Speas, Vargas, Meram Shine in Reserve

Every so often I'll erase the commentary from my mind and just give players + (plus) and - (minus) marks during games. The mark can come from just about anything. On the ball, off the ball movement, a good run, backtracking, good cross, no-nonsense clearance. Hips, shoulders, jaw line, hair, body type, spacing, attitude, energy, communication, demeanor... Anything.

Today's Reserve Match between the Crew and the Union was a good one that ended up a 3:3 tie. Ben Speas, Olman Vargas and Justin Meram were the standout players for Columbus.

VARGAS
I came out of the match more convinced then ever that Olman Vargas is growing into a good Major League Soccer player. He is excellent on the ball and is movement and positioning benefit the whole team not just himself. It'd be interesting to see Arrieta and Vargas up top in Warzycha's 4-1-3-2 (Diamond MF).

SPEAS
The game comes more naturally to him then he probably realizes. He was playing in the middle today and by the 2nd half he was in control of it. Was it not for an incompetent ref getting in the way he probably would have had a 25 yd beauty on goal. One of his greatest strengths is the ability to cut through the middle with pace and with his head up. His effort is off the charts. His attitude is positive. Undersized but has a stout body type. This kid is good.

MERAM
Taking on defenders and with the ball at his feet, probably one of the 3 best on the team. Meram was silky smooth today, probably the best I've seen him. Also, Meram can win the team games with more minutes. PLAY HIM.

OTHER PLAYER NOTES
• Warms my heart to see Eric Gehrig out there as team Captain. Part of me wants to see Gehrig start getting time at Right Back. Miranda can't play forever and Gehrig has the best long ball on the team.

• Kevan George was started at Center Back and it wasn't all that pretty.

• Saw Chad Marshall at the Krogers downtown after the Reserve match, told him he had a good game last night. No joke, felt like a kid seeing a hero or something.

• Lucky Mkosana for the Union ran the Crew ragged. Absolutely. He is a Zimbabwean Ivy League graduate currently toiling away in USL Pro. I would expect to see more of him in Philly.

• Aaron Horton came in on as a sub and seemed frustrated. He tried, a couple times, to draw a penalty in the box but was denied. After the match he blew apart on twitter stating “Don’t even love the game anymore," and "I'm done." I'll chalk this up to immaturity for now but it highlights a problem the Crew have... too many attacking players. Horton is caught between playing up top like Arrieta and on the right, like Duka, Renteria, Meram and now Birchall.

• Columbus should really try and retain Emilio Renteria next year (my understanding is his contract is up). The better teams in MLS have talented, MLS ready players on 1st team, 2nd team, top 18 and in reserve. It bothers me that about half MLS teams have a huge drop off after their top 5-6 players. Keeping Renteria would go a long way in fortifying the strength of the overall club.

Crew Rd. 31 Win, Keep Playoff Pace

Last nights game had many faces: boring 0:0 draw - Crew blowout - to heartbreaking loss - finally settled on a somewhat tempered 2:3 Crew win.

1ST HALF
Considering the previous meetings between these two, this game was more fluid then expected. Up until the 43rd minute it looked to be a match with nothing in it but Sebastian Miranda was able to whip in a nice cross that found Jairo Arrieta for a goal.

Oddly, with no serious injury, referee Matthew Foerster tacked on 5 mins to the first half. Columbus kept the pressure on and Arrieta again found and controled the ball beautifully for brace in the first half.

2ND HALF
An uncreative Union side started charging into the box and drew an important penalty which Danny Cruz put away. Jack McInerney was inserted not long after and started to create problems for Columbus in the back. McInerney put away an effort goal around the 85th minute to tied it up.

From there the Crew aggressively slapped the big read panic button. The ensuing chaos generated a scrum in front of goal where a flick-on from Josh Williams to a Milovan Mirosevic produced a game winning goal.

Further replays would show Mirosevic in an offside position but it wasn't clear if Williams pass hit a Union leg or not.

GAME OVER, NOTES
• At times, Columbus looked like a handful of good players playing disorganized soccer. Hard to know where to go with this game.

• Chris Birchall inserted back into the lineup.

• Arrieta left the game limping. Arrieta is clinical once he gets the ball on his left foot in the box.

• Columbus is beating the teams they should this late in the year but still find themselves trying to claw back into a playoff spot.

Predictions: Crew vs. Union

The Philadelphia Union are in Columbus tonight to take on the Crew. Cool Fall temperatures and a beautiful midwestern sunset will provide the backdrop, 7:30 PM EST game start.

