The Columbus Crew continued a streak on Wednesday -- but this one they are happy about. Taking a break from their club-record winless streak in league play, the Crew battled Everton FC to a 1-1 draw at Crew Stadium.
Sebastian Rozental struck first for Columbus with an early goal from distance, but Everton leveled the match 10 minutes before the break on a Victor Anichebe tally. The draw kept the Black & Gold unbeaten all time against English Premier League clubs, with two wins and two draws in four exhibition matches.
The Crew began the match with only four starters from the draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. Recently out-of-favor Chad Marshall and Sebastian Rozental got a chance in the starting 11. Youngsters Tim Ward, Danny Szetela, Jason Garey and Kei Kamara also won a place in the starting lineup. Jose Retiz returned after missing the last league match due to suspension.
The Crew got on the board first through Rozental's goal in the 14th minute. Kamara played the ball square to Rozental near the top of the penalty area. Rozental struck a shot from 20 yards that deflected slightly off defender Joleon Lescott, and while Everton 'keeper Richard Wright was able to get his fingertips to the blast, he was unable to keep the ball from reaching the net.
Everton fought back to level the match just after the half-hour. Kevin Kilbane intercepted a pass from Chad Marshall near the midfield stripe and found Delron Buckley in space with a quick outlet. Buckley ran down the center of the field right at Ritchie Kotschau, the last Crew defender, in a two-on-one with Victor Anichebe. Anichebe squared up to hammer an angled pass first-time from just inside the area, and it snuck under Kotschau and past Crew 'keeper Bill Gaudette for the equalizer.
The match went into the break level, but not without a lack of effort from Everton, in particularly Anichebe. Just minutes after his first goal, Leon Osman found the Nigerian striker. However, his shot from almost the exact same position slipped outside of the post.
Right before halftime, Anichebe was gifted another chance after Gaudette nervously mis-cleared the ball while under pressure from Buckley. Anichebe rushed to get a shot on goal as the Crew netminder hustled back to the goal to stop a weakly taken shot with a sliding save.
The start of the second half saw wholesale changes with a total of 13 new players entering the match, including Everton's American 'keeper Tim Howard. In the 55th minute, two of the Crew's first-half carryovers nearly combined for the go-ahead goal. Rozental picked up the ball 50 yards from goal and pushed Garey through to space. Garey ripped the ball towards goal, but was only able to find the side netting of Howard's goal.
The Black & Gold added to the international flavor of the evening in the 61st minute by bringing on Brazillian Eberson along with Eddie Gaven and Ryan Coiner. Coiner almost made his presence felt four minutes later. Knox Cameron squared a ball toward the area and Coiner one-timed it just wide of the target.
The Crew nearly hit for the winner again in the 82nd minute, but Knox Cameron skied the ball over the goal from just inside the box. That was the last real chance for either team as the match ended level.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
