Crew v Everton, Postmatch and Crew review

For those of you who will watch Crew v Everton on ESPN2, 7PM EDT, on wednesday, the mess in the middle of the pitch to the center line was caused by a Crane platform installed to build a concert stage 10 days ago.
It was guaranteed to protect the turf, but evidently never tested under full sun and 90 deg conditions.. suppose they never counted on parboiling effect or the fine print will say, install and use in nightime only.

Tickets will be available day of game - range from $17 to $42

Reckon Crew 2 or 3, Everton 1

 

I'll be watching. I for one love these MLS-Euro friendlies. The two diffrent worlds of soccer that I watch coming together. I guess it depends how far into preseason Everton are, but I'm not liking the Crew's chances after what I saw yesterday.

 

I agree with Spencer, the Crew didn't look very good yesterday. But you never know the Toffies could be "off", from the travel.

 

well, I'll have to disagree. They looked much better than they did against NY.

And the Crew werent much good last year, either, but it was no contest against preseason Fulham.

 

The Crew do a really good job of winning games that don't count

I just hope they don't pick up another injury or two.

 

I will be watching this one pulling for the Crew! I expect this to be a well contested match and hopefully it will be entertaining as well.

 

Ehhh... only if you like seeing juniors run in and rob the ball, then lose it... remember last year!

 

I will be watching pulling for the Crew also pulling for Tim Howard to do well. Danny Szetela should get some playing time against the club he snubed to play in MLS.

 

Speaking of Szetela, how is he doing this season? Any marked improvements?

 

He's been injured for the last few months. He was finally made available on Saturday and came off the bench for about 20 minutes. So I assume they'll give him some time on Wednesday, he'll be out of form though.

Just for a reference Everton lost 1-0 to Celtic on Sunday. Celtic earlier lost 4-0 to DC and drew 1-1 with New England. That said the Crew are nowhere near the level of DC or New England. So draw from that what you like.

I think Everton should be a good side this year. Wonder if Cahill will be available.

 

His footwork was markedly better before he got injured and he showed good 'foot' Saturday as well.

I believe he'll do!

 

Pettyfog beings your in Columbus do you know if this game is going to be sold out? I think it will be 2-1 Everton.

 

hardly sold out ...be lucky to get 10,000 in seats.

Could be Everton on top, since we dont seem to have a finisher. But that frankly cuts against the grain of preseason v in-season lowerleague matchups.

Example DC beating Celtic 4-0 ..only the '0' was a surprise. NE 1-1 draw with Celtic was somewhat, and showed the Rev's problems.

 

Ended 1-1. Not a great game. The Crew were to short in the skill department and Everton lacking in fitness. Note Timmy Howard didn't give up the goal, he played a shutout 2nd half.

 

Petty I have a question or just a rambling of my thoughts after watching the match tonight and was wondering what you think....w/ the MLS, I've taken on the Crew as my team since MLS decided that enough nickels were not being brought in by the Mutiny....for one they were the team I ALWAYS seemed to see play the Mutiny, so it was like they were already a team I followed and after the death of TBM, I wanted a MLS team that represented a hard working..but not so glitzy and more full of themselves than other "super" MLS clubs :? or any team w/ LD :wink: but i found the crew to be a team I always thought of to be a team that reprsented a hard working, a team minded squad, and w/ Macca they were my pick....well for the past 4 years or so it seems that another facet of the Crew's great team identity was the fan support, being the first soccer specific stadium...it seems the columbus faithful are losing faith...and dont get me wrong i'm not saying they are not good fans, b/c apparently we all have lives and cant get to ALL the games and another big thing is nobody wants a sub-par squad.....it seems this year is a culmination of having good squad players, but no one or 2, 3, 4 guys that can really elevate the team......what do you think or do you see the Columbus front office staff doing anything about this???? Just wondered what you thought of this, i'm hoping if all can work out to get up to a game in september...i was able to see them wayyyy back in feb. in the Tom Fitz classic in Tampa....was standing next to Johnny Walker at the urinal stall at the half....that is what I love about MLS being in its beginings...b/c one day it will get big enough and I wont be able to shoot the breeze w/ professional players while at the stall!!!! Thanks for answering the questions or your thoughts.....viva la catch DC.....46 pts behind is nothing :banana:

 

Here's the short answer:

Columbus was always a team that no one could take for granted for a win, when they played them.

