Crew confident heading back to Columbus

Defending champions ready to go for series win at Crew Stadium

By Jeremy Horton / MLSnet.com Staff

Steven Lenhart (left) was the main offensive threat for the Crew on Saturday. (Majchrzak/Getty)

SANDY, Utah -- It was nearly a perfect Halloween night for the Columbus Crew, but it was a late trick by Real Salt Lake that kept the Crew from getting a treat at Rio Tinto Stadium. The Crew came in with a great game plan, and executed that plan to perfection, until Robbie Findley scored in the 88th minute to give Real a 1-0 lead in the first leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.

"It's disappointing to take a goal so late like that," said Crew captain Frankie Hejduk. "We would have liked to have come out of here 0-0. We would have been fine with that."

Despite the Crew's obvious disappointment with the result and the way the result came about, most of the game was positive for the visitors. Real Salt Lake was by far the league's best home team in the regular season, tying the league's all-time goal differential mark with a staggering plus-23. In fact, the Crew's most lopsided loss of the season came the last time they visited Rio Tinto Stadium. So keeping the game under control was clearly a focus of the team.

"The last time we played here it was 4-1," said head coach Robert Warzycha. "[This time] our plan was effective and our defense was playing solid."

The sentiment was echoed by his players.

"We've come a long way since 4-1," said forward Steven Lenhart. "We played well organized."

From the opening minutes, it was clear where the Crew's priorities lay: disrupt Salt Lake's offense and look for the right opportunities to get into the attack. In fact, the plan was evident before the game even before kickoff when it was revealed that Warzycha had elected to not start his two star attackers, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno, in favor of larger, more physical forwards Emilio Renteria and Steven Lenhart.

"We didn't score any goals the last five games when they were on the field, so I felt like maybe we should go with a different combination. When were at home earlier this season against Real Salt Lake we had Jason Garey and Lenhart and we won 3-1. We had to occupy two defenders, which we did, but we didn't create many chances," Warzycha said.

In the first half, the strategy worked handsomely for Columbus. Defenders were closing down space quickly, preventing Salt Lake's playmakers from getting their heads up and making dangerous passes. When Salt Lake did have a pass available, there was almost always a Crew defender stepping into the lane to break up the play. And Columbus chose their moments well, resulting in several good scoring chances.

Lenhart was the main offensive threat, but several other players got into the act as well and the Crew were probably unlucky not to be up a goal at halftime.

"We created chances," said Warzycha. "Just not enough."

The second half started out much like the first, but as time wore on, Salt Lake began to push forward more. It was no secret that Salt Lake were looking to take a lead at home because of their historically poor road form, so the tactical change did not surprise Columbus.

But what happened was Salt Lake gradually took control of the match that the Crew had controlled almost entirely up to that point. Columbus had to deal with more pressure, and for the first time all night, they seemed a bit rattled.

That's when Findley went to work. After a quick throw-in by Will Johnson, Yura Movsisyan took the ball near the byeline and pushed a pass to the corner of the goal area. The speedy Findley beat his man to the spot and slid for the ball, pushing it past goalkeeper William Hesmer at a difficult angle.

"We fell asleep for 10 seconds, and that was the game," said Hejduk.

And just like that, a game that seemed destined to end 0-0 and probably deserved to end that way, took a downturn for the Crew.

But despite the loss, Columbus are still very much alive in the series. The Crew are the league's second-best home team (coincidentally, only Salt Lake is better at home), and a one-goal deficit is not insurmountable for the defending champs. But in order to advance, they will need to score a couple of goals, something that has not come easily for them lately.

"We have the players that can create the chances and score the goals," said Warzycha. "We have a game at home, and now we have to score."

And despite a loss that is particularly difficult to swallow, the team have already put this result behind them and are focused on Thursday's objective.

"We have to win at home," said Hejduk. "We would have gone for the win in the next game anyway. We're not playing for zeros -- we're playing for a win. That's what it comes down to."

Jeremy Horton is a contributor to MLSnet.com.