GAMESCRIBE
• PHI have drawn last 3 on the road (TFC, NER, DCU)
• Crew near perfect at home in last 10 (8 Wins, 1 Draw and Loss)
• PHI not mathematically eliminated from playoffs, but close
• Crew fighting to get back in, one spot out
• Crew: Have had some recent clubhouse problems

PREDICTIONS
The WinDrawWin "Your Vote" section has been surprisingly accurate since I started recording game predictions, so this week I'll put up the "Your Vote" favorites for the games that matter most to Crew fans:

CLB / PHI... 55% CLB WIN and 29% DRAW
HOU / NE... 68% HOU WIN and 24% DRAW
POR / DC... 25% DCU WIN and 48% DRAW

BET365 has the Crew taking this one 10/11 (fav), 12/5 Draw, 3/1 Union win. Noteable 11/2 odds on 1:1 Draw (13/2 on 1:0 Crew Win).

WV Hooligan thinks that "[the Union] just don’t have the answer to Columbus’ up front." Epperley calls it for the Crew, 2:1.

MLSsoccer.com goes mostly Crew. In fact, five of the employees picked them, one bit on Philly. It's been a while since these dudes have favored Columbus so much.

Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch (no link, paper subscription): "The past four Crew wins have come on goals in the 86th minute or later, but this is a game the club should sew up earlier."

NOT A DUMPSTER FIRE
Columbus needs this win but I'm going with a draw between these two. I don't like going with a boring X but I also don't like how Warzycha coached Crew teams fizzle out at the end of each year.

I'm pretty sure all of German Village heard a sigh last week after I heard about regular gameday players complaining about lineup choices. Regular starter Dilly Duka flat out just went home for a few days. And don't forget Will Hesmer's recent comments about the club deteriorating after the 2008 season and you may have some team watchers a little nervous.

It's by no means a dumpster fire but it is unnecessary noise at a critical time of the year.

Had it not been for a flying Eddie Gaven header against DC last year around this time of year the Crew wouldn't have made the playoffs. Maybe there is something like that in store for the Crew fans tonight.

"On Pitch" Individual Player Goal Metrics

The information below shows how many goals (both For and Against) are scored while the player is on the field.

Players with under 450 mins (5 games) have been removed.

The Crew "own goal" (Rd.27 v. NE) has been removed.

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Goal Difference per 90 mins (GMs on Right)
Team is -0.03

POSITIVE GOAL DIFFERENCE
0.90 : Cole Grossman : 5.6
0.82 : Carlos Mendes : 8.5
0.44 : Justin Meram : 9.1
0.19 : Emilio Renteria : 16.1
0.17 : Julius James : 6.1
0.16 : Nemanja Vukovic : 12.1
0.14 : Federico Higuaín : 7.2
0.13 : Joshua Williams : 23.2
0.09 : Dilly Duka : 11.6
0.07 : Sebastián Miranda : 28.3
0.06 : Danny O´Rourke : 15.8

NEGATIVE
-0.04 : Andy Gruenebaum : 28.4
-0.07 : Eddie Gaven : 29.3
-0.14 : Milovan Mirosevic : 20.8
-0.15 : Tony Tchani : 13.8
-0.15 : Jairo Obando Arrieta : 13.3
-0.16 : Chris Birchall : 12.8
-0.27 : Chad Marshall : 21.8
-0.36 : Shaun Francis : 5.6
-0.37 : Bernardo Anor : 5.5
-0.63 : Eric Gehrig : 7.9
-0.67 : Olman Vargas : 7.4
-0.91 : Aaron Schoenfeld : 3.3

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OFFENSIVE PRODUCTIVITY
Top and Bottom in Goals For per 90, Team 1.21

TOP 5
1.80 : Cole Grossman
1.68 : Federico Higuaín
1.64 : Carlos Mendes
1.53 : Justin Meram
1.49 : Julius James

BOTTOM 5
1.07 : Shaun Francis
1.06 : Milovan Mirosevic
0.91 : Bernardo Anor
0.81 : Olman Vargas
0.63 : Eric Gehrig

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DEFENSIVE PROWESS
Team 1.23 Goals Against

TOP 5
0.82 : Carlos Mendes
0.90 : Cole Grossman
0.91 : Nemanja Vukovic
1.05 : Emilio Renteria
1.09 : Justin Meram

BOTTOM 5
1.42 : Shaun Francis
1.43 : Jairo Obando Arrieta
1.46 : Chad Marshall
1.48 : Olman Vargas
1.54 : Federico Higuaín

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INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS
11 (leads team) of Ethan Finlay's 14 appearances have been as a sub /// Sebastian Miranda has been on the field for all but 1 Crew goal /// Only Cole Grossman, Carlos Mendes, Justin Meram and Josh Williams rank in top 10 in each; Goals For, Against and Difference. The first 3 have played less then 1000 mins. Williams has played over 2000.

