Sirk's Notebook: Crew vs. Dynamo
• Scored four goals against the defending regular-season Western Conference champions to win a game in which they blew a two-goal lead late in the second half.
• Gone on the road to defeat the defending Supporters' Shield champions, winning at RFK Stadium for only the fifth time in club history.
• Absorbed a desperate onslaught from the two-time defending MLS Cup champions, only to walk off the field with a shutout victory.
Columbus 4, Chivas USA 3. Columbus 2, D.C. United 1. Columbus 1, Houston 0.
Meet the new Crew, same as ... teams that used to beat up on the old Crew.
Just one month into the season, the Crew have mathematically invalidated all those "America's Hardly Winning Team" jokes. Four wins and 12 points have them sitting atop the entire league for the first time since 2004.
While there were flashes of style, Saturday's 1-0 victory over the Houston Dynamo was mostly about guts. After grabbing a first-half lead on Alejandro Moreno's fourth goal of the season, the Crew absorbed a second-half onslaught that would have buried previous editions of the club. Crew defenders ball-hawked as if they were Labrador retrievers and the Dynamo were playing with a tennis ball. And whenever something eventually broke down, another defender would fly in at the last minute to disrupt the play. The defensive third was full of yellow bodies looking for a grenade upon which to hurl themselves.
"That type of commitment ... it's a goalkeeper's dream," said Crew keeper William Hesmer, whose acrobatic 89th minute save prevented a Wade Barrett shot from finding the upper corner of the net. "I love playing in front of guys like that. It may not be the prettiest team, but they will do whatever it takes to win. We dodged some bullets, but at the end of the day, we made the plays we needed to make to win the game."
"We faced a team that was very hungry and desperate," said Crew coach Sigi Schmid. "From a soccer standpoint, you could say that they had the better of the game for sure, but I think our character, our resiliency, and our willingness to fight for one another... last year, we stood up here (at the post-game press conference) and said that we played better and had more chances but we lost. It's a lot better to be on the other side of the coin."
The Other Side of the Coin
Houston coach Dominic Kinnear was on the other side of the coin, left to talk about how his team played well and had nothing to show for it.
"You don't always get what you deserve in soccer," said Kinnear.
Kinnear was diplomatic when asked to assess the Crew's hot start. "Teams go on runs at different times of the season," he said. "Things are going well for them right now and they are taking advantage of the opportunities being presented to them. It doesn't surprise me when teams go on runs because you know every team has a run in them at some point in the season."
When asked if the Crew's run could continue, there were cracks in his political correctness. More than a little darn-we-should-have-won-this-game sentiment leaked through. "If you were to watch that game and erase the goal, you'd probably say that Houston won that game," he said. "But it's not about playing well; it's about goals. Sometimes goals go well for you and sometimes they dry up. But of course their run can continue, because when you win, you have belief."
Belief
The Crew certainly have the belief.
"The guys are confident," said Schmid. "When they are in a game like this, and it's a war at the end, they have the feeling that they are going to win it. Last year, they were worried about when the bad thing was going to happen, whereas now they say 'OK, we're going to dodge a few bullets, make some saves, and sacrifice our bodies, but we're going to find a way to win the game.'"
"We are trying to win games instead of trying not to lose games," said Moreno. "When you have a mentality where you are going to be organized defensively and fight and win 50/50 balls, that adds up to a win. Those things count for something and tonight they counted for three points."
More Moreno Magic
How hot is Alejandro Moreno? Moreno is on such a hot streak that he has half as many goals as Landon Donovan.
(And how hot is Landon Donovan? His goal total has matched or surpassed 10 other MLS teams.)
Moreno did the whole score-against-the-team-that-traded-you thing in the 22nd minute. Chad Marshall made a brilliant, diving header attempt off of a Guillermo Barros Schelotto corner kick. Marshall's low header hit defender Patrick Ianni inside the 6-yard box and fell in the vicinity of Moreno, who opportunistically blasted the ball home.
"It was a free header by Chad Marshall, so we were loose on the set piece," said Houston's Kinnear. "Then comes the scramble and it falls to them. It was one of their first forays into our half of the field, so you slap your thigh and throw out a couple of curse-your-luck words."
Schmid told the team that they would score on a set piece this week and, according to Marshall, it was a good thing they connected on that attempt. "After that one, they had two arms around me at all times," he explained. "To be able to get to one and to get the lead was crucial."
While certainly not a work of art, Moreno was happy to cash in on the opportunity that presented itself. "Goals are fickle, but right now they are going in for me," he said. "The most important thing is that I continue to work, and be dangerous, and create opportunities for myself and other people. If the opportunities are there, then it is up to me and the other guys to provide the finishing touch."
