A chippy match, a tale of two halve with some debatable refereeing. 1-1 was a fair result for Columbus, given how things went down. Santos had a rather forgettable debut. Lalas seems to be improving in every match. Mensah put in a reasonable shift. Higuain still isn't in the 18. Columbus sits tied for 5th with 36 points, but Montreal (36 pts) has 2 matches in hand and Atlanta (35 points) has 4 matches in hand. We need to get hot to make the playoffs. Discuss.
Back and forth first half, second was all orlando. We held on for dear life and got a point. Fair result. Nothing else to say really.
I don't think the handball was intentional in a sense that he tried to score with a Argentina punch .However once he knew he couldn't get the ball he let it hit his hand. So it's up to the ref I agree with the minority that Afful had a deserving red card. The foul on Santos was different and deserved yellow. Afful ran in hard from behind and gave a straight elbow to the face. He didn't intentionally try to strike the opponents face but it's absolutely a red card don't be a homer
Take the point and smile. Crew played well first half and got downright nasty in the second half when they were under siege in the defensive zone. Lalas the MOTM for the goal and stout defense. Can't really judge Santos considering all hands on deck to repel the relentless Orlando pressure. Cristian Martinez was a chippy pest. Four yellows and a red. 19 fouls. Can't say they weren't physical. Crew will have three straight and five of six at home. This is where the playoff drive begins.
One thing about league scheduling that I find absolutely maddening is the disparency in the number of matches played. There should never be a 4 match difference between clubs in matches played. It's insane.
Disagree. We might not have been dirty but we were a step slow constantly resulting in foul after foul after foul.....
I'm not impressed with us. Plain and simple. How we are even close to a playoff position is amazing give the fact that our defense is a jumbled mess, midfield is a turnover machine and we lack quality finishing.
We were dirty. They were dirty. This was not good soccer in any way, shape or form. Now go drink good beer.
A doubting Thomas here, but given the (RIDICULOUS!!) number of games in hand MTL and ATL have, I can't see us staying above the red line.
A decent game in miniature. A point on the road is nice, I guess, though Orlando has dropped points at home more often than they have taken all 3. Taken in the big picture of the season and year 4 of Gregg's tenure it's just another unsatisfying Saturday night.
Tough crowd. When seen in context that Orlando couldn't finish on so many golden chances (and with a man up no less!) and that Steffen, who has to be in consideration for the newcomer of the year award, made a couple of quality saves of the week, you have to see this as a point earned and for Orlando two points dropped. I am more than satisfied.
First half was entertaining, second half was ugly. A point on the road probably means Orlando won't catch us but 1 point a match will leave us below the line at the end of the season. Wasn't impressed by Santos, he did less than Martinez.
Mensah cost us the win. He was three yards deeper and kept Orlando insides on their goal. I agreed completely with the red on Afful especially with the advantage of the replay. I would have been livid on other side if it weren't called. Dwyer deserved a yellow for his attempted bike in the box as did Latin for an intentional handball. Martinez had a nice game. Not sure why Meram took that free kick instead of Santos. Why didn't Santos start?
Wrong time to bring Santos in. We were bunkering in and struggling to connect passes. Didn't seem like the right time to bring in a player who doesn't know his teammates or opponent very well.
Part of that is due to us. You take the State Fair, tOSU football (no one in their right minds schedules opposite that unless they have to), and the Quarter Horse Congress, it's difficult to fit all of our home games in what is left.
I only partly agree. We can and do play road games during the State Fair and QHC, and we've played home games on Sundays during Ohio St football season. The inconsistency in # of games played is league wide. I blame the MLS schedulers, whoever "those people" are.
I think the problem is too many teams have restrictions like we have that have nothing to do with MLS. I would agree the schedule should be equal and never be more than 1 gm differential at any given time
We are likely only close because we have played more games. However if we win all orvmost of our home games we will be in good position to at least get the 6 spot
It's not easy to schedule. There was this old Jewish guy who did the NBA schedule for decades(up to about 20 years ago)--as it was too complex for a computer. Interesting story. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Gottlieb See also an article on one of his successors. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...e-takes-with-him-an-era-league-wont-see-again