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If you were to rank each of the 3 categories (GF, GA, GD) 1-25 and average them up the team list would look like this:

2 : Cole Grossman
2 : Carlos Mendes
5 : Justin Meram
6 : Emilio Renteria
8 : Joshua Williams
9 : Nemanja Vukovic
10 : Julius James
10 : Sebastián Miranda
11 : Federico Higuaín
11 : Dilly Duka
11 : Danny O´Rourke
13 : Matt Lampson*
13 : Kevan George*
13 : Andy Gruenebaum
14 : Eddie Gaven
16 : Tony Tchani
16 : Milovan Mirosevic
16 : Jairo Obando Arrieta
16 : Chris Birchall
18 : Chad Marshall
20 : Shaun Francis
20 : Bernardo Anor
21 : Eric Gehrig
21 : Aaron Schoenfeld*
23 : Olman Vargas
25 : Ethan Finlay*

*Played less then 450 minutes

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If you were to make a line up solely based on + goal data while a player is out on the field, it would look like this:

GK: Andy Gruenebaum
LB: Nemanja Vukovic
CB: Carlos Mendes
CB: Joshua Williams
RB: Sebastián Miranda
DM: Cole Grossman
DM: Danny O´Rourke
LM: Dilly Duka
RM: Justin Meram
AM: Federico Higuaín
ST: Emilio Renteria

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Most total goals (For + Against) while player is on the field (per 90):

3.21 : Federico Higuaín
2.81 : Julius James
2.70 : Jairo Obando Arrieta
2.70 : Cole Grossman
2.68 : Dilly Duka

Least amount:
2.29 : Emilio Renteria
2.26 : Milovan Mirosevic
2.19 : Bernardo Anor
1.98 : Nemanja Vukovic
1.90 : Eric Gehrig

For the record: I was threatened (with office scissors) to not post Gehrig's name and numbers with these particular metrics. "Most of these players contribute in many different ways and this is just one," got me out of there alive.

Thanks to Ryan Kramb for suggesting taking a look at goals this way.

I know Matt Bernhardt (Massive Report) took a look at similar metrics last year and if i remember correctly he also looked at successful player combinations. I'm searching for that post and kicking myself for not saving it. Take a look at his Lineup Progression Chart screencast while I look for the link.

A Bunch of Updated Metrics, 2012 Crew

Here are some updated key performance metrics for the 2012 Columbus Crew.

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PTS EARNED PER START (TEAM AVG 1.50 PPG)
5 game min

TOP 5
2.20 : Cole Grossman
2.14 : Federico Higuaín
2.10 : Carlos Mendes
1.86 : Dilly Duka
1.80 : Bernardo Anor

BOTTOM 5
1.32 : Milovan Mirosevic
1.20 : Julius James
1.17 : Olman Vargas
1.14 : Eric Gehrig
1.00 : Tony Tchani

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AVERAGE GOAL DIFF PER START (TEAM AVG -0.03)
5 game min

TOP 5
+0.80 : Cole Grossman
+0.60 : Carlos Mendes
+0.29 : Federico Higuaín
+0.19 : Danny O´Rourke
+0.14 : Dilly Duka

BOTTOM 5
-0.23 : Milovan Mirosevic
-0.27 : Chad Marshall
-0.33 : Olman Vargas
-0.38 : Tony Tchani
-0.57 : Eric Gehrig

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DISTRIBUTION: PASS ACCURACY, SEPT MONTH

TOP 5
89.5% : Julius James
89.0% : Chad Marshall
85.9% : Josh Williams
85.1% : Danny O'Rourke
81.9% : Eddie Gaven

MIDDLE 6
80.3% : Milovan Mirosevic
75.8% : Chris Birchall
74.4% : Sebastian Miranda
74.4% : Justin Meram
73.7% : Dilly Duka
72.0% : Federico Higuain

BOTTOM 5
70.9% : Jairo Arrieta
70.3% : Tony Tchani*
69.4% : Emilio Rentería
65.0% : Nemanja Vukovic*
50.0% : Andy Gruenebaum**

