1ST HALF
KC jumped on the Crew just as they did a couple weeks ago. In the 8th minute Kei Kamara leaped in front of Chad Marshall and knocked in a header in off a Graham Zusi service. The lead wouldn't last long though. 10 minutes later, just as Crew fans were pondering their next hashtagged Sack Warzycha tweet, Josh Williams charged into the middle of the field from the left and passed the ball beautifully forward to a breaking Arreita. He gathered, opened and knocked it in far post. In a few ways it was similar to last weeks goal that involved Williams, Jairo and Chris Birchall.
Refreshingly, Columbus stayed on the attack and were rewarded in the 34th minuted as Zusi gave one away to a waiting Arreita who punched home a goal of the week 25 yard bomb.
2ND HALF
Columbus performed their token attacking effort right out of the gates but nothing even remotely close came of it. After about 10 minutes they pulled back to defend only.
Sporting controlled the whole of this half, almost entirely in the Crew side of the field. KC are going to feel as if the gods were against them as they missed chance after chance right in front of goal. Andy Gruenebaum also had three magnificent saves in support of god hand that kept KC out of the net.
25 shots is what KC ended up with. 6 on target and 2 off the crossbar.
THE END WITH NOTES
• I'll start with Cole Grossman again this week. Three starts, three wins (at what amounts to basically CDM / stopper spot). Those wins? Seattle away, DC at home, KC away. He was flawless in his role save for the late tackle on Zusi last night (that earned him a 2nd yellow and subsequent ejection).
• Poor Dwight Burgess was left alone in the virtual space booth Fox Sports Ohio puts him in. He was just as hard pressed to tell what was going on because he is watching the same sloppy "HD" broadcast we are... One nugget was that we were treated to a Tommy Heinemann substitute graphic. Good job Tommy!! Anyhow, alone or with Duncan Oughton, Dwight still calls games as if he were a youth coach and not a play by play man.
Speaking of Oughton; he was actually at the game as a assistant coach. The live pregame interview with him, while out of sync, was great. Also, the Crew pulling him in as a coach during gameday is 100% approved by me. My understanding is that he is with the team all week in training so he should be there gameday.
• On Kei's 8th minute header... the way I saw it was that Chad Marshall fouled KC, Zusi spotted it up and Kei then beat Marshall for the goal. I've been down on Marshall all year. he's just not himself. In the paper this morning I read Williams post game quote where he took the blame for the goal, saying Kei was his man. I did see Josh marking Kei all game on set pieces but if Kei was his man on that play, who was Marshall marking? The thin air behind him? I admire Williams coming out and saying that. Accountability! Leadership!
• Arrieta's goals were fantastic. Two goals and an assist in his last two league matches. It's just what he needed to do after the recent "designated player" signing the club made. Perhaps it's motivation this player needs. If you look at a record of his matches you see that once he was approached by the Crew last winter (around the same time Olman Vargas was signed, the were to be a Costa Rican package-like deal) he stopped scoring altogether. I feel sort of bad for his former club... one foot out the door, so to speak. Maybe two.
• Warzycha's formation is evolving. He seems to be moving a little away from the overlapping right and left wing backs into a more 4-2-3-1 which sharply turns into a 4-3-3 in attack. If you look at the average positions of Dilly Duka and Justin Meram you actually find they played just as advanced as Arrieta.
I've seen this more clearly during the last Reserve and Friendly matches when Warzycha has Aaron Schoenfeld, Olman Vargas and Emilio Renteria playing in attacking positions.
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