The Crew end march by hosting Vancouver. That means we'll have played against all 3 Canadian MLS squads in March, eh! Weather reports have varied this week in regards to rain. But, at the moment of writing, it looks to be 55 and cloudy, but dry (rain coming later in the evening). If that holds, I'll be making my first drive down to Mapfre this season with my kids. Do the Crew stay unbeaten? Does attendance break 5-figures? (Definitely not if it rains--since they seem to be counting butts in seats, not tickets distributed!) Does Kei troll the Nordecke after he scores?
Obsessive Crew Fan Weekly - Graphic Credits to WhoScored.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- March Through Canada Columbus Crew vs. Vancouver Whitecaps – 3/30/2018 Two sides off to a good start to the 2018 Season set to meet on Saturday. Will Columbus complete their March Route through the Canadian teams in MLS, or will Vancouver bring the Crew’s momentum to a grinding halt? Vancouver Whitecaps Analysis Kei Kamara has started the year with 2 goals and an assist in his 3 appearances so far. His history with the Columbus Crew has him coming to the fairgrounds with a chip on his shoulder and I would expect him to be at the top of his game for this one. I would consider Vancouver to be a poor passing team. Just look at some of these stats from their previous games to start the season. On average Vancouver have only attempted 379.5 Passes per game. Of those 15% of their passes have been long balls. (1518) Vancouver’s approach to their games this season has been decidedly to attack on the counter. They have at times been extremely dangerous in this approach. Of note is their 2-1 win at Houston where they only had 33% of the Possession How they have been beaten so far… well they don’t play well down a man for nearly the whole game. Atlanta handily destroyed them on March 17th 4-1. Although in the play that led up to that sending off, they were certainly a mess defending a set piece! There is little else that can really be taken from that game as the team was down a man and clearly shut down after they scored an own goal on themselves as well. Defensively Vancouver seems to sit very deep, but often looks unorganized at the back, particularly when dealing with aerial crosses, or quick changes in the direction of the attack. When they win the ball back though they attack on the counter with blistering speed! Columbus Crew Analysis The Columbus Crew are off to a fantastic start to the season. Unbeaten and with 10 points from a possible 12 they top the table for the East and the League after 4 matches. A bore draw in Philly aside, the team has been playing attractive, aggressive soccer so far this year. With Captain Wil Trapp and Zack Steffen returning to the lineup, The Crew should be a full strength for their last encounter in the month of March. Tactically though Columbus have a lot to be weary of in this matchup. The system, for Gregg Berhalter, has been the star. The problem in this matchup however may well be that system. The aggressive approach from the Crew’s Wingbacks Afful, and Valenzuela could potentially leave huge spaces for Vancouver’s counter attacking approach. Santos’ turnovers must be eliminated for the Crew the defend the counter effectively in this one. The problem defensively however also allows Columbus to exploit Vancouver’s weaknesses. The width in the Crew’s attack, the constant switching of Martinez and Santos, and the number of headers the Crew seem to be winning on set pieces all spell trouble for the Vancouver defense. Keys to the Game · The Crew must not turn the ball over in dangerous areas, particularly when committing number forward on the attack. · Vancouver will be looking to exploit the Columbus Wingbacks on the counter, and Kei Kamara will be looking to have a big day against his former club. The Edge Columbus have been riding high lately. Vancouver have take one point from the last two matches. The strengths and weaknesses of the two teams are exact opposites of each other. This game has the potential to be a high scoring affair for both sides. The narrow edge in this one before kickoff goes to Columbus’ Zack Steffen. He has the potential to come up big when other keepers would give up (or not even move, or try, you know Kempin it…). I think both teams will find goals in this one, I just think with Zack back in goal, and the attack at full strength, Columbus will score more of them. My Projected Lineup ---------------------Steffen--------------------- Valenzuela – Abubakar* – Mensah – Afful ---------------- Trapp – Artur ---------------- ------- Santos – Higuain – Martinez ------- --------------------- Zardes -------------------- * Personally I would start Williams after Lalas’ last outing, but I think Berhalter will stick with young center back for now. Abubakar has played well overall, and anyone can have a bad game from time to time. It says a lot when the manager keeps his trust in a player after a poor match. If Lalas has a poor week in training though… I could easily see Josh Williams getting the start this Saturday.