But also couldnt ever seem to get to the next stage... actually winning hardware and being a finalist in the MLS Cup.
The only cup won is the 2002 Open cup and that is unfortunately secondary level... the Rhino's winning it one year in front of 5000 put an underline on that.

As you probably know it wasnt so much a matter of having relatively good players, it was a matter of consistency and enough depth in bench to make up for a couple players having an off night.

When the team disintegrated in the 04 playoffs, starting with a missed PK and Ross Paule's reluctance to try it again, leading to uber-ego Sanneh pushing Jeff Cunningham aside and promptly missing the next, the wheels came off.

Sigi came in as expected, but unexpectedly blew up the team. and when you only have eight players on the roster out of 28 from the ytear before, there's going to be some confusion and loss of interest.

All the REAL fan can do now, is watch with a little detachment as the team is either stillborn or reborn. Even Sigi admits it's tougher than he thought it would be and that he might have gone too far.

Couple that with a ridiculous injured list and it's pretty difficult to develop a core team that can employ a stable game plan.
So right now the problem in a nutshell is that we have a whole team made up of subs and reserves and almost all our subs and reserves have been starters... which means that NEXT year we should be great!

All we need is a clearly superior finisher and we're on our way. And dont forget the Crew are in Ohio which doesnt like to watch teams lose. That's just how it is... when they play well and win consistently, the seats will start to fill.

 

Thanks! I know I hope i didnt come off to offend....i've just become irked about it and hate to see such a team/organization not prosper....i mean who would want them to win, not MLS higher up's...a team from Ohio being the League champs??? Unless its L.A., Energy Drinks, or hopefully the real golden boy..if he doesnt go to Ghana those 3 teams (Galaxy, NY, and DC) seem to be what makes "money sense" to the league to prosper.

I do appreciate you taking the time to ask this, it just kinda came over after seeing only the 2nd Crew game on espn this year...and ALOT of empty seats...i pray that the next place i move has a MLS team to get my live footey fix.

Once again, didnt mean to come out sounding like a transplant pissed fan, to be honest..when the Crew werent my team of choice, I also disliked them for all of what I mentioned in previous post....fan base for sports in Florida except for Dolphins and Bucs....and college sports is CRAP...MEGA CRAP.....but that is b/c of our lovely Rat :wink: and his KINGDOM!!

all the best Petty

 

Eh... you have to remember that MLS was chartered as 'specifically not NASL'.. to avoid the case where local fans only showed up when the Cosmos came to town {have yet to see the ESPN docu on them} and typically only other team name recognized was the Rowdies.

And Columbus was meant to reward Lamar Hunt with chance to start a whole new paradigm... which is how we got McBride.
And if the team is good enough...
After all, when the BIg Red Machine went to Dodgertown or to play the Mets, seats SOLD.

Yep, it's a balancing act. But sooner or later, good players and good management win out... all we need to do is look at DC.

 

Actually the game wasnt all that bad and the fan mix was REAL interesting... LOTS of banter, good natured and otherwise.
Dispatch:

Not just one little percolation... one Blue Fan almost got into it with some guy wearing a ManU shirt, of all types... while several Kopites sat smugly nearby.

It obviously didnt help that {according to my sources} O'Shaugnessy's was packed with Blue from noon on....

But the banter was a lot of fun... forgot how distinctive the Liverpool accent is.

 

Petty, I thought the match itself was very well played and aside from a Chad Marshall's back pass, I am not sure if Everton would have scored. I watched all 90 minutes of the match and enjoyed every minute of it.

I thought the young Nigerian striker for Everton looked good. Not sure if he was so good or the defenders he was going against were not that good, but regardless he might be one for the future at Everton.

Overall a good game. I was pleased ESPN2 made the effort to put the match on tv.