Sunday, March 10, 2013

Crew Rd 2: Loss to Vancouver

Columbus falls 1:2 in Vancouver.

1ST HALF
Well. It didn't take long. A bad exchange between Dominic Oduro and Danny O'Rourke in the 5th minute was punished. Darren Mattocks gathered the ball off the mistake, feed it to Daigo Kobayashi who struck a beautiful ball for 35 yards out that beat Andy Gruenebaum.

From there the Crew looked much like they did last week at Chivas USA. Spells of decent possession followed by errors leading to easy chances for the opposition.

2ND HALF
Crew tied it back up right off the halftime start. Josh Williams found Ben Speas who slotted it over to Jairo Arrieta for a quick goal to knot it up. Didn't last long though as another questionable exchange between Andy Gruenebaum and Glauber was pounced on by Vancouver's Kenny Miller and scored.

The final half hour saw lots of chances for both sides but none finished.

GAME NOTES
- Matias Sanchez saw his first MLS action when he was subbed on in the 70th minute. Sanchez couldn't seem to find the flow of the match but the expectation is that he will in time.
- Tony Tchani made up the other part of what turned out to be a questionable double substitution with Sanchez.
- Ben Speas played well filling in for an injured Eddie Gaven. Speas was involved in most of the positive attacking Crew chances.
- Again, Dominic Oduro is not a midfielder. His decision making with the ball in the middle third is poor. His side was the weaker one on the field. A Josh Williams / Ben Speas right side might be worth a look.
- Federico Higuain was bottled up most of the evening but still provided some of the best chances for the Crew off his set piece deliveries.
- Higuain is still winless and goal-less against top half of the table type clubs (going back to last year).
- Columbus hosts San Jose for their first home game of the season this upcoming weekend.

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