What's the opposite of the June Swoon Monsoon? The June Boon Typhoon? Whatever it is, the Crew have used it to erase any premature doubt and apprehension about this enjoyable season. We have now seen this team walk across the hot coals of a cold streak, only to safely arrive at the other end of the mixed metaphor.
On Saturday night, in front 12,253 mortals and one Brad Friedel, the Crew capped a stellar month with a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids. What an amazing turnaround. Just three weeks earlier, the Crew were mired in a scoreless drought and had dropped a home decision to an expansion team. It seemed like a distant memory on Saturday. Once the final whistle blew, Frankie Hejduk flexed in front of the Nordecke and celebrated with supporters there. Fans crowded around the tunnel to give the team one last round of applause as the guys exited the field. The lines at Autograph Alley extended beyond the length of the tent. Everywhere I looked, everybody was smiling.
More than an hour after the game had ended, I was talking with Dr. Johnson, one of the Crew's team physicians. Over his shoulder, I could see Friedel honoring every last autograph and photo request from his fellow Crew fans. Over my shoulder, Dr. J could see current Crew players laughing and conversing with supporters.
"If you write about nothing else," said Dr. J, "make sure you mention how much FUN it was tonight."
Confidence
I don't know how this season will end up, of course, but in the past few weeks, I have been thinking about the confidence and mental toughness this team possesses. Whether it's Danny O'Rourke shrugging off his penalty troubles, or Frankie Hejduk sucking it up and flying around the world to play six games in 16 days, or Alejandro Moreno's dogged and determined play, there seems to be a common thread running through this team. These guys believe in themselves, they believe in each other, and they refuse to back down.
As I watched the Crew go on the road to demolish Kansas City and then overcome separate two-goal and one-goal deficits to earn a draw in L.A., I kept going back to my conversation with Robbie Rogers after the loss to San Jose. The Crew were in a four-game winless streak, a four-game scoring drought, and Robbie had been hacked to pieces during that stretch. As I sat next to Robbie and his visibly battered shins, he was irritated, but resolute. He told me that the team is getting chances and will score goals, so the scoreless drought was just something for the media to make a big deal about even though he wasn't worried. He assured me that the winless streak was just a cold stretch that all teams go through, but a good team like the Crew will snap out of it quickly before it spirals out of control. And as for the hacking, he promised he was going to figure something out and was going to run even faster so people couldn't kick him anymore.
I didn't know if it was the brash exuberance of youth, or if the wisdom of older players like Hejduk and Moreno had rubbed off on him. Or both. But what struck me was how much he meant the words coming out of his mouth. He wasn't just parroting platitudes, Nuke LaLoosh-style.
I didn't get a chance to talk to Robbie after he finished carving up the Colorado defense on Saturday, although he certainly deserved a shot at an I-told-you-so. But I did briefly relay the story of that June 7 conversation to Hejduk, the team's captain.
Frankie cracked a smile. "We've scored eight goals in the three games since then."
Hejduk reaffirmed that there was never any crisis of confidence in the Crew locker room. Not only did they take care of business on the road, but they knew they would get back on track at home as well. "We knew before we took the field tonight that we were going to win this game," he explained. "I know that's how I personally felt, and I think a lot of guys in the locker room felt the same way. We felt this was the game to get our home streak going again."
And whether it's falling behind in Los Angeles, or coughing up an equalizer at home to Colorado, Hejduk says the team is quick to shake off setbacks while getting back to the task at hand. "Last year, we would give up a goal and hang our heads and think 'here we go again.' This year, it's almost a wake-up call. It's more like, 'Come on, what are we doing? Let's go get this back.' When the whole team has that belief, not just one or two guys, but when everyone has that look in their eyes, it usually happens. It's a testament to how we have played all year. None of this would have happened last year."
The more I think about this team, and the more I contemplate the men who comprise it, the more I am convinced that Crew fans are in good hands. Win or lose, this is a good bunch that will work to do you proud.
Go Go Ekpo!
As for "getting it back," Emmanuel Ekpo gave the entire stadium a jolt in the 70th minute when he scored a breathtaking game-winning goal. After flipping a header over the defender on his back while on his own side of midfield, Ekpo spun around and raced 50 yards with the ball at his feet, all while surrounded by five Colorado defenders. The defense seemed content to let him dribble, so dribble he did. Once he got within 20 yards of the goal, Ekpo uncorked a worm-burner to the far side netting. It was a stunning strike to cap a stunning run - the ol' Run & Stun.
