Columbus.- The night that Crew SC wore its original Black & Gold uniforms supposed to be fun. It was meant to bring the swagger back and continue the excitement that resurfaced with the victory over new York. None of that happened. The stats will tell that the hosts reached, at some point of the game, a “staggering” 73% of possession with an “astonishing” 87% of passing accuracy. Impressive, right? Not really if the team that came up with the three points was able to score from penalty kick and play with a man up for seventy-five minutes.
A win is a win, it doesn’t matter if is half to nothing or four to three. In the end earning the total of points possible is an achievement. It wasn’t pretty, It wasn’t a dominating performance by any means but Columbus got away with six points with back to back victories at home. Before last week, they obtained two points out of fifteen. Is that a progress? Yes, but only from the numerical perspective. Performance wise is up for discussion.
“In my eyes, I’m proud of the team, I think it was a really professional performance. You have the tendency to get sloppy and to maybe get discouraged if you don’t get that second goal up a man but I think it was a very professional performance and we really didn’t give them anything. I think it was good. I was happy with it” said Crew SC Coach Gregg Berhalter at the post-game press conference.
What wasn’t mention at all is the inability of this team to gear up their offensive approach when rivals park the bus. All that possession, all that passing accuracy means nothing if the team doesn’t put numbers and players inside the box. The Dynamo back line was playing high up, it was the perfect scenario to filter passes to exploit the speed of Ethan Finlay. But as well as the offside line requires to be in sync to be effective defensively, requires the perfect timing to break it offensively and Columbus never found it.
Between last week’s win over New York and this one with Houston, it was a regression that could impact the team’s expectations for this season. Every step that Kei Kamara takes away from the box diminishes their offensive power. Tonight he did the same thing in the first five games of the season (when they went winless), dropped back ten to twenty yards and switched positions with Finlay several times. What is the result? The team doesn’t create situations where he can shoot.
Having your number nine far from his natural habitat it was of the issues. The other issue, in this particular game, was the lack of speed. Playing a man up is not always an advantage, and the Dynamo was very smart about it, but once the team had the ball in transition was slow, and they lack that surprise factor that makes the difference when a rival is a man down.
Next stop is Seattle, on the road. They will go toe to toe and it will be and exciting match, but what about the other twenty-seven games left on the schedule?
Columbus Crew
Houston Dynamo
