The Columbus Crew are coming off the franchise’s most successful season ever which culminated in them achieving the MLS double by winning the Supporters Shield and the MLS Cup. Prior to last year though, they had been mired in poor play and had only captured two major trophies, the 2004 Supporters Shield and the 2002 US Open Cup.
Sigi Schmid and Guillermo Barros Schelotto were the impetus behind their turnaround, but Schmid has left now for Seattle’s fat paycheck. The Crew should still be one of the best teams in the league in 2009 though. How could they not with GBS, rising star Robbie Rogers and defensive stalwarts Chad Marshall and Frankie “Jesus” Hejduk.
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Recap: The Crew had a dream season in 2008. They dominated their opposition all year, and completed a memorable playoff run. They won the Supporters Shield by a huge margin and won four more games than any other team in the league. There is simply nothing that they didn’t do well, so the Crew get an A+ for 2008.
Offense: Columbus scored the most goals in the East this year, and they trailed only the Gals in total goals scored. Moreno had a resurgent year, and Schelotto is perhaps the best field general in MLS history. Robbie Rogers had a great year as well, and overall the CMB O just couldn’t be stopped, so they get an A+ for 2008.
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This is the face of the only coach to ever win the MLS Cup with a team that had not finished better than 6th in the three previous seasons. It’s also the face of the only man to win the Cup with two different teams. Why the Galaxy would have ever let him go is beyond me. Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s more important to entertain and lose (Yay! The Gals lost 4-3 again! Whooopeee) than to play hard-nosed defense and eke out 1-0 wins.
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Guillermo Barros Schelotto showed why he was voted the best player in Major League Soccer as his three assist helped the Columbus Crew win their first MLS Cup with a 3-1 win over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.
The performance helped Schelotto be named the MLS Cup Most Valuable Player, becoming only the third player in league history to win league MVP honors as well as in the MLS Cup Final, joining Tony Meola (2000) and Carlos Ruiz (2002).
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The MLS Cup this weekend matches features the Columbus Crew, the best team during the MLS regular season, against the New York Red Bulls, the Cinderella team in the playoffs. Buy MLS Cup Tickets
This game promises to be open and entertaining with two of the best players in the league going head-to-head. New York’s Juan Pablo Angel and Guillermo Barros Schelotto of Columbus, both of them candidates for the league MVP award. Together, these South American stars combined for 21 goals, and thrilled MLS fans with their explosive skills this past season.
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The Columbus Crew’s history can sort of be summed up by that old saying:
Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
They had been to the playoffs several times, but they had never made it to the “Big Game”, the MLS Cup Final.
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Well, since their leader all those seasons was Brian McBride, I guess it was more like “always a Mcbridesmaid“, but I digress.
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The Columbus Crew as expected beat the Kansas City Wizards 2-0 to win their Eastern Conference semifinal Saturday. The Crew, the top seed in the MLS Cup, extended their home-unbeaten streak to 10 games and will meet the Chicago Fire in the conference final.
The Crew got rolling earlier when Brad Evans put them one up after only seven minutes. The goal settled the nerves of the Crew players and fans, who were looking for their first playoff win in more than six years.
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A goal in the second minute of stoppage time by substitute Steven Lenhart earned the top-seeded Columbus Crew a 1-1 draw with the Kansas City Wizards in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinal series.
Kansas City had taken the lead via Davy Arnaud in the 53rd minute but the Wizards were forced to play with 10 men for the final 15 minutes after Herculez Gomez was sent off for hard foul.
Columbus pressured late and finally broke through when Lenhart controlled a bouncing ball at the top of the 18-yard box and fired a right-footed shot into the lower left corner to even the score.
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Forbes.com recently released a report that looked at the economic side of MLS and also put a value on each of the Major League Soccer franchises.
At a macro level, things are looking up for MLS. Seven of the league’s 14 teams play in soccer-specific stadiums, five of which have been built since 2002. Expansion franchises in Seattle and Philadelphia recently agreed to pay $30 million each to join the league, three times what Toronto FC paid to join MLS three years ago. Commissioner Don Garber says the next two expansion teams, to be announced in 2009, will cost $40 million. Some team owners are even floating a $50 million price tag.
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Stop the presses, the Los Angeles Galaxy finally won a game! Yes, the MLS’s flagship team ended a three month winless streak to beat D.C. United this week. This is a a look at this weekends games in Major League Soccer and how the playoff run is shaping up.
LA Galaxy 5 D.C. United 2
Landon Donovan had three goals and an assist as the Los Angeles Galaxy snapped a 12-match