Eddie Gaven and Steven Lenhart scored for Columbus tonight as the Crew blanked the visiting Galaxy 2-0. Crew head coach Robert Warzycha described the game as "one of the best performances of the year." The win lifts the team into sole possession of first place in Major League Soccer, three points head of Houston with one more game in hand.
Eddie Gaven scored the game's first goal in the 33rd minute. Emmanuel Ekpo sent in a high ball from the Crew's left flank, which Gaven met at the back post and headed on frame. The ball kissed off Donovan Ricketts' right post and trickled over the goal line. The goal was Gaven's sixth of the season, and the 34th of his career. He is the Crew's second leading scorer behind Guillermo Barros Schelotto's 12 tallies. Emmanuel Ekpo was credited with the assist, his team-leading sixth of the year.
The teams went into the half with the scoreline still at 1-0, a positive omen for the Crew. All season, the Galaxy have never won when either conceding the first goal (0-5-8) or trailing at the half (0-3-3). In fact, of the Galaxy's 10 wins in 2009, nine of them have come when the team lead at the interval. Columbus, meanwhile, has only lost once in those scenarios this season.
In the second half, the physical game frequently was marked by Terry Vaughn's yellow card. Six times in the span of 19 minutes a player found his way into the referee's notebook, always for a foul deemed "reckless" on the official stats. The description continued in the post-game press conference, where Bruce Arena used the word "scrappy" several times to describe the action.
Indeed, for long stretches of the second half neither team was able to hold possession for more than half a dozen passes. Usually this allowed each team to build an attack and look for a shot, but the quality of the game was a marked contrast from the possession style that Cruz Azul displayed in the Crew's previous home match.
The game's second goal was the result of one of those short possessions. The Crew cleared a ball from their back line with a powerful clearance to midfield, where Emilio Renteria won a footrace to the loose ball. He headed the ball forward into the penalty area, then stopped short around the six yard box. Taking a touch toward the center of the goal, he launched a low shot toward the far post which Ricketts could only palm away rather than smother. Fortunately for the Crew, Steven Lenhart was lurking near the back post and was the first to the loose ball, tapping home from three yards too double the Crew's lead. The goal was Lenhart's third of the year, and while it will not appear in the official stats Renteria deserves an assist for his contribution to the goal.
With the Crew lead a sometimes-perilous two goals, Bruce Arena brought on his final substitution, sending Eddie Lewis on in relief of Todd Dunivan in the search for more offensive punch. The left winger had a potentially dangerous scoring chance in the 66th minute, but his shot was weak and easily saved by Hesmer after Lewis appeared to have an open look at goal inside the penalty area.
The Galaxy's best scoring chance of the game came just a minute later, as Landon Donovan sent a free kick through the wall and bounced off William Hesmer's right post. The ball caromed back into the center of the penalty area, where a quick-thinking Brian Carroll cleared the ball over his own crossbar and out of danger. The ensuing Galaxy corner kick came to nothing.
Shortly after this sequence, the Crew started stringing together longer passing chains, content to play keep away rather than attempting to build an attack for a third goal. The tactic proved quite effective in holding the Galaxy at bay, as the Crew players worked hard to always present an open passing option for several minutes at a time.
Warzycha described that mentality after the game as evidence "that the guys have some more trust between them, and also there was a lot of composure." Bruce Arena, for his part, conceded that his team "didn't have any quality tonight, anywhere. Certainly we weren't going to beat them tonight."
Up Next
Tonight's victory gives the Crew sole possession of first place in Major League Soccer with 46 points. The team sits three points ahead of the Houston Dynamo with one more game in hand. The team has not - yet - clinched a spot in the playoffs, although that could come pending other results this weekend. The team's next game is this Tuesday, hosting Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions League. The next league game is next Saturday, October 3rd when Sigi Schmid and the Seattle Sounders visit Columbus.
For the Galaxy, this was just their second road loss of the season. Their loss prevents them from taking over first place in the Western Conference, leaving them with 41 points from 27 games played. Their next game will come this Friday, as they play host to the Chicago Fire.
