Gruenebaum the key in Crew draw
Their season started at home against a revamped New York Red Bulls team that ended with a scoreless draw. For Week 2, Columbus headed West to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake, where their defense remained solid and their offensive prowess seamed to improve, despite not getting anything past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
Columbus head coach Sigi Schmid was pleased with the play of his team in the opening half, but he felt that it dropped off later in the game as RSL made adjustments.
"It was a little frustrating today because I thought we played a good game against New York at home [last week] and we created things offensively," said Schmid. "In the first half today we created things offensively and we were the more dangerous team in the first half.
"But the second half was not a good half for us. Give credit to Salt Lake, they pack the midfield and they got very active and place-changed a lot ... and we didn't deal with it well."
Something Schmid pointed out that his team did do well was shut down last year's Golden Boot winner, Jeff Cunningham. Central defenders Marcos Gonzalez and Ezra Hendrickson were assigned the arduous task of corralling the RSL striker who opened the season with a pair of goals last week, a task that Schmid said was accomplished with a team effort.
"Defensively we played well," said Schmid. "We did a pretty good job of bundling up Cunningham - except for one time when he got through and Andy Gruenebaum came up with a good save."
Gruenebaum has been the last man in defense for Columbus for both of their shutouts. His play has landed him the starting role in only his second year as a professional after appearing in just three matches in 2006.
"One of the things our goalkeeper coaches have worked with him a lot on is punching balls," said Schmid. "You don't see a lot of goalkeepers punching balls anymore and I think it's a lost art. I think he solved a lot of problems for us with four or five good punches. I was very happy with him."
The key save of the game for Gruenebaum - the one time Cunningham got through - came in the 54th minute. Cunningham rushed onto the end of a Freddy Adu through ball. Hendrickson tried to recover and pressure Cunningham, but the RSL striker still got his shot off. Gruenebaum was there to block the chance.
"He does what a goalkeeper is supposed to do," said defender Frankie Hejduk, "and that's to save your team."
Although he gets the shutout on the stat sheet, Gruenebaum points to the organization of the other 10 players in front of him as the vital part of playing good defense. As a young professional he appreciates the veteran leadership.
"The guys in front of me are working extremely hard," said Gruenebaum, "and that's the reason we're getting shutouts - the back four to the midfield to the forwards - everybody's working incredibly hard in front of me and makes things easier for me. It limits the chances.
"(It's) the organization of our back four. Every one of them have been playing a long time and that helps me, being younger."
For the rest of the time when Gruenebaum wasn't seeing the RSL attackers bearing down on his goal, Schmid pointed out that it was largely due to the play of Gonzalez.
"Marcos Gonzalez is one of the best defenders in the league," said Schmid. "I don't think he gets the credit he deserves. He's an all-star type player. Because we didn't have a good season last year, a lot of people don't notice him. He reads [the game] well. He's very good at one-on-one challenges and duels. You see him rarely lose a duel."
With the defense clicking and keeping balls out of their own net, the Crew now look at what's going on in their attacking play. Schmid saw improvement against Salt Lake, but it wasn't enough.
"Obviously, you want to finish chances," said Schmid. "I was disappointed in the second half that we didn't create chances ... we have to be a little more definite in the final third. We just have to be more selfish at key moments in front of the goal."
In the end, Hejduk noted that, even though they might not have played their best for the entire 90 minutes, points on the road are still very valuable.
"Anytime you get a point on the road, anywhere else in the world, that's a good result," said Hejduk. "We're disappointed a little bit because we thought in the first half we dominated and could have scored a couple of goals. I think in the second half they dominated ... and they had the better chances.
"In the second half they [RSL] came out and played well and won a lot of the second balls - a lot of the knockdowns - and it caused us some troubles. But, at the end of the day you have to be happy with our team defense. We kept it at zeros and it's two zeros in a row. It's nothing to hang our heads about. We came out of here with a point and that's a positive."
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