The Beautiful Game
There are "inconsequential" moments in a soccer game that can take your breath away despite never appearing in the box score. One such moment occurred in the 30th minute when Robbie Rogers dispossessed Richard Mulrooney in the southwest corner of the stadium. Rogers took two controlling touches, then split two defenders with a burst of speed to advance the ball up the left sideline. Then he played the ball forward toward the center circle to Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who one-timed a give and go back to the in-cutting Rogers, who took one more touch and played a ball to Eddie Gaven on the right flank at the midfield stripe. Gaven then attacked with five dribbling touches before passing to an overlapping Frankie Hejduk down in the channel to the right of the penalty box. Alejandro Moreno made a run to the near post that lured three defenders with him, leaving Schelotto wide open for a run at the far post.
Sadly, Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad intercepted Hejduk's cross to thwart the rally. Like Kinnear said, you don't always get what you deserve in soccer.
In the span of 20 seconds, the Crew advanced the ball the entire length and width of the field, from the southwest corner to the northeast corner, with 10 dribbling touches, 4 completed passes, a few great runs, and a good crossing attempt.
Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Rugby Scrum
Another memorable (and much more peculiar) event occurred moments later in the 34th minute. Crew goalie William Hesmer muffed a low cross and the ball fell right to the feet of Dynamo forward Franco Caraccio inside the six yard box. Hesmer flailed at the ball with his legs which tied up Caraccio momentarily. Caraccio then took a shot that was blocked by Crew midfielder Brian Carroll. Each player's momentum caused them to collide, with the ball wedged between them.
Then it got even more interesting. As they fell to the ground, Crew defender Danny O'Rourke got between the players and the goal line, sticking his foot into the fray to further bolster the defensive fortification. However, O'Rourke was quickly swept into the pile, meaning three players were piled on top of the ball about three feet from the goal line.
And then Hesmer re-joined the fray, jumping over the pile as if he was football great Walter Payton on 4th down and inches. From behind the pile, Hesmer sprawled out along the goal line while reaching his arms forward into the pile. Referee Terry Vaughn eventually blew the play dead when Hesmer secured the ball less than a foot from the Crew goal. (I half expected Vaughn to emphatically point in the Crew's direction to indicate that they had recovered the fumble at the bottom of the pile-up.)
Hesmer shook his head when reflecting upon the play. "The shot or cross came through and I probably should have held it or gotten it out of there, but then Caraccio came through and I'm trying to pin the ball to his leg and he's kicking at it and then everyone went down and Brian [Carroll] was in there and then Caraccio was basically trying to roll it in with his mid-section, so I just dived back in there and got my hands under the pile somehow."
Houston coach Dom Kinnear also struggled to make sense of it. "You can put that down to Columbus not giving up on the play, or us not having luck, or a combination of the two."
The Defense
The Crew undoubtedly had its finest defensive performance of the year. Chad Marshall owned the middle of the box, Danny O'Rourke played his best game at center back and, as has been mentioned, the team-wide sacrifice was evident.
"It's a good thing when you have 11 guys battling for each other defensively," said Hejduk. "Not just 9 or 10, but all 11. When you can withstand Houston throwing everything at you, it says a lot about your character. We're in it for the full 90 minutes. Or the full 95 minutes, like it was tonight."
"[The Dynamo] have good service from the flanks from Davis and Mullan, and they have some big bodies they can throw in the middle, so it was tough," said Marshall. "But we wanted to get that shutout for Will. We want to keep his goals against down and send him to the All-Star Game."
Hesmer's save on Wade Barrett's 89th-minute shot was a highlight-reel moment. After going down injured twice and after enduring a shaky moment or two earlier in the match, Hesmer was at his best with the game on the line. Not only did he make a diving save on a shot destined for the upper corner, but he caught it cleanly, leaving no rebound attempt.
"The difference between winning 1-0 and tying 1-1 is so small," said Hejduk. "Barrett took a great shot and Will made a great save. It could have easily been 1-1, but Will made the play. Things are going our way right now, but we are making our own luck."
Best of all, according to Hejduk, is that things should only get better in the back. "The good thing is that we're still learning each other in the back four. Gino Padula is new to the team and Danny is playing a new position. But we're learning how to play with each other while winning. If we're winning while learning, that's a good thing, because once we figure it out, we will be a tough team to beat."
Attitude
Danny O'Rourke likes to play with an attitude, so this game seemed to fit him perfectly. O'Rourke said the team's willingness to sacrifice and do whatever it takes stems from captain Frankie Hejduk.
