Seconds From Moving On, Crew Party Put On Hold

Late Goal Puts Crew In Danger

By Robert Ivory

COLUMBUS- The champagne was ready to be popped. The Crew were merely seconds from moving onto the next round of the CONCACAF Champions League. But then a very late header from the Costa Rican side, Saprissa, put all the party plans on hold. For now.

The Columbus Crew drew 1-1 with Saprissa Tuesday night at Crew stadium on a brutally cold night in the heart of Ohio. The Crew had a chance to secure a next round date with a win against their Group C opponent, but managed only a point on a night that was filled with Columbus chances.

“The guys are disappointed because we gave up the goal in the last minute, but we still have a chance. All we need is a tie in Puerto Rico,” Crew manager Robert Warzycha said after the late Saprissa equalizer.

The first real chance for the Crew came in the 19th minute of the game when Alejandro Moreno stretched out his leg to pass the ball to a cutting Robbie Rogers down the wing. Rogers took the ball, crossed it into the box, but Moreno on the return pass headed the ball well high and wide of the goal.

The Crew’s opponent from Central America struggled to get their pace from the get go, noting that the cold, breezy mid Ohio autumn weather played a major role in their preparation for the game. The team with white road jerseys all sported long undershirts under their jerseys, including gloves to match. As the two teams in Columbus, OH kicked off to 50 degree temperatures, the small Latin American country bathed in 75 degree temps.

“For us, it’s too cold,” Saprissa manager Jeaustin Campos said after the 1-1 draw. “We are not playing many games in the winter, we tried to stay warm as much as we could, but its two separate things; the football and the weather and field conditions. It’s important what happens inside the field.”

On the field, the temperature was looked at differently by the native Costa Rican players. “The temperature was low and of course it affects the game, but we were able to perform even as low as the temperature was,” forward Armando Alonso said through a translator after the match.

The Crew went ahead in the 27th minute when Robbie Rogers put a penalty past the Costa Rican goaltender, Keilor Navas. The Crew pressed hard to get their first goal when Guillermo Barros Schelotto was fouled harshly in the box by Saprissa midfielder and captain, Walter Centeno.

Schelotto dribbled the ball into the box and was greeted with a studs up tackle, which referee Mauricio Morales saw and awarded the Crew with the penalty. Centeno was given a caution, but the foul looked like it could have merited a red card.  Schelotto, who normally takes the Crew’s PKs, drew blood from the challenge and had to leave the field to get it cleaned up, as per the rules of the game suggest.

The Crew petitioned to get their leading goal scorer back on the field after he got it cleaned, but the referee did not let the forward to return to take the penalty. Therefore, Robbie Rogers took it and put a right footed shot into the left hand corner of the net, beating a diving Navas, who guessed the wrong corner. The Crew went up 1-0 and looked ever closer to the next round.

“I think Robbie felt that he could take it and score,” Warzycha said about the penalty. “It’s difficult for the coach to point who to take it, it’s good that he took it and scored.

Immediately after the penalty, the Crew pushed for a second goal with several chances coming from the foot and head of Rogers. In the 32nd minute, the Crew midfielder came down the wing, got an unmarked left footed shot on net, but was right to the keeper’s hands. His chance in the 42nd minute was probably his best chance for his second goal when he received a cross from Crew defender and Captain Frankie Hejduk in the box, but put the sure goal, wide right with his head. Saprissa had only a few chances in the first half including a worrying flick on by Waston from a Saprissa free kick, but he pushed the ball just wide of the target.

The Crew had a barrage of chances to put the game away in the first half, but was unable to do so despite putting nine shots on net (two of which were on target). However, the MLS side still led 1-0 at the half and looked to have their destiny of moving on in their own hands.

It was Rogers again that had a chance to put the match away with a second goal in the second half, but when he could not handle an Emmanuel Ekpo cross to his feet, hope was lost for more room between them a Saprissa. Ekpo had problems of his own later as he dribbled into the box, took a left footed shot but was saved nicely by the feet of Navas. Emmanuel had a chance to head the ball in on the rebound, but was wide. The Crew had many opportunities to go two goals ahead, but it remained a one goal game in the later stages of the match.

Saprissa came inches wide to getting their first goal, or at least a penalty, when midfielder Douglas Sequeria beat Adam Moffat on a corner kick and had a clear header towards the net.

The ball deflected off of the thigh of Crew defender Gino Padula, who was covering near post, then into the hands of Crew goalie Will Hesmer. The Costa Rican side was appealing for a hand in the box, as between the deflection off the leg and into Hesmer hands, the ball looked to knick off Padula’s right hand. Replays would show that the ball did just graze off the hand, but not enough to warrant a crucial penalty kick for Saprissa.

All looked won for the Crew heading into the extra time with only a few minutes to go before the end whistle and a trip to the next round. The Crew had their chance to put the final nail in the coffin, but all looked well with only that small time remaining.

Saprissa, still fighting for the second and final qualifying spot in the group, got their equalizer in the 92+ minute of play off a free kick more than 30 yards out. Centeno put a wonderful cross into the box and found the head of Alexander Robinson. Robinson pushed over Brian Carroll in the box, creating the space he needed, and was able to bounce a ball though the legs of Crew goalie Will Hesmer for the 1-1 score line.

“I think we created some chances and could have been up 2-0, but that the beauty of the game. Sometimes it does not matter how many chances you create, it about how many goals you score and you have to play to the last whistle,” the Crew boss said.

All is not lost for the Crew in their bid for the later stages of the tournament.

“You win games, you lose games. We have scored goals in the 90th minute before to win and tie games,” Crew midfielder Adam Moffat said after the devastating tie. “We’re still good and we are still not out.”

As physical as the game was, 45 fouls and six yellow cards, the Crew were almost able to hold on to their one goal advantage, despite being unable to put the dagger into the Costa Rican side. The Crew now sit on seven points, leading the trailing Costa Rican side by only two points going into the last game of the round.

The Crew will head to Puerto Rico (beating them 2-0 in Columbus) on October 20th needing only a point to move on, while Saprissa take on Cruz Azul, the leaders of the group in San Jose.       

International Soccer Network's Man of the Match: FWD Robbie Rogers, Columbus Crew and DEF Alexander Robinson, Saprissa

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