*Tchani and Vukovic much lower then counterparts
**GKs have lower percentage in MLS

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POSITIVE DISTRIBUTION AS % OF OVERALL TOUCHES, SEPT MONTH
Through Ball, Sucessful Flick on, Lay Off, Successful Cross, Key Pass, Assist

IMPACTFUL
59% Jairo Arrieta
50% Federico Higuain
44% Milovan Mirosevic
41% Justin Meram

GOOD
29% Chad Marshall
27% Eddie Gaven
26% Dilly Duka
25% Josh Williams
23% Emilio Rentería
21% Julius James
21% Tony Tchani
21% Danny O'Rourke

POOR
18% Chris Birchall
12% Sebastian Miranda
3% Nemanja Vukovic
3% Andy Gruenebaum

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GOALS + ASSISTS PER 90 MINUTES
(Min 450 mins)

FORWARDS (League Rank on right)
1.26 : Federico Higuain (2)
0.75 : Jairo Arrieta (15)
0.55 : Justin Meram (37)
0.31 : Emilio Rentería (113)
0.13 : Olman Vargas (215)

MIDFIELDERS (Position Rank, Right)
0.31 : Eddie Gaven (54)
0.29 : Tony Tchani (58)
0.23 : Chris Birchall (71)
0.19 : Milovan Mirosevic (80)
0.18 : Bernardo Anor (82)
0.18 : Cole Grossman (84)
0.17 : Dilly Duka (87)

DEFENDERS (Position Rank, Right)
0.25 : Nemanja Vukovic (8)
0.13 : Josh Williams (44)
0.13 : Eric Gehrig (45)
0.09 : Chad Marshall (57)
0.04 : Sebastian Miranda (94)
0.00 : Danny O'Rourke (-)
0.00 : Carlos Mendes (-)
0.00 : Julius James (-)

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SHOTS ON GOAL PER 90 MIN
(Min 450 mins, League Rank on right)

1.09 : Justin Meram (38)
0.98 : Jairo Arrieta (47)
0.94 : Olman Vargas (49)
0.94 : Federico Higuain (65)
0.82 : Eddie Gaven (71)

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Information is your friend! If you would like info on something along these lines but I didn't list it, please let me know; ljbaby654@gmail.com

Crew Round 30: Undone

Two goals in three minutes from Ohioan Chris Rolfe is enough to put away the Columbus Crew and damage their playoff hopes. Chicago takes it, 2:1 and steams towards 1st in the Eastern Conference.

1ST HALF
Both teams spared back and forth and couldn't create many chances. The game was waiting for a mistake and the Fire's young 'keeper Sean Johnson gave it to the Crew on a silver platter with lazy play in the back. Jairo Arrieta pounced and cleanly put it away for a 1:0 Crew lead in the early going.

The goal woke the home sided up and they turned up the pressure and methodically tested the Crew backline. First on the right, against Josh Williams. Then on the left against Sebastian Miranda. Then finally settling on the middle, taking on Chad Marshall and Julius James. It was here that the Fire found the soft underbelly of the Crew.

Logan Pause connected with Sherjill MacDonald who easily drew out Marshall and Julius James and found Rolfe with a through ball. Rolfe made the one-on-one look like a formality and put it past a charging Andy Gruenebaum.

Three minutes later the Fire again found it easy to play tight around the top of the 18 yard box and Rolfe hoisted a beautiful one up past Gruenebaum.

2ND HALF
Columbus didn't appear to come out in there usual attacking fashion and let Chicago apply the early pressure. It took until around the 70th minute when both Justin Meram and Tony Tchani came on for the Crew to start maintaining possession and attack. Olman Vargas even made a rare appearance 10 minutes later to up the Crew chances.

Opportunities were found but disorganized, as the game devolved into the familiar Crew scramble at the end. This chaotic end to games the Crew create have worked against some lesser teams of late but against a better club it fell flat.

IT'S NOT OVER, ALMOST OVER
• Julius James is looking more like he should be a 3rd option at CB at this point, behind both Josh Williams and Carlos Mendes (currently injured).

• Milovan Mirosevic disappeared during large portions of last nights game. His decision making isn't helping Federico Higuain and Jairo Arrieta get the ball.

• Tony Tchani again came on to be a presence and again was sloppy. It's hard to explain how someone how Tchani plays. It's like there is another layer of reality that he sometimes crosses to and fro that is slightly different then our own. Only he mixes them up. To us it'd be like watching a old VHS tape that's been taped over again and again, to Tchani... that's his reality.

