New Post: Crossing Columbus Crew is the Best Columbus Crew

By, Kyle Gibson

Columbus Crew SC started its first home game at the newly christened MAPFRE Stadium with a bang, winning 2-0 over last year’s bogey team, Toronto FC.

Toronto boasts perhaps the best trio of stars in the league, with Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, but the unheralded Crew was able to pick up the victory.

Both goals the Crew scored on came from crosses. The first was an Ethan Finlay cross to Justin Meram, while the second came from defender Waylon Francis to Kei Kamara.

Crossing has found its way out of much of the international game, but it’s something second year manager Gregg Berhalter has doubled down on.

It was clear from the word go last season that crossing was going to be part of the Crew’s game, but frustratingly, there did not seem to be many pieces that could get on the end of balls played into the box.

The Crew had 31 crosses last night, 19 more than Toronto. More important than quantity, however, is finally seeing players finishing the quality balls that are crossed in. I sat through two games last season when beautiful balls were played in, just to be frustratingly put wide.

Kamara (who rejoined the club in the fall) might be what the Crew needed, someone that players can consistently target.

Also, if Meram can keep getting his head on crosses, he might well become a fan favorite.

Crossing into the box isn’t always sexy, but goals are. A victory against one of the teams tipped to be best in the league might demonstrate that the Crew has finally found a connection with crossing.

New Post: Analyzing Crunch Time for the Columbus Crew

By, Kyle Gibson

Saturday’s 2-1 loss to New England leaves The Columbus Crew hanging just on the edge of playoff qualification with three games left in the regular season.

Crew fans are in for a few worrisome weeks as Gregg Berhalter’s boys sit in the fifth and final Eastern Conference spot at 43 points. Toronto is hanging slightly behind at 40 points, while Philadelphia has 39.

The script writers at MLS really had fun with the Crew’s end of season schedule. The team will play Philadelphia twice and New York as well (the Red Bulls are one spot ahead of Columbus with 44 points.)

There are a few scenarios to look at here. If Columbus can earn all draws in its last three games, it would nullify the Union, but also leave the door wide open for Toronto. Greg Vanney’s team has a full four games left, compared to three for the Crew.

In their only previous meeting of the season, the Crew beat the Union 2-1, but that was early in the season. The Union has improved since then and is a better side. The Red Bulls and the Crew have played twice this season, drawing once 1-1 in Columbus and the Red Bulls won the second game 2-1 in New York.

It’s a rough road ahead that is coming to a quick end in a season that has been equal parts lovely, dark and deep, but as a wise man once said, there are promises to keep, and miles to go before the Columbus Crew can sleep.

New Post: MLS Monday, My weekly awards including a player from my hometown!

By, Kyle Gibson

Players of the Week

 Benny Feilhaber (Sporting Kansas City)- Benny has found a home in Kansas City, where he is up to 3 goals and 5 assists. 2 of his goals came this week. The first was the game winner late against Columbus from about 20 yards. His second goal came on ESPN Saturday against Los Angeles off a superb free kick. Feilhaber has successfully filled the gap left by Graham Zusi at the World Cup and is now shining with fellow stars Dom Dwyer, Zusi and Matt Besler.

Bernardo Anor (Columbus Crew)- Brought the Crew out of a losing skid with his 2 goals against Montreal on Saturday. Expect to see the winner as goal of the week candidate as well.Give Anor 4 goals on the season, plus perhaps a new prime attacking option to the Crew. 

Xander Bailey (Seattle Sounders)- A kid from my hometown, Bluefield, WV, became our town’s first MLS player when he signed a one game contract with his favorite club, Seattle. Bailey has cystic fibrosis and was able to play through the “Make a Wish Foundation.” It was great seeing the Sounders and their opponents, Tottenham, allow Bailey to start the game and even take a shot on Brad Friedel. The supporters also created signs for Bailey. It was an unbelievable thing to watch and a kid I saw at a few local soccer camps got to experience his dream thanks to a generous club and organization. 

Team of the Week 

FC Dallas-Don’t Look now, but FC Dallas is on an 8 game unbeaten streak, going back to June 1st. The team extended its streak on Saturday with a 2-0 win against New England. That streak has moved Dallas into 2nd place in the West at 29 points, tied with Real Salt Lake and behind Seattle. 