"Frankie has said he wants us to play with a (mean guy) mentality, and in training and in games, he sets that tone," said O'Rourke. "I like to play that way anyway, so we just rev each other up. He gets in on a tackle and I try to rev him up, and when Chad Marshall gets in on a tackle, we try to rev him up. It feeds on itself, and if we can keep that mentality, especially at home, I think we'll be effective."
Hejduk's ribs
In stoppage time, Hejduk was given a yellow card for delay of game. He attempted to take a throw-in but was having a hard time lifting his arm, so he deferred. After the game, he spent a gazillion hours in the trainer's room, give or take.
"I took a shot in my side," he explained. "It's a bruised rib, and it takes a shot every game. Those types of injuries never heal during the season because you're always getting hit. It's just one of those things where I have to suck it up and deal with it, which is what our team is all about this year. Nobody wants to leave the field. We are out there fighting for each other and you have to drag guys off the field now."
100 Wins For Sigi
Crew coach Sigi Schmid earned his 100th career regular-season victory on Saturday night, becoming only the second MLS coach to reach the milestone. Former Ohio University (and current U.S. National Team) coach Bob Bradley tops the list with 124 regular-season MLS wins with Chicago, New York, and Chivas USA.
"It means that I've been around for a while," said Schmid, of his milestone. "But what it really means is that I've had the privilege to coach some good players. I'm proud of the fact that I have 100 victories, but I'm more proud of the fact that I've coached good players."
Schmid claimed he was caught off guard by the impending achievement, but don't confuse that for false modesty -- Schmid willingly confessed that he does follow certain numbers pertaining to his career.
"Honestly, I didn't know [about 100 victories] until Dave [Stephany] mentioned it to me at the beginning of the week," he explained. "I'm a numbers guy, and I was more aware of my record at UCLA, and I knew when I was going to pass the guy ahead of me. The one MLS number I know is that I have 16 victories in the playoffs, and I want to add to that number. I know that's the most of any MLS coach, so I want to stretch that one out a bit. That's the number I am aware of and the one that I want to expand on."
Nerd Stuff, Part One: Is it still only April?
There is no need to adjust your calendars. Despite the fact that the Crew have earned 12 points, it is still indeed only April. For only the third time this decade, the Crew have met or exceeded the 12-point threshold before June. (And one of those teams sneaked in on May 31, 2003.)
Only the 1998 Crew earned 12 points at an earlier date on the calendar, but that is due to the vagaries of scheduling. The 2008 Crew have matched the 1998 squad by earning the 12 points in just five matches.
According to Schmid, the current players have been able to silence the back-in-OUR-day bragging of the assistant coaches. "The best part for the players tonight is that they don't have to listen to Robert [Warzycha] and [Mike] Lapper tell them about how they were members of the Crew team with the best start ever, because now we've matched them."
Here is a year-by-year look at when the Crew have reached or crossed the 12-point threshold:
1996: July 25 (20 games)
1997: May 11 (8 games)
1998: April 18 (5 games)
1999: May 15 (8 games)
2000: May 20 (11 games)
2001: June 16 (11 games)
2002: June 12 (11 games)
2003: May 31 (9 games)
2004: June 6 (9 games)
2005: June 11 (11 games)
2006: June 3 (10 games)
2007: June 20 (12 games)
2008: April 26 (5 games)
Houston down, but not out
Despite Houston's 0-2-3 start, Kinnear said neither he nor his team is down about it, especially after what they felt was a hard-luck result Saturday.
"We've had some good luck in the past," he explained. "You don't win two MLS Cups without a little bit of luck. But you can see that these guys are hungry for success. They don't sit back and say, 'Look at us. We're the two-time defending champs.' There are expectations from the media and expectations from fans, but sometimes we need a reality check. Two championships in two years is pretty special. I think Columbus would take two championships in two years. I'm not saying that to be sarcastic, but the reality is that it has been going good for us. Our expectations in the locker room are the most important to me and our players, and that expectation is that we are going to try to win every game. And we are trying that."
And if Houston can maintain that hunger after two titles, don't look for the Crew to lose its own appetite after merely climbing to the top of the table.
"We haven't been there, so we should be hungry," said Schmid. "Once you climb to first place, it's harder to stay there than get there."
Duncan Responds To Danny O's Fashion Spread
Earlier in the week, Crew defender Danny O'Rourke was the focus of a Columbus Dispatch feature about personal expression. The paper picks a local personality and discusses their style with them. When asked what piece of advice he had for readers, O'Rourke told the paper, "Look at Duncan [Oughton], and do the opposite."
