Endless Road Brings the Crew to L.A.
The Columbus Crew’s North American road show arrives at the Rose Bowl tonight, the third stop on a grueling seven-week, seven-city tour for the wandering albatross of Major League Soccer.
Not that Coach Tom Fitzgerald or his players are complaining.
For the Crew, playing its first seven games on the road--including tonight’s 7:30 encounter with the Galaxy--has two very definite upsides.
First, it means that 16 of Columbus’ final 25 games will be played at home, something that will come in handy in the drive to the playoffs.
Second, home has more meaning for the Crew than for any other MLS club. On May 15, when the team finally plays in front of its own fans, it will be in a new, $20-million, 22,500-seat, soccer-only stadium--tangible proof of owner Lamar Hunt’s faith in the league.
The Crew will be the only MLS team with its own stadium. Already U.S. Soccer is taking advantage of the facility. One week after the Crew’s home opener, the United States Under-17 national team will play El Salvador there in the second leg of a home-and-home playoff series for a place in the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in New Zealand in November.
Construction of the stadium, on the grounds of the Ohio Expo Center, is nearing completion, but ongoing work has caused the Crew to start the season on the road.
The team opened with a 1-0 loss to the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in East Rutherford, N.J.
“I knew we were going to be rusty,” Fitzgerald said afterward. “New York is a tough place to play. . . . They [the MetroStars] took advantage of some of our mistakes. We can’t use our away games as excuses. We know what is ahead of us. We need to come out with more intensity in Tampa.”
The Crew did, winning, 3-2, against the Mutiny last Saturday as Todd Yeagley, Stern John and Brian McBride scored.
John was last season’s MLS scoring champion, with 26 goals and five assists, edging out the Galaxy’s Cobi Jones (19 and 13) and Welton (17 and 11). He and McBride scored 36 of the Crew’s 67 goals in 1998.
“If Stern and Brian score, it’s going to be difficult to beat this team,” Fitzgerald told the Columbus Dispatch.
“We love playing together,” McBride said. “He’s a great player, especially with the ball at his feet. . . . We expect to score a ton of goals this season.”
The Galaxy, which set MLS records for most goals scored (85) and fewest allowed (44) last season, is far off that pace this time around.
It is also without its promised practice facility. Negotiations between the team, the Rose Bowl and the city of Pasadena regarding construction of a site ended last week without resolution.
Unlike the Crew, the Galaxy has no home to call its own.