• Interesting the Renteria got the start over Tchani. It doesn't appear that Tchani was too happy about it either: "Why even keep trying???????????" was his tweet a little over an hour before the game started.

• Tchani's maturity has been in question before (see missed Generation Adidas trip to Holland last winter).

• Chris Birchall, who as fallen out of the starting lineup and known more for his humor and smile, expressed similar discontent last night after the game: "Starting to become a little frustrating now".

• The Crew have thrown a lot of new faces into the club halfway through the year. Going back to last year, just about everyone is new. You (the Crew) are going to have team frustrations. One has to think that Dilly Duka's absence was something discipline / team related and has uncovered some cracks that seem to dog Robert Warzycha year after year.

• "They didn't draft me," said Rolfe jokingly after the match. "They had a couple of rounds to draft me, so that's the way it is." (James Coston reported that on his Hot Time in Old Time blog after asking why he does so well against the Crew).

• In 2005 the Crew drafted Marcus Storey and Domenic Mediate over Chris Rolfe... in the future, Columbus Crew, always go with the local guys first. You fight harder for the earth under your feet. Ask any invading army in the history of humankind.

Predictions: Crew v. Chicago

The Crew scurry up to Chicago to take on the Fire tonight, 8:30 PM EST (Seven Thirty, Central Standard Time). Weather should be cool (50s) and clear.

ABOUT THIS GAME
• Chicago has outright won 6 of last 8 (1 loss)
• Crew have nabbed 5 of last 8 (2 losses)
• Both teams a tad guilty of facing bad opponents of late though
• Crew Avg Opponent Rank in last 10: 13.8
• CHI Avg Opponent Rank in last 10: 12.3
• Regular Crew starter, Dilly Duka, is not with the team in Chicago (reason given: family issues reports Adam Jardy, Columbus Dispatch).
• Higuain still in pain reports the Crew.com "I need to keep working on the rehab and get rid of the pain as soon as possible."
• These two teams have each won their games at home by a score of 2:1 this year.
• CHI beat Columbus in the Carolina Challenge pre-season tournament (neutral site).

PREDICTIONS

WV Hooligan, Drew Epperley thinks this is a "three points or bust mission," for the Crew but steps back and calls it a draw; "...with three home games and one roadie to D.C. left to deal with, [the Crew] can get away with just a point too."

Our friendly sweat suited friends standing on the corner outside that bar you never go in think this should fall Chicago's way with 58% of the vote over at WinDrawWin. The odds makers at BET365 also favor the Fire 4/6. Draw is at 13/5 and Crew win at 17/4. Not entirely convincing compared to previous home advantages.

Whenever I pull up the Pick 'Em page at MLSsoccer.com I think of guys too old to be playing high school-ers in some sitcom. Regardless, they favor Chicago in this one, 4 picks out of 6 with two guys picking draw. Hey! 4/6!

Lastly, Adam Jardy (Dispatch subscription) thinks that it'll be tough for the Crew to pull this one out, saying; "...it will be a challenge to return home with more than one point."

THE BLUE RIDGE
Chicago handled Houston and Montreal pretty easily at home recently so tough to go with Columbus. Higuain is probably closer to 70% then 100 and I still believe Jairo Arrieta is not there either. Eddie Gaven was also in enough pain to get his shin checked out but he is clear to play.

With Dilly Duka out we may see Tony Tchani, Justin Meram or Emilio Renteria coming on to replace him. This could be a blessing in disguise for the visitors because I believe that Frank Klopas is an organized and prepared coach so at the very least this late Duka news will give him more to work on.

Odds are that Tchani will replace Duka and the Crew will try and pull a point out of this one. It's the Warzycha way even though Columbus has improved their attacking capabilities.

Last time these two met in Chicago (June 23rd), Warzycha fiddled around with his top 18 that had not lost in 6 straight games and lost to a shorthanded side (Gonzalo Segares ejected in the first half).

Crew Round 29, 89th Minute Win

Columbus takes all three points at home after some late game dramatics, 1:0.

1ST HALF
I was in the south stands so can't comment much more then to say the first 30 minutes of the half looked pretty even. From there, Chivas seemed to settle back a little and tried to control the match from the midfield.

(The game is locked on MLS Live till tomorrow night.)

