Philly gets a last minute goal for the win in Seattle--bringing them one point below us in the standings. Better get 6 points from the next 2 home matches.
Well, we rested a bunch of starters tonight to keep them fresh. We sacrificed this game to focus on the home match Saturday. Anything less than the full three points this weekend is inexcusable now.
Steve Clark has beaten the Crew twice this season. But let's talk more about that exciting, free flowing, attacking soccer that Gregg Berhalter has brought to the Columbus Crew.
I just saw that banner. Classy. So much sadness and so much agreement. And you know Chad Marshall was such a wash out. No need to keep him. Connor is a hardcore fan. Much respect.
With his concussion history, I can see why the Crew went that direction--influenced I'm sure, by what happened with Ross Paule not long before. I'm glad he's not had that issue again. I've always wondered why he didn't get more of a shot with the Nats (I think the concussion issue kept him out a couple of times when he would have been called up). Funny thing, I looked up the 2015 draft to see who drafted with the pick we got--a goalie who I don't remember at all. But the Wikipedia page for that draft (2015) shows that there was one, and only one player in that draft who was ever selected for an MLS Best XI team (Axel Sjoeberg). That just goes to demonstrate how much of a cr*pshoot the draft is.
The first 20 minutes were a joy to watch. Three or 4 clear chances, an actual goal and quite a lot of quick attacking movement. Then Portland stepped up their pressure, we lost our composure and it was all square balls and crosses to packed boxes the rest of the night.
The ball that Santos put through to Mullins early on has to be finished. That was set up on a plate. (Look at me, giving credit to Santos!!!!)
I didn't want to say it, but he had a very good start to the game. Then, along with the rest of the team, succumbed to the ratcheting up of Portland's pressure. Mullins should have scored at least 1 in the first 20. He gets one of those and it is a very different game. That said, he's so much better than Jahn, I was glad to see him out there. I also thought Sosa had another very nice outing. He played quickly yet aggressively. Hansen now has as many goals as all of our other wingers combined. How very sad for this team. Sosa and Pipa are tied in run of play goals this year. We score and create chances when we play quickly. We cross getting corners to waste and counter attacked when we slow things down. We played quickly for 20 minutes and then....
On second goal, you can see right when Hector decided he wasn't going to work as hard as he could and he slowed down. Unfortunately, his Timber mark kept going and got the goal. Hope that clip is played 5 times in a row for the whole team to watch. You think you deserve a start but then give up on a play? Leave him out of the 18 for a couple games to send a message. This team isn't good enough to have players take breaks.
We could also talk about the fact that the people shitting their pants about how godawful Steve Clark was were overreacting, which isn't all that unlikely around here.
If Steve Clark is not the goalkeeper in MLS Cup 2015, we are two-time MLS Cup champions. He shit down his leg in the biggest moment of his career.