News of the Week

The MLS is keeping 2 US National Team stars. Graham Zusi and Matt Besler of Sporting Kansas City appeared on ESPN to announce they had signed long term Designated player contracts with their club. This is great news for the MLS to keep its domestic stars, many of which were named to the all star game by the fan vote. Good going by MLS and Kansas CIty for throwing out some cash and keeping two top players. 

New Post: Columbus Trades Away Square Peg Dominic Oduro

By, Kyle Gibson

As I type this, I’m drinking from a Dominic Oduro souvenir cup. The forward’s image was everywhere around the Crew this season, which makes perfect sense considering Oduro led the team last year with 13 goals. 

Time to order new cups in Columbus. The Crew traded Oduro earlier today to Toronto FC for midfielder Alvaro Rey. 

Honestly, this is something I saw coming. Oduro has no goals this season and even though he was injured to start the year, he has looked out of place in Gregg Berhalter’s new attack. 

After all, Berhalter’s main style this season has been to send crosses into the box. There have been goals recently that differ from that, but I get the feeling that is the style Berhalter wants. 

With the emergence of Justin Meram as a legitimate offensive threat and Jairo Arrieta as well, I think the Crew will now use the cap space to go after a target striker that can head down long balls for teammates and be a target on set pieces and crosses. Who is that man? For some reason, I keep thinking Kenny Cooper. I’m probably oh so wrong, but who cares?

Oduro had gained notoriety in Columbus, becoming the fan face for, like I said, cups, pocket schedules, the scoreboard, Papa John’s commercials and more. However, he didn’t have the popularity of guys like Federico Higuain, Will Trapp or Michael Parkhurst.

As for Rey, Berhalter said he can take people on 1v1 and keep possession, which is something the Crew loves to do in attack. Toronto gains a pretty decent guy to back up or start along Jermaine Defoe. I think the trade will prove to be beneficial for both teams. 

 

New Post: Introspection Tuesday, feat. Tottenham, Manchester United, El Clasico, and the Columbus Crew

By, Kyle Gibson

So….hey guys! Sorry this blog has been on extended hiatus. It’s been a whirlwind trying to graduate from college, a whirlwind that will continue until May. I will try to post as often as I can, but schoolwork has a priority!

I was able to watch a few games this past weekend, even though I had two consecutive “travel days,” to borrow a reference from the NBA. Here’s what has me thinking this Tuesday.

• Tottenham Hotspur’s Hothead Manager Showed Life Sunday- Tim Sherwood’s rage issues and recent poor form at Spurs has fans calling for Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal. Here’s the thing, Spurs won in a thriller against Southampton at White Hart Lane Sunday. The win came at a huge time against a very solid team. Even though the team came from two goals down, the backline is a HUGE concern going forward. Can Sherwood get it organized? His career depends on it.
• What the hell got into Manchester United?- As a Manchester United fan, this season has been the longest in recent memory. David Moyes has been hapless as a manager for large parts of the season and the players are not exactly playing like the team that won the EPL just 10 months ago. However, this past week, the team went 2-0 with a huge Champions League win over Olympiakos and a league win over West Ham. Wayne Rooney played out of his mind in both games, feeding a Robin Van Persie hat trick in the first and scoring both goals in the game against the Hammers. The first was a classic. Van Persie is out now for 4-6 weeks, which puts a damper on things for United, but Danny Welbeck should use the time to step up and prove his England worth.
• I Would NEVER Want to be the Ref for the Clasico– Barcelona vs Real Madrid is the last game I would want to call if I were a referee. The stakes for both teams are too high and the rivalry is so great that the game will always inevitably turn nasty. Who wants to be in the position of giving the world’s best players red cards for incidents that may or may not have happened? Do you really want Danny Alves and Xabi Alonso constantly yelling at you? This series is a mess and I want to be nowhere near it.
• The Columbus Crew are the Darlings of the young MLS season- I see your Toronto FC and your Seattle Sounders, but how about the Columbus Crew this season? Gregg Berhalter has the team firing on all cylinders with a 2-0 record. After losing Chad Marshall and Andy Gruenebaum, I expected the team to start slow, but the Crew are tied at the top of the Eastern Conference with Houston and Toronto. Here’s to the hot start continuing and fans filling Crew stadium, perhaps tempting the ownership into a few summer signings,

Follow me  @kyleisgibson. Just do it.