2ND HALF
(Moved to my perch in the upper east stands and had a better view.) Chivas looked organized and didn't look like a bottom of the table team but they did struggle to get the ball into attacking positions. A quick check of the stats says they only were able to get 2 shots off in the 2nd half.

Chivas seemed pretty content to play for the draw, which is weird. The good thing for Crew fans was that Coach Robert Warzycha was not content with a draw. He must have sensed that Chivas was dropping back and made a fairly uncharacteristic sub before the 60' mark (Emilio Renteria for Dilly Duka). Ten minutes later he brought on another that changed the pace of the match, Tony Tchani for Milovan Mirosevic.

Tchani played much more aggressive going forward then Mirosevic and was sharper with his distribution. The Crew started to look dangerous and the team with more to lose. Finally, in the 80th minute Justin Meram was inserted for what looked to be an injured Eddie Gaven.

Subbing three attacking players in against a team who didn't appear interested in going forward proved to be the best course of action. The match was headed for a draw had Warzycha not. Instead the Crew were able to get a goal in the 89th minute. Just about everyone on the team contributed to Justin Meram's goal. Jairo Arrieta, it should be mentioned, took a foot to the face - while he was heading a ball - while flat on his back - for a credited assist.

GAME NOTES AFTER GAME OVER
• Tony Tchani really changed the match. He can be frustrating sometimes with his poor distribution but last night he grew into the game quickly, he was a technical and physical presence.

• Crew finally get a shutout after 10 game dry spell. This same thing happened at the end of last year, incidentally (Aug. 5th, 2011 to Oct. 2nd 2011, 10 games).

• The Crew have some nasty habits and/or patterns (be it Warzycha or his staff) late in seasons.

• Emilio Renteria has taken his new roll and new position in stride. This is important to the team in so many ways.

• Danny O'Rourke was solid. His health is key.

• Nice night for Federico Higuain but you have to wonder about that "injection" Dr. R. Warzycha is talking about. Those things don't heal you, they aleviate the pain while it heals. Keep an eye on that.

• Columbus had some players out there at the end that just wanted it more then Chivas. Namely; Jairo Arrieta, Justin Meram, Tony Tchani and Josh Williams.

• Almost 14k fans on a Wednesday in Columbus. Two teams higher up the table in NY and KC only drew 10k (in New Jersey).

Predictions: Crew v. Chivas

Chivas are in town tomorrow to take on the hometown Crew. Scheduled for a 7:00 PM EST, just a tad past magic hour.

GAME SCRIBBLES
• Chivas haven't won since the end of last month. 2 Wins, 2 Draws, 6 loses in last 10.
• Early in the season their defense was stout but pretty bad in last 10. LAG, NER, SEA, SJE have all tallied 3+ goals on them (SEA dropped 6).
• Crew have lost last two (both on the road)
• Crew have won last 3 at home but it has been against weak competition.
• Crew still struggling to keep a clean sheet. 0 in last 10.
• The Chivas coach, Robin Fraser, is suspended for this game.

PREDICTIONS
The Crew are favored and no mixed messages. 4/7 Bet365 home Crew win with the betters vote over at WinDrawWin seeing good play on Crew win, 56% (30% draw).

The "Pick 'Em" guys at MLSsoccer.com must be on vacation so I'll go with their last Power Ranking... Okay. Chivas is ranked 2nd to last and Crew 10th. Crew it is then from underpaid and over worked MLSsoccer writers.

I'm a little early for anything out of Drew Epperley (WV Hooligan), Adam Jardy (Columbus Dispatch subscription), Pitch Fest (Hudson Street Hooligans) or Aaron Katzeman but safe to say that they probably have Columbus coming out on top. Keep an eye on those sites for future matches though if you want a good feel for what will happen in the Crew's next match.

MY PREDICTION
This is one of those should win and have to win games that send shivers up my burnt sports fan spine. Objectively, Chivas is bad this year all round but the last month; horrid. Crew win, right?

What makes me nervous is that this game will be a little different for the Chivas Goats as assistant Greg Vanney will be at the helm, filling in for Robin Fraser. Vanney is a winner. Guys like him sometimes have enough to spur on even the worst teams. Couple that with the fact that Chivas leads the all time series with Columbus and hasn't lost in their last three to them and I get nervous.

That aside, the real winner tomorrow night will be the match itself. Fall is here in Columbus and soccer this time of year is magic to me. Give me a crisp 50 degrees and a beautiful sunset and I'll be the happiest man on the planet.

If you see a glowing object in the upper east stands during this game, that's me.