Sunday, October 7, 2012

Crew Round 32. Draw a Little Hope

It was if the Crew players were looking around for someone else to step up and make something happen for the win. Unfortunately, one of the guys that could do that left injured in the 69th minute.

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A quick look at the remaining games for the teams the Crew need to catch for the playoffs and you realize how frustrating today's 1:1 match vs. Sporting KC is.

Before I get to the game, let's get on with...

PLAYOFF CHANCES
With 49 points and two games remaining the best the Crew can do is 55 points. DC is sitting on 54 pts / 2 games left, NY 53 pts / 2 games left and Houston 50 pts / 2 games left.

Here is how the Crew will be eliminated.

DCU... Only need a Draw in last two
NYR... A win, or 2 drawn matches
HOU... Win vs. shiitake in PHI (H) and COL (A)


1ST HALF
[Well, most of the first half.] I missed the final 6-7 minutes due to some technical difficulties at the Fox Sports Ohio offices. I hear it was that big glowing ball in the center of our solar system kickin' up flares and stuff. Universe 1: The Human Condition :0.

The Crew gave up a goal in the 10th minute to CJ Sapong a la Mr. Graham Zusi. KC looked organized and the much better side for the rest of the half. Arrieta got his chances that have put away lesser teams with lesser 'keepers but with KC's Jimmy Nielsen you need more chances.

2ND HALF
Both clubs got sloppy. SKC is a physical side and Columbus played like a bunch of guys who have only played together for half a year. As the 80th minute approached I knew what to expect from Columbus. Chaos and freakout mode. Emilio Renteria provided a beautiful ball to Eddie Gaven who buried it to tie it up. Renteria make assist. So, the freakout worked for the draw but you have to feel 3 points were there for the taking.

GAME THOUGHTS
The late game energy boost is getting old. It's cool that they have 9 goals in the last 15 minutes this year. Neat. But they have given up 12 in that same time period. Or, to put it another way. 30% of Crew goals given up have been in the last 15 minutes. That puts them in the company of Montreal, Vancouver, Philly and Chivas. 7 ticks above the league average is 23%.

What I would give for a few more guys like Eric Gehrig and Josh Williams on this Crew team instead of these other part time players. Milovan Mirosevic was active but slow, Chris Birchall went AWOL for large portions of the game and Federico Higuain is looking more like he's ready for the winter break.

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