Lei won’t score and I can only hope he leaves the field like Rich Balchan. One of the most selfish individuals to play for us and that’s saying a lot.
For the first time, all three of my brothers (and me) will be together at a Crew game. This Saturday is going to be a big family shindig. When asked how we wanted to spend the Saturday after my daughter's second birthday (today), we decided that we would be at the Crew game. Not a family party? No. Crew is playing Vancouver. Our family that is driving to Ohio today agreed to come along for the trip down to Columbus. So Crew, I need a good showing. The last time my brother, Casey, was at a game with me, we were down at the 2005 Carolina Challenge Cup. He had not-so-fondly nicknamed our starting forwards, Dum Dum One and Dum Dum Two.
For all the great news about our great start this is only the second team we've played that has a realistic chance at making the playoffs (and the first was coming off a CONCACAF game midweek). They also are flying all the way across the continent for an afternoon kickoff. You can only beat the teams on your schedule, but these are the games you have to win. Anything less than 3 points here is a bad result. Crew wins 3-2.
Mostly agree, but I'm not sure I would write off Montreal just yet. Initially I thought Garde had completely underestimated the league, but they are already way, way ahead of where I thought they would be. They did well in Vancouver, did well here, and beat Toronto. If they do fail to make the playoffs it would be more that the East is so deep than they aren't a quality opponent.
Crew win 2-1. Vancouver goal by Kamara in the north end. He runs over to the Nordecke and lifts his shirt to show a "Precourt Sucks" tee shirt. Most is forgiven.
Kei is like Sigi or Ola or Finlay. He played well for us then went to another team. It's a business so I don't hold a grudge against him
... three of those names played (or coached) and left with class. One of them left as a whiny drama diva crying that the other kid wouldn’t give him the ball.
Kei has always been outspoken. For the record, I think he should have been given the chance to take the PK and Pipa was wrong to grab the ball. Also Sigi and Ola could have stayed but wanted out. Big deal, I don't begrudge someone wanting to work in a particular city or for a particular company.
Right or wrong is irrelevant as how he handled it afterword was despicable. If I recall, Sigi’s wife was having medical problems, he asked for more money after winning the championship, we said no, he moved closer to home for his family. Ola, I wish him the best, he always carried himself with class and represented the club well when he was here. I don’t begrudge him or Meram for wanting to leave with the cloud over the club right now. Those that have stayed for this year, especially Wil and Steffen, I have an extreme amount of respect for! Now if Kei wants to take on Precourt... That would be a start to winning me back, but history has pretty much shown me that the only thing Kei Kamara cares about, is Kei Kamara.
I never really cared one way or another about Kei leaving other than being concerned about replacing his goals but Ola took care of that. I kinda think it's fun to have personalities like him in the league sometimes. I don't care if every player is perfectly professional and humble 100% of the time. I just want to be entertained by my soccer. I was more on the side of defending Pipa just because there didn't seem to be a protocol set for who would take the pks and Kei followed it up with some crappy remarks and was ultimately jettisoned to NE but whatever. It was 2 years ago. We got Gyasi. He's got Vancouver. Water under the bridge. I could applaud him again, especially if he had a save the crew message under his jersey. I'm thinking 2-1, Crew.
Hey! Listen! Look over here. Crew play tomorrow. At home. Attendance numbers? When will the rain come in? Cristian Martinez scores. Goals for black and gold. Lucky game number five.
This match up worries me a bit. We all know our style is most susceptible to the bunker speedy counter attack. And we still struggle to break down and open up a deep sitting team. We really need to open the game aggressive and get the first goal to prevent them being able to sit in. If Van scores first, I think we're sadly looking at our first 0-1 loss. If we get on the front foot, I predict 2-1 good guys. I don't see us keeping a clean sheet.
Right now I'm seeing rain starting around halftime. That doesn't bode well for convincing my little dude to go with me and I think his little sister is out of the question at this point. We're hosting the in-laws for Easter on Sunday, so I can't leave my wife home with all 3 tots. Stupid March Ohio weather. Stupid schedulers.