Crew Waltzes Past the Galaxy
It has taken 10 years to get Major League Soccer coaches dancing, but Greg Andrulis was at his ballet-like best Saturday night.
Well, perhaps not ballet, more like a dancing bear. It was a jig, a frolic, a celebration.
The Columbus Crew had just beaten the Galaxy, 3-0, in the MLS season opener for both teams and Andrulis, the Crew’s coach, was asked what his reaction had been when he learned that Landon Donovan was unavailable for the Galaxy.
Tossing his arms in the air, the bearded Andrulis spun around behind the podium in the post-game interview room, grinning broadly. Then came his answer.
“To be perfectly honest, I was disappointed,” he said. “He’s obviously one of the best players in the U.S. and we always want to play against the best. I understand he’s under the weather and that’s unfortunate.”
Donovan, a late scratch after a sleepless night suffering from what a team spokesman said were “flu-like symptoms,” was not the only one under the weather. The entire Galaxy team had to battle the elements.
How bad was it?
“We had to shovel two feet of snow off the field at 1 p.m.,” said Mark McMullers, the Crew’s general manager.
The Galaxy began the game playing into the face of a strong, cold north wind that gusted up to 40 mph. The temperature at kickoff was 37 degrees. The Crew players were unperturbed.
“We played about eight games during spring training in this sort of weather, so I thought we’d be all right,” Andrulis said.
Los Angeles, however, started out cold -- frozen would be closer to the mark -- and it took a smart diving save by Kevin Hartman to deny Crew striker Ante Razov a mere 3 minutes 31 seconds into the match.
Defender Chris Albright fouled Razov just outside the penalty area and Hartman flung himself to his right to tip Razov’s free kick onto the post, the ball rebounding clear.
Columbus took the lead 7:31 into the match when Manny Lagos floated a cross from the left toward the net and Edson Buddle got a head to the ball and deflected it past Hartman.
It was not the start that Coach Steve Sampson had envisioned. Worse was to come.
Twenty-eight seconds into the second half, the Crew doubled its lead, with Buddle again the goal scorer. This time a free kick by Razov dropped in front of Buddle and, with the defense caught ball-watching, Buddle steered his shot wide of Hartman.
Razov completed the scoring seven minutes later, slamming the ball into the net after finding himself unmarked at the far post when defender Michael Umana headed the ball directly to him.
Sampson said the loss of Donovan and the late arrival of Paulo Nagamura and second-half substitute Pablo Chinchilla, who both reached Columbus from Costa Rica at 1 a.m. Saturday, ruined any chance for team cohesion.
This was the starting lineup Sampson fielded:
Hartman; Albright, Umana, Tyrone Marshall and Todd Dunivant on the back line; Peter Vagenas, Guillermo Ramirez and Nagamura at midfield, and Cobi Jones, Jovan Kirovski and Paul Broome up front.
Individually, there was little wrong with the Galaxy players’ performance. Collectively, however, they are a long way from being a team, especially on defense. Sampson acknowledged as much.
“Our marking wasn’t what it needs to be,” he said. “We gave away an early goal in the first half, we gave away an early goal in the second half.
“The one-goal deficit going into the second half wasn’t necessarily something we felt we couldn’t overcome. To give up that second goal was unacceptable. Our marking has a lot to do with guys not being able to train together or play together. It was pretty obvious to me there was a lack of communication in the back. That will get sorted out.”