As many longtime readers know, I am nothing if not a crusader for truth and justice and for the right of an aggrieved party to give their side of the story, so long as it makes me laugh. So before Saturday's game, I tracked down Oughton to get his reaction to O'Rourke's potentially libelous advice, as it relates to fashion.
"They say that those who are jealous often lash out at others instead of looking in the mirror," said Oughton. "But I think Mr. O'Rourke needs to take a long look in the mirror because his fashion is absolutely shocking."
I mentioned that O'Rourke had been doing the opposite of Oughton, so I was curious as to what those opposite things might be.
"That's the thing," said Oughton. "He's been doing the exact opposite of what I do. For example, I wash my hair, whereas he does not wash his hair ever. He's got a fauxhawk/mullet/I don't know what. He's trying to do so many things with his hair. When I had a mullet, I had a mullet. I was committed to it. Now I've tidied it up and it's more tidy than a mullet; it's your run-of-the-mill average haircut. He's trying to do six different things and, to be honest, not one of them is working at all."
After a brief pause for further contemplation, Oughton continued, making this a head-to-toe affair. "Working our way down," he said , "I like to wear little kids' t-shirts. No wait, that's what he does because it's the opposite of the adult-sized t-shirts that I wear. I wear t-shirts that fit me in 2008, whereas Danny wears t-shirts that once fit him when he was just getting out of diapers, which was probably age 8 or 9 for him."
"As for pants," Oughton continued, "I'm happy with whatever he wears so long as he wears them. Then he wears these little slip-on shoes with squares of different colors painted on them. I think they wore them in the Karate Kid for that little dress-up party they had."
I did point out, in fairness, that in the article, O'Rourke said that his favorite TV show was Flight of the Conchords, starring fellow New Zealanders Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement.
"Really, I think Danny would like to do the things I do, but he's too immature so he can't quite yet," the Kiwi responded. "He'll get there someday. The fact that he said his favorite TV show is Flight of the Conchords just proves that he wishes he could learn to talk like me. He's told me, 'I wish I had an accent like yours', and now he's using those DVDs to teach himself. It's kind of weird. I've tried to tell him, 'You're cool in your own right, buddy, so there's no need to do every single thing I do.' He made a clumsy attempt at sharing that advice with the quote he gave the newspaper about doing the opposite of what I do."
So what advice would Duncs give to Danny O?
"My advice would be to get a new style. Danny thinks he has style, but it's obviously some sort of new underground style that nobody has heard of, like the Getting Dressed In The Dark Style. So if I could give one piece of fashion advice, from an older guy to a younger guy, it would be, 'When you wake up, open the curtains and turn on the lights before you get dressed, Danny. That way you can actually see what you are doing to yourself.'"
Duncan Oughton: Fashion Police
As we discussed O'Rourke's fashion, referee Terry Vaughn and his crew passed by and said "Hi" to Oughton. The officials were identically dressed in their gray game shorts and socks, plus black adidas shirts.
"What, do you fellas all shop at the same store?" asked Oughton.
After a brief exchange of jokes and pleasantries, the officials made their way toward the field. That's when Oughton noticed an unpardonable fashion faux pas. Three of the officials had the white adidas stripes running down the sleeves of their black shirts. The other official was wearing a solid black adidas shirt with no sleeve stripes.
"Hey! That man's not wearing stripes!" shouted Oughton as he pointed out the fashion offender. "Everyone else is wearing stripes, so why isn't he? Aren't you all on the same team? If so, dress like it, men! Be professional! Get that man some stripes for his shirt!"
Like O'Rourke, the officials found it hilarious to be on the receiving end of fashion advice from a Kiwi, so they all cracked up as they went on their way.
Crew Hometown In The News
San Diego native Frankie Hejduk was blown away by the news of the recent fatal shark attack near Solana Beach, Calif.
"I'm from Cardiff, and Solana Beach is the next city south," he said. "My friend texted me when the shark attack happened, and I couldn't believe it. I've surfed there a million times and I've never seen a shark. It's not like I ever went out there and worried 'is today the day it happens?' The only other shark attack I can remember near home was maybe 15-20 years ago when a woman was bitten, but she was already dead and had drifted way out into the ocean before the shark got her. But I know exactly where this guy was swimming. A great white just came straight up from underneath and chomped him once and he bled to death. It's crazy."
In all his years of surfing, Hejduk has only seen a shark once, but that was in Mexico.
Nerd Stuff, Part Two: MLS Cup Curse?
With Houston in town, it reminded me of a conversation that I had with my good buddy Flick about a month or so ago. We were discussing if Joseph Ngwenya had become the first ex-Crew player to win an MLS Cup. Ngwenya was traded to the Houston Dynamo on May 9, 2007, in exchange for current Crew scoring leader Alejandro Moreno. With Houston, Ngwenya went on to score the equalizing goal in the Dynamo's 2-1 MLS Cup victory over New England.
