great that all three keepers seem to get along with each other real well, and that they all want each other to succeed. Hopefully that mentality will continue after Sigi makes his final decision, which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

Moving onto tomorrow night's game against LA, this is absolutely a must-win for the Crew. Although the Galaxy will be boosted somewhat by the additions of Xavier and Pavon to their squad, they remain Donovanless and Beckhamless, and there is never a better time to beat the Galaxy. Aside from RSL, there probably isn't a weaker opponent for the Crew in MLS right now, but that doesn't mean that it will be an easy game - LA is still a decent team, and even without Donovan, they can be dangerous.

The biggest lineup issue for the Crew is Rusty Pierce returning from suspension. It will be interesting to see whether or not Sigi reinserts Rusty into the lineup, given the way the backline played against Kansas City. My guess is that Pierce will indeed start, and Miglioranzi will be dropped to the bench, but it's possible that Sigi could name an unchanged lineup from Wednesday's game. Other than Pierce returning, Thomas, Herron, and Virtuoso are still out, so the rest of the lineup looks set.

Despite LA's new additions, a Crew team on the upswing will take down a Galaxy team who haven't beat the Crew in MLS play since 2004. So I'll pick the Crew to win 3-1. Kool-Aid for all! Thanks for reading!

Crew 2 - Kansas City 1

I guess I picked a good time to start writing about the Crew. I now find myself in the very foreign position of having to analyze a win (not that I'm complaining). Much has been made of how the Crew have built on their comeback tie at New England to produce this much-needed home victory. I'm not so sure that I believe the hype, but I still find myself optimistic (this is the Crew we're talking about though; the team that builds up your hopes every now and then so that it can smash them to bits the next game). Honestly, the Crew has played better overall in some of their ties and losses than in last night's win, but as we are reminded every time we see the Eastern Conference standings, it's the results that matter. Perhaps Sigi said it best post-game when he said "I don't care how we played. I don't care what it looked like. A win's a win and we're very happy."

Now, onto the specifics of the game. The defense was solid, especially for being very makeshift in nature. In general, they limited KC's chances, and got a little lucky on a few of the chances that KC did get, but overall, the defense did themselves proud. Ezra at outside back was serviceable, as was Miglioranzi. I have to admit, I'm not entirely sold on Stefani (the plays that come to mind when his name is mentioned are highlighted by a few missed sitters early in the season, as well as that howler of a clearance that came off the Crew's crossbar in New York), but a few more performances like last night's will do much to assuage my concerns. Zayner also looked good while he was in, as he didn't make any glaring mistakes, which is really all you can ask of someone getting his first MLS minutes. If he develops properly, he could be a long-term successor for Hejduk.

The midfield performed well, if not spectacularly. Defensively, I thought O'Rourke and Co. did very well, but going forward they left something to be desired. Much of the Crew's possession (especially in the first half) stemmed from the defensive midfielders passing back and forth with the defenders. I would really like to see this team turn more into a possession-oriented team, and with personnel like Grabavoy, Schelotto, Moreno, Oughton, and O'Rourke, there's no reason why they shouldn't be very adept at stringing multiple passes together in the offensive half.

The front line did what they needed to do, and got on the scoresheet. Eddie Gaven scoring his first of the season brought a wide grin to my face, and hopefully he can build on that. Eddie wasn't spectacular throughout the game, but he was much improved from some of his performances earlier in the season. As Gaven looks to go on an upswing, Moreno continues to impress with his work and link play. Short of scoring a multitude of goals, he's done everything right since he came over from Houston, and has provided an excellent presence for Schelotto to play off of. As for Guille, it's obvious to anyone that he's on a totally different level in terms of skill and vision (some of his passes make me laugh out loud to think that anyone has the audacity to try and sneak that ball through). He's pure class, and his assists numbers reflect the impact he's had on the Crew's offense. The only beef I have with Schelotto is that, at times, he seems to be too unselfish. It's something that I've experienced firsthand, is that when somebody plays with a team that is below his playing level, that player always tries to set up his teammates, even sometimes when shooting himself would be a better option. There have been several times this season when I thought Guille was in a great position to shoot, but instead passes it back to where somebody is (or should be) making a supporting run. Still, I'm not complaining, and I'm very glad that Guille is here.

So, to recap: solid, if uninspiring play from the Crew, solid defense, and some decent finishing at the other end leads to three points in the bag. That's all well and good, but I'm reserving a lot of judgement on this game for after Saturday at Los Angeles. Saturday's game is a very important one for the Crew - if they can fly home with a win and build on what they have already, it will go a long way towards climbing up the standings, as well as building the team's confidence. A loss, and everything could sink back down into the quagmire that we've been sunk in for the greater part of two (or three, depending on who you ask) years. There is hope yet, Crew fans, but don't get too optimistic. Kool-Aid is lethal in high doses.

Signing off for now, but I plan to make another entry prior to the LA game, where I'll address the much-ballyhooed goalkeeper situation, as well as looking ahead to the Crew's next few games. Thanks for reading, all!

Introduction

Greetings, fellow tortured Crew fans. Because of a seemingly lack of internet blogs about the Crew, coupled with my own journalistic desires, I have decided to start my own Crew blog, where I can spout off my (however misguided) opinions. Here's what I have in mind for this blog: I don't intend to write match reports. Go to the Crew's website for that, or read the recap in the Dispatch. Instead, I will write my reactions to each and every game (I may eventually expand reaction pieces to include player ratings), as well as opinion pieces on the team in general, plus reactions to any off-the-field news that may happen. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to give me feedback in the form of comments, whether positive or negative. The best way for me to improve is through constructive criticism.

Because of work, school and other commitments, I will not be quite as active updating this blog over the next week, but after then, my schedule evens out, and I will have a vast amount of time on my hands to write about all things Crew. I hope that at least a few people will enjoy reading this blog over the course of the rest of the season, and thanks to all who have read this introduction.

E Pluribus Crewnum.