"That goal was outstanding," said Schmid. "That has to be a goal of the week candidate."
Even Ekpo couldn't hide his enthusiasm. "Yeah, it was a nice goal," he conceded with a smile. "I thought that maybe I should try something this time. I tried to pass in those situations before, but this time I had a couple of touches and they gave me room to shoot, so I thought why not? And now it will give me the confidence next time."
Schmid feels that with that confidence, the best is yet to come for the young Nigerian. "You have to remember that he's only played about 300 MLS minutes," said Schmid, who came within 18 minutes of pegging Ekpo's actual total of 318. "As he plays more and more, he'll get a better and better at playing on the outside. It's a new position for him, but he's getting comfortable out there, even though he's still learning when to tuck in defensively and things like that. But tonight he showed that there's a specialness about him - that he has a special quality - and that's why we want to get him on the field."
Save of the Game
Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer saved his best for last. A series of deflections near the edge of the Crew box put the ball at the feet of Colorado's Colin Clark, whose ensuing shot was also deflected. Hesmer went low to his right, and was able to tip the ball just enough so that it caught the outside of the post and rolled out of play, preserving the Crew's three points.
"That was one of those where the ball was bouncing around and I didn't know which way it would ultimately go," said Hesmer. "When I dove for it, I honestly thought it was destined for the side netting, but luckily I was able to get a fingernail on it."
The Twin Towers
Sigi unveiled a new defensive alignment for the Rapids game. He paired rookie Andy Iro with Chad Marshall in the middle of the defense, while moving Danny O'Rourke to left back. As a result, the Crew had 12 feet, 9 inches of unfriendly persuasion patrolling the box, while O'Rourke and Hejduk hassled Rapids on the flanks.
"We knew...well, we didn't know for sure because you never know for sure until the game gets played...but we figured Terry Cooke was probably going to start, and that would mean a lot of crosses since that his is forte," said Schmid. "And then Colin Clark on the other side hits a lot of crosses. When you look at their attack, it was crosses, free kicks into the box, and long throw-ins. So having those two guys in the middle helped us win a lot of headers. Then late, we went with five in the back and put Danny in between those two guys to clean up anything that came in over the top."
O'Rourke didn't mind the transition to left back at all. "Sigi wanted Andy and Chad in the middle for the crosses, and he wanted me to go outside to try to shut down Cooke," said O'Rourke. "I thought it was an excellent game plan and it panned out. I'll play anywhere if it helps the team. I played left back a couple of games last year. It's different, but I think Robbie (Rogers) and I have good chemistry out there."
And while it's not exactly a Wayne Gretzky-Dave Semenko situation, I kind of liked the idea of having O'Rourke playing behind the speedy kid with the bull's-eyes on the front of his socks. His presence alone ought to give pause to Robbie's would-be shin-kickers.
No All-Star Coaching for Sigi
Despite the Crew's victory, it wasn't enough to give Schmid the reigns to the MLS All-Star team. New England defeated Toronto on Saturday, giving the honor to Revs coach Steve Nicol.
"Like I have said a couple of times, sort of tongue-in-cheek, the last time I coached the All-Star Game, I got fired," said Schmid. "Hopefully (not coaching the All-Stars) will keep me here through the end of August. I have no problem with it. Stevie Nicol's wife can spend the bonus money, and hopefully she'll buy Stevie something with it. He could use a new coat and tie. Or maybe a new cell phone with a different ring."
That Was...Weird
I have been to hundreds of press conferences in my life. Several of them featured the mad ramblings of Ray Hudson. But I'm not sure I've encountered anything as perplexing as Rapids' coach Fernando Clavijo's response to a question about the repeated cramping of his team's goalkeeper, Bouna Coundoul.
"He was cramping up," said Clavijo. "Bouna was called up [to Senegal's national team] and was away for a month in Africa. He didn't play, and really, we don't even know if he trained or not. We have no idea. It's one of those things we have to endure and suffer. We don't know what players do when they go away. So yeah, he was cramping. There's not much else to say there."
Obviously. After suggesting that Coundoul's cramping was the result of some sort of classified couch-napping vacation to Senegal, what else is there to say?