One thing that was apparent to us is that while the Crew haven't given away many championship pieces, they have been a massive importer of MLS Cup rings, hoping the luck would rub off.
Imported MLS Cup rings (21)
Tony Sanneh (D.C. '96, D.C. '97)
John Harkes (D.C. '96, D.C. '97)
Mario Gori (D.C. '96, D.C. '97)
Tom Presthus (D.C. '97, D.C. '99)
Ante Razov (CHI '98)
Manny Lagos (CHI '98, S.J. '01, S.J. '03)
Chris Henderson (K.C. '00)
Simon Elliott (L.A. '02)
Ezra Hendrickson (L.A. '02, D.C. '04)
Alejandro Moreno (L.A. '02, HOU '06)
Brian Carroll (D.C. '04)
Ned Grabavoy (L.A. '05)
Joseph Ngwenya (L.A. '05)
OK, so that's a total of 21 rings that have been earned prior to a stint in Columbus. But is Joseph Ngwenya seriously the first Crew export to go on to win a ring?
I immediately thought of two technicalities that probably shouldn't count. Frank Klopas was briefly Crew property during the 1997-98 offseason before being traded to Chicago for Jason Farrell. Klopas was a member of the Fire's 1998 MLS Cup championship squad. And Ramiro Corrales was also briefly Crew property. He was drafted by Columbus in 1996 but traded to San Jose for Mac Cozier before the season even started. Corrales won two MLS Cups ('01, '03) with the Earthquakes. Even though they never wore the Black & Gold, they have proven that legally belonging to the Crew in a name-on-a-spreadsheet sense is not in and of itself a barrier to championship success.
But it was time to do some digging. Surely there had to be at least one other ex-Crew who went on to collect a ring.
Sure enough, there were two more.
Exported MLS Cup rings (3)
• A.J. Wood played a combined 19 regular season and playoff games for the Crew in 1997. In 1999, he tallied 8 goals and 6 assists in 24 regular season games for D.C. United. He also logged 75 minutes in four playoff games that year. He did not see the field in United's 2-0 MLS Cup triumph over Los Angeles.
• Bo Oshoniyi played 13 games in goal for the Crew during their inaugural season, including a shutout in the Crew's first-ever game. In 2000, he had the best seat in the house for Tony Meola's career year with the Kansas City Wizards. With Meola starting 31 regular season games, Oshoniyi pitched a shutout in his lone appearance of the season-his first MLS action in four years. Meola gave a legendary MVP performance in Kansas City's 1-0 MLS Cup shocker over Chicago while Oshoniyi watched from the bench.
• Joseph Ngwenya tallied 5 goals and 4 assists in 25 games with the Crew in 2006 and 2007. After being traded to Houston on May 9, 2007, he notched 7 goals and 3 assists in 25 regular season matches, plus two assists in the first three playoff matches. Then he started MLS Cup 2007, played 80 minutes, and scored the equalizing goal in the 61st minute of Houston's 2-1 win over New England.
So now we know that Ngwenya became the third former Crew player to ever go on and win an MLS Cup. However, he earned the distinction of being the first former Crew player to actually see the field (much less score a goal) in a winning MLS Cup performance.
When's the Crew's birthday?
After the game, Crew fan Janet Handler was trying to make sense of the Crew's 4-1-0 start. She wanted me to get to the bottom of this unnatural occurrence and suggested maybe it had something to do with the team's Zodiac sign. This, of course, begged the question: When is the Crew's birthday?
It was suggested that it should be the date the team was granted. I nixed that because that was basically announcing, "Hey everyone! We're pregnant!"
Someone else suggested it should be when they officially became the Columbus Crew. I nixed that because that was basically looking at the ultrasound and saying, "It's going to be boy, so we will name him [insert-name-here.]"
I am going to have to stand by the notion that the team was born when it played its first ever game. Of course, that means that every club in the league is an Aries, which means that club-based astrology plays no role in the fortune of the league's teams. Hard to believe, I know. If only there were a more viable hypothesis to explain the Crew's hot start ...
"Hopefully the fans saw that this team will give you everything they have for every minute of the game." -- Sigi Schmid.
I suppose that explanation will suffice until more supernatural/paranormal research can be conducted.
Steve Sirk is a contributor to TheCrew.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs. Questions? Comments? Get three points from the Crew as wedding gift on Saturday and feel that it is a good omen for your marriage? Feel free to write at sirk65@yahoo.com.
