When the Columbus Crew host Real Salt Lake in
the second and deciding leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal Series on
Thursday night at Crew Stadium, the defending MLS Cup champs could be feeling
some pressure.
Columbus, which is the top seed in the Major League Soccer playoffs after
winning its second consecutive Supporters' Shield, is in a small hole, down
1-0 in the home-and-home, total goals series with last-seeded RSL thanks to
an 88th-minute Robbie Findley goal in the first leg.
For the heavily-favored Crew to advance to the Eastern Final, they are going
to have to score at least one or two on Thursday night. No small task
considering the club has gone 324 consecutive minutes in all competitions
without a goal.
"It's always been a team that scores in bunches. When we're hot, we're hot and
when we're not, we're not," Crew midfielder Danny O'Rourke said.
The team could get an offensive boost with the return of veteran attacker
Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who didn't even make it off the bench in the first
leg after suffering a late season dip in form due to a hamstring injury.
"Did you check his stats? How many goals does he have the last four or five
games since coming back from his injury? I put out the players in my mind that
can do the job and help the team," Columbus coach Robert Warzycha said in
defense of not playing the superstar in the first leg. "Sometimes in the games
you're not scoring. Me as the coach, I have to find the solution. I'm not
saying I'm right all the time."
Warzycha did not promise Schelotto would play, but all indications point to
him at the very least coming on as a substitute.
"Usually at home we play much better. I need to see what he does in practice.
I need to see how he can best help the team," he said. "It's not like he's
somebody that has a title to play. It's based on performance. If the team
needs him he is going to play."
RSL, on the other hand, will be aiming to pack things in to prevent the Crew
from scoring, which would be good enough for it to advance to the Eastern
Final against the winner of the New England/Chicago series.
"We just really hope for a clean sheet," RSL midfielder Clint Mathis said,
"because if we keep a clean sheet, we go through no matter if we score or
not."
"We're going to try to make sure we play our best defense, and do our best not
to let them on the scoreboard," RSL defender Chris Wingert said.
Even RSL coach Jason Kreis admitted that his team would take a more defensive
approach on the road in the series-deciding game with the 1-0 lead.
"It affords us the opportunity to be a little bit more defensive, to really
protect what we've already got," he said.
RSL is decidedly more banged up, with defender Tony Beltran, forward Findley,
midfielders Ned Grabavoy, Javier Morales and Andy Williams, and goalkeeper
Nick Rimando on the injury report with knocks.
The Crew's only injury concern is to backup goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum, who is
out with a hip injury.
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