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Late Casey goal stymies Crew
This is where the phrase “against the run of play” comes from.
Conor Casey scored in the 82nd minute to lift the Colorado Rapids to a 1-1 tie Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, in a match the Crew otherwise dominated.
Pablo Mastroeni lined a pass forward, straight through the Columbus defense, and found Casey, who beat a sliding defender and popped his shot past goalkeeper William Hesmer and into the net.
The play was a brief outburst of offense from the Rapids, who were on their heels from the beginning. The Crew finished with 14 shots and had eight corner kicks. The first half was particularly lopsided: Columbus had seven shots to the Rapids’ three and recorded six corner kicks.
At the center of the Columbus attack was league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who put the Crew on the board in the 41st minute. A long pass by Gino Padula found Emmanuel Ekpo in the Rapids’ penalty box and drew goalkeeper Preston Burpo to the post. Ekpo centered to Schelotto, who was waiting at the penalty spot and easily banged the ball into the wide-open goal.
Although Schelotto was in a finishing position on this play, he spent most of the match creating a potent Columbus attack. His goal came only moments after he set up Adam Moffat for a shot that rolled just wide of the post, and he created multiple chances while taking the team’s corner kicks and free kicks.
Columbus substitute Steven Lenhart had two golden chances to score in stoppage time. In the 94th minute, Lenhart fired a screaming drive just above goal. He set up his own shot by winning a 50-50 ball in the air and placing it right at his feet.
And about a minute later, on the tail end of a long looping ball from the right midfield, he just missed with a header, again hitting it slightly high. Referee Edvin Jurisevic blew the final whistle seconds later.
The Crew also hit the crossbar twice in the match, once by Schelotto on a dazzling free kick in the 27th minute and the other a header by rookie defender Eric Brunner on a free kick by Schelotto.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Schelotto was phenomenal. His deft touches speak volumes about his soccer instincts and his quick thinking as the play develops. He led all players, with three shots. He is the manager of the Columbus offense, and he is its intuition.
MY VOTE FOR MLS PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Schelotto.
RAPIDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Burpo was under siege most of the evening. He made some fine saves, none better than a spectacular diving stop the 57th minute on an Eddie Gaven shot, and was proactive in front of his goal, squirting forward to punch away balls routinely. In the 84th minute, Schelotto laced a hard low cross in front of the net toward a swarm of yellow jerseys, but Burpo leaped forward. He extended both arms and knocked the ball to safety. He looked like Superman, body stretched, flying through the air. On a night in which the Crew attack was relentless, Burpo kept the Rapids in a position to take a point (with some help from his friend, the crossbar).
ATTENDANCE MATTERS: Lots of empty seats at Columbus Crew Stadium. The stadium’s capacity is 22,555, and the announced attendance was 7,465. The temperature was in the 40s at game time, and the rippling corner flags indicated a strong wind at field level.
CONTINUED SUCCESS: Although the Crew was 11-2-2 at home last season, the Rapids entered the game with a .500 record all-time in Ohio.
CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES: Other than Burpo replacing Matt Pickens (back spasms) and the return of Pablo Mastroeni from national-team duties, the big change in the lineup was Ty Harden starting at center back. That pushed Ugo Ihemelu to right back instead of Kosuke Kimura. Harden, though, left the game in the 18th minute, grabbing his right hamstring, and was replaced by rookie Scott Palguta. Ironically, the game was Harden’s first MLS start and Palguta’s first MLS game.
DEPLETED CREW: The Crew was playing without Andy Iro, who tortured the Rapids on the back line last season, national teamer Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers and Chad Marshall, the 2008 MLS defender o the year. Iro was serving a red-card suspension, and Rogers and Marshall were hurt. Starting for Marshall was Brunner, a Dublin, Ohio, native and an All-American at Ohio State. In the 50th minute, Brunner stumbled and turned over the ball just outside the Crew’s penalty area. It set up the type of Omar Cummings-to-Conor Casey slot pass that Casey scored twice on last Saturday against the Galaxy. Casey couldn’t find the handle this week, but he kept possession and sent a cross back to Cummings. The Jamaican striker one-timed the ball into the opposite side netting, but he was whistled offside. On the other hand, Brunner missed a goal by inches in the 58th minute, heading the ball off the crossbar on a beautiful looping pass by Schelotto.
CREW PLAYER RETURNS: In contrast to all the missing Crew players, Moffat returned to the pitch for Columbus on Saturday for the first time since injuring his knee last spring. Moffat had a couple of chances in the game, but his specialty is his tenacity on defense. He looked like the Crew’s Mastroeni. Moffat even had a nice moment in the second half nagging Mastroeni, who was controlling the ball but was being forced back toward his own goal by the Scottish midfielder.
WITH APOLOGIES TO DAVID LETTERMAN: Ekpo, Burpo. Burpo, Ekpo.
I WENT BACK TO OHIO: I watched the replay of the game that was broadcast on Altitude in the wee hours of Easter morning, and the telecast had a distinct Ohio flavor. The feed was from ONN, which bills itself as Central Ohio’s news leader. The opening segment was the “OhioHealth Pre-Match Report.” A quick look at the standings in Major League Soccer was sponsored by the Ohio Lottery. ONN reporter Katie Witham actually wore a Crew hat on the sideline. And when Jordan Harvey clobbered Gaven in the box in the ninth minute, the ONN team concluded that Harvey got the ball but also fouled Gaven in the process. Listen, he either fouled Gaven, or he got the ball. One or the other.
THE GAVEN REPORT: OK, now some pro-Columbus favoritism from me. Gaven, one of my favorite players, may have been the second-best Crew player on the field on Saturday. Gaven had the game’s first chance, a drive to the lower corner that Burpo covered well. In the 57th minute, Gaven’s pinpoint shot forced a diving save from Burpo. Gaven was active along the right side, was involved in the team’s offense and had a high work rate. Here’s an example: Shortly before halftime, a Crew defender booted the ball deep into the right corner of the Rapids’ end. Instead of letting the ball run out of play, Harvey, Schelotto and Gaven chased it down. Schelotto somehow wiggled around Harvey and tapped the ball toward Gaven, keeping it in play and forcing Harvey to slide-tackle Gaven. Had Schelotto not chased, the ball rolls over the end line and Colorado gets a goal kick. Had Gaven not followed, Harvey simply scoops up the loose ball. Instead, the efforts of the two Crew midfielders earned a Columbus throw-in and ultimately kept the ball in the Rapids’ defensive end for about a minute.
FUNNY PLACE FOR A SPONSORSHIP: The Rapids wore their Burgundy tops and white shorts, their nicest combination. And the Crew, as usual, was predominantly yellow, the most distinctive color scheme in the league. The description of the uniforms was delivered by ONN as “your Sierra Mist kits on the evening.”
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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Casey has been playing well the past two games.
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