Sunday, March 3, 2013

RD1: Win, Couple Late Goals


Crew take care of Chivas in LA.

1ST HALF -
Outside of a couple clear changes Chivas should have buried it was an uninspiring first half for both teams. Columbus did seem to have the upper hand most of it but the game seemed to settle into a indeterminate mush by halftime. As a matter of fact it felt like halftime had arrived at 35 minutes the way the players were strolling around.

Which raises the question; Why was an eastern time zone team playing a night game out west on opening day? Was the league trying to make sure Chivas USA filled the stadium? Attendance was listed at 7100 fans. Hard to believe it would have been much less had it been played in the afternoon in LA.

2ND HALF --
Things burst into life in the 55th minute when Federico Higuain curled in a beautiful shot from 25 yards. From there both teams seem to find some added enthusiasm for the match.

Juan Agudelo and Miller BolaƱos entrances into the game allowed Chivas to press forward and look more dangerous but finishing quality was severely lacking. Eventually they couldn't find the equalizer and let a couple late goals get by that pushed the scoreline to a misleading 3:0.

CREW NOTES ---



• Crew backline made a number of mistakes throughout the evening. Chivas missed a couple they should have put away midway through the first half. Crew dodged disaster there.

Higuain seemed to be in mini battles with a couple different players all evening. There was much ankle kicking and retaliation.

• The Josh Williams volley off a late corner pretty incredible. Swinging his leg across his body like that and redirecting perfectly to the opposite corner through traffic. Not a fluke. He had one similar in the preseason. He's clearly put in tons of work.

Dominic Oduro's goal in the 3rd min of extra time was his thing and well done. Other than that though... he's not a midfielder.

• The Crew are staying out west this week (instead of flying back) and taking on Vancouver March 9th, 730 PM eastern.. Curiously; Justin Meram and Eric Gehrig did not make the trip.

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