Well, except for, "Bouna, I see you didn't play when you were called up, but tell me about the training that you did while you were away." I'm no expert, but such an unconventional approach might eliminate some of the mystery that the Rapids have had to endure and suffer.
The Return of Craig Merz
In case anyone has missed it, former Columbus Dispatch soccer beat writer Craig Merz has been hired by MLSnet.com to be the Crew's beat writer. Anyone who regularly visits TheCrew.com has surely noticed that Craig has been pumping out about four stories per week over the last few weeks. ("I will run out of ideas by August 7," he assured me, so read him while he's hot!)
Craig's return is another great development on the media front over the last year. After Chris DeVille was granted space for a weekly Crew column in Columbus Alive midway through last season, Shawn Mitchell was given a Dispatch blog to supplement his newspaper coverage, and now Merz is banging out stories left and right for MLSnet. That's not even mentioning the various fan sites and blogs that have sprouted from the resurgent supporters section. All in all, it's been a banner year for those who wish to read about the Columbus Crew.
Stats of the Night
• Emmanuel Ekpo's game-winning goal means six different players have scored game-winning goals for the Crew this year. (Stat courtesy of the Columbus Crew.)
• Ever since I blamed Craig Merz for the home loss to San Jose, the Crew are 2-0-1 despite Craig's almost daily presence. (Stat courtesy of Craig Merz.)
Sooper Dooper Exclusive Adam Moffat Interview About Cornhole
Speaking of Chris DeVille, I just had to follow up on another nugget that he unearthed. In this week's story about Steven Lenhart, DeVille casually mentioned that Lenhart and Adam Moffat are the Crew's undefeated cornhole champions. (For those reading from areas outside of Ohio, cornhole is a popular tailgating game whereby the participants attempt to toss beanbags through a hole cut out of a board that sits on the ground. Any bag through the hole is worth three points, and any bag that lands on the board without going in the hole is worth one point.)
So DeVille threw this interesting tidbit out there, but I wanted to know more. To that end, I conducted the following world exclusive interview with champion beanbag tosser Adam Moffat.
SS: I understand that you and Lenhart are the Crew's cornhole champions.
AM: Cornhole is a great game. Super game. One day I plan on becoming a professional cornhole player.
SS: There's a professional cornhole league?
AM: They don't have a professional league yet, but I am going to start it. I'll found it.
SS: How's the ACL holding up while you play?
AM: It's good rehab for my knee. I recommend it. I get to bend my knee. The bag's a light weight. It's perfect.
SS: They don't have cornhole in Scotland, do they?
AM: No. I never heard of cornhole until I came here.
SS: But it makes sense that you are good, since Scotland invented another game where you have put an object through a hole in the ground.
AM: That's true. You're right. It's built in.
SS: In this room, who could challenge the Lenhart-Moffat team for your crown?
AM: Robbie Rogers and Brad Evans are close, but they're not there yet.
SS: And who's the worst? Who do you guys dominate?
AM: The worst players are George Josten and Ryan Miller. We demolish them. Comfortably.
Annoyed by the Lack of Annoyance
In the days leading up to Saturday's game, I struggled to identify any personal emotion toward the Colorado Rapids other than utter apathy. They are a charter member of Major League Soccer, yet to me, they are the blandest, most nondescript franchise in league history. They haven't won anything of importance. They've never had much in the way of heroes or villains. Heck, they don't even have easily identifiable colors. In the span of 12 years, they have gone from green & gold to green & black to black & blue to burgundy & sky blue.
Living in Columbus, it's even worse, since they only play the Crew two uneventful times per year. Apparently the Rapids have gone 14-7-7 all-time against the Crew, and I never even noticed.
When I think of the Colorado Rapids, these are about the only things that immediately come to mind:
• Marcelo Balboa's incredible bicycle kick at Crew Stadium.
• That bomb of a goal that Mike Lapper scored at Mile High Stadium on July 4, 1999.
• The Crew once beat them in a season opener when Mike Clark, of all people, scored the winning goal in the farcical shootout.
I ran my list by Merz in the press box, and he was pretty sure that there was one time where the Rapids won in overtime to keep the Crew from having a shot at the playoffs. As he remembered it, a Rapids tie or loss would have given the Crew a chance to take the last playoff spot the next day. Instead, Paul Bravo scored in overtime to eliminate the Crew on the season's penultimate day. Then we cracked open the Rapids media guide and verified that Craig was spot on. It was back in 2000. The Crew lost to Chicago the next day anyway. But technically, the Rapids broke the Crew's hearts once upon a time, but they are so bland that I didn't even remember.
After a little more thinking, I also remembered that the 1997 Rapids were the second-worst MLS Cup finalist ever, that the Crew won the Supporters' Shield in Denver in 2004, and that Colorado choked in Crew Stadium during the 1999 U.S. Open Cup final, providing me with the career highlight of listening to Doug Miller claim that the '99 Rochester Rhinos were "The Team of the Century."
The Rapids haven't even had many notable or identifiable players-players that you hear their name and immediately think "Colorado Rapids." The club's all-time appearance and minutes leader is Chris Henderson, who was a very good player and an exceptionally nice guy, but when I think of Henderson, I immediately think of his great season with the 2000 MLS Cup champion Kansas City Wizards. The two most identifiable Rapids are Pablo Mastroeni and Marcelo Balboa, a defensive midfielder and a center back, respectively. They are/were U.S. National Team stalwarts, but they aren't exactly headline-grabbers.
I quizzed Merz to see if he could name the Rapids' all-time leading goal scorer. After hemming and hawing, Merz finally spit out a name. "Paul Bravo?" he asked, probably since Bravo's name was in his head from our conversation moments earlier.
We grabbed the media guide. Yup. Paul Bravo. With 39 goals. In 135 games. Dazzling stuff.
Stern John scored 44 goals in just 55 games in a Crew kit. In addition to John, Edson Buddle had 42 goals, while Brian McBride and Jeff Cunningham obliterated Bravo's mark with 62 goals apiece.
In fact, Bravo's club-leading 39 goals are dead last amongst MLS clubs founded in 1990s. The only other club whose career leading scorer has a total fewer than 60 goals is New York, who are led by Giovanni Savarese's 41 tallies. (But New York is not a team I struggle to hate, so who cares.)
On the other end of the field, the Rapids' all-time leader in most goalkeeping statistics is Joe Cannon, who most everyone associates with the San Jose Earthquakes.
It just blows my mind that in the 13th season of MLS, I still cannot find anything to make me care about the Rapids one way or the other except for the 180 minutes per season that they are the Crew's anonymous opponent. The only other team that is even in the same ballpark, apathy-wise, is Real Salt Lake, but they are only three years old. And I at least hate their ridiculous name.
All this got me to wondering if anybody feels emotion about the Rapids. Five minutes of research reminded me that the Rapids have won all four playoff match-ups against FC Dallas, even though the Hoops were the favored team each time.
I e-mailed Buzz Carrick, proprietor of the excellent independent FC Dallas site 3rdDegree.net, and told him of my Rapids-related apathy and wanted to know his thoughts.
"I'd love to help," he wrote back, "but I don't care about them either."
In fairness, Buzz did go on to say that many Dallas fans do indeed hate Colorado, and suggested that I search the BigSoccer archives to read the message board posts following the 2005 and 2006 playoff fiascos.
Here is an excerpt from a sample post from the 2006 elimination, which featured some severe crowd taunting from Colorado that ended with Dallas goalkeeper Dario Sala decking Colorado's Hunter Freeman.... "I'm just so beyond upset and so beyond angry that I'm ready to just lock myself in my room for days on end. (Bleep) Clarke, (bleep) this team, (bleep) Abbey, (bleep) Clarke, (bleep) MLS, and (bleep) Clarke, but especially (bleep) Colorado. You stupid pieces of cheating, diving, ugly (jerks). It wasn't enough that somehow you got our number, you have to come taunt us after the game and flick us off and everything else. My heart goes to Sala, he layed one of you (jerks) out on your (butt). You don't (make wee-wee) on someone when they're down."
On second thought, after looking at the alternative, maybe Rapids-apathy isn't such a bad thing after all.
U.S. Open Cup Update
The second round was not kind to my adopted team, Hollywood United FC. Two weeks after stunning the Portland Timbers in the Rose City, HUFC's underdog roster traveled to Seattle, where they were summarily thumped 6-0 by the Sounders.
Notebook Hall of Famer Brian Dunseth, the ex-MLSer in the middle of an amateur lineup, offered his summary of the match. "We got beat by a Seattle Sounders team that was well prepared and outclassed us pure and simple," he said. "It's unfortunate, as this group of players is better than what they showed, but all credit to Seattle as they thoroughly deserved the win. We just couldn't overcome the loss of our center back, Nas Koubourous, and our starting forward, Matt Taylor, who had taken off for Australia for a trial with Sydney FC."
If you'll recall from the last notebook, Koubourous injured his knee in the upset of Portland, caught a red-eye flight home after the game, and then reported to work at 8 a.m. for his job as a construction welder. As a follow-up note to that item, making the story all the more incredible, Koubourous received confirmation a few days later that he had suffered both a torn ACL and MCL. (Maybe he will play cornhole as part of his rehab.)
So with Hollywood United joining the Crew on the Open Cup sidelines, I need a new team to root for. There are two logical bandwagons for Crew fans to hop aboard, and I am hopping aboard both.
The first obvious candidate is my hometown team, the Cleveland City Stars. Who better to ask about the City Stars than their most famous alum, Adam Moffat? During a break from figuring out how to pay himself for playing in his own professional cornhole league, Moffat offered his reasons why Crew fans should get behind the City Stars.
"The Cleveland City Stars are the team to watch out for," he said. "They are from Ohio, so that's good. They've got a good fan base. The Green Army is the supporters group, and they're a bit crazy. And Cleveland is playing the Chicago Fire, who knocked us out, so there's a bit of revenge there."
Sounds good to me. What soccer fan in Columbus can't identify with revenge on the Chicago Fire?
The other obvious bandwagon candidate is the Charleston Battery, who also wear black & gold, also opened a soccer-specific stadium in 1999 and currently employ one of the nicest players to ever wear a Crew kit, Nelson Akwari. How can anyone not cheer for Nelly?
I sent Nelson an e-mail asking for him to make the case for Crew fans hopping aboard the Battery bandwagon, and he replied with this list of bullet points:
• "I get to wear the black and gold, and when people see pictures of our stadium or me playing, they ask if I'm playing for the Crew again or if I am at Crew Stadium."
• "My wife and I met while I was playing for the Crew....this should get the 'girl support,' or at least that's what my wife says because girls like romantic stories."
• "My wife's family and my cousins live there, so I still come to visit Columbus all the time and I miss it!"
• "The fans here LOVE and support the Battery, just like the Crew fans, even during HORRIBLE weather."
• "Have you seen our pub?? It's an amazing gallery of pictures, jerseys, and sports memorabilia."
• "One of our players, Stephen Armstrong, briefly played for the Crew, and has been down here for a few years now."
• "Our assistant coach, Mark Watson, is also a former Crew player."
• "When the Crew supporters watch us play, they'll see a bunch of black guys with bald heads...it'll feel just like they're supporting Ezra Hendrickson."
• "I'm the captain of the team, and I want your support!!"
From the fact that the team has two ex-Crew players, is assistant coached by a Crew original and the scorer of the first own-goal in Crew history, and is also carrying on the long Columbus Crew tradition of playing bald black guys, Nelly has made many compelling arguments.
I look forward to both Charleston and Cleveland advancing until they eventually meet in the semifinal or final, at which time I will make Nelly and Moffat engage in a public debate in an effort to sway our affection toward one team or the other.
Nesta
Nesta Hejduk, Frankie's 10-year-old son, was hanging out in the locker room as Merz and I talked to his dad. As Frankie spoke about how the Crew knew they were going to win this game, Merz jokingly turned to Nesta and asked if he felt the same way.
"Definitely," said Nesta. "Every time. Every time I come here."
Frankie busted up laughing. "Dudes, this is on the record!"
"Like, last year," Nesta continued, "they lost every game, but when I came, they won every game."
"That's true," Frankie added. "We got hot last summer."
Emboldened, Nesta went on. "They have never lost a game when I am here."
Frankie couldn't let that one slide. "His nose is growing bigger! Pinocchio!"
At that point, Danny O'Rourke, who had been listening from a few lockers over, deftly slipped into his role as the ever-agitating big brother. He grabbed Nesta by the arm and said, "Does that mean if we lose, you will go home?"
Nesta, being a Hejduk, refused to back down. He responded with a furious assault on O'Rourke that could only be halted by the threat of Danny's secret big brother weapon - the dreaded Indian burn.
Steve Sirk is a contributor to TheCrew.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs. Questions? Comments? Stick around to watch The Goonies? Feel free to write at sirk65@yahoo.com.
