Chivas USA makes quick work of Crew
With the Columbus Crew riding high in second place in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference, Coach Sigi Schmid opted to give his players a treat of sorts as long as they were in Los Angeles.
Schmid, true to his heritage and his Southern California upbringing, chose a German restaurant in the South Bay for a team lunch.
After that, things went from wurst to bad to worst.
On Saturday night at the Home Depot Center, the Crew gave up one goal, then gave up another, and then had a player ejected, all in the span of three minutes in the first half en route to a 2-0 loss to Chivas USA.
Matters got only marginally better in the second 45 minutes. Columbus did not give up another goal, but it did have assistant coach and former Poland international Robert Warzycha ejected for dissent.
It was all too much for Schmid.
The former UCLA and Galaxy coach was particularly upset at the treatment received by Crew leading scorer Robbie Rogers.
“Unless we want to make sure Robbie doesn’t ever play well in this league, we should let him continue to get kicked and beat up the way he’s getting beat up right now,” Schmid said. “It’s been ridiculous the last two games. . . . He’s getting no protection” from officials.
The loss was the second in a row for the Crew after it had gone six games unbeaten and Columbus dropped to 6-3-1.
The victory, meanwhile, lifted Chivas USA to 4-4-2 and into a three-way tie on points for first place in the Western Conference after the Galaxy’s 2-0 shutout loss at Toronto and the defending champion Houston Dynamo’s 1-0 home win over the New York Red Bulls earlier in the day.
Each team has 14 points one-third of the way through the MLS season.
It was Chivas midfielders Jorge Flores and Jesse Marsch who again stole the show. Each of them scored for the third consecutive game.
Flores’ goal came when Carey Talley sent a cross in from the right flank that two Crew defenders tried but failed to clear. First, Danny O’Rourke’s header went sideways, then Frankie Hejduk’s flick at the ball served only to send it up into the air.
Flores cracked it on the volley and it was in the net before goalkeeper Wil Hesmer knew what was happening. Schmid reasoned that O’Rourke had been shoved by Atiba Harris, hence the wayward header, but no foul was called.
Sixty seconds later and with the Crew defense still reeling, Chivas grabbed a second goal. This time Justin Braun sent the cross in from the right and Marsch was on hand to poke it home.
Marsch sprinted toward the sideline, shaking his fist like a dice player who had just rolled a winning throw. It was his fourth goal of the season, tying him with Sacha Kljestan for the team lead.
The stunned Crew was then dealt another blow when O’Rourke came flying in for a tackle on Harris and caught him on the calf, opening a wound to the bone that required four stitches. Referee Fernando Galvan went straight to the red card, leaving the Crew to play a man short for 70 minutes.
Chivas USA had little difficulty keeping control of the game, but it did take a superb one-handed save by goalkeeper Brad Guzan off a shot from point-blank range by Adam Moffat to keep Columbus off the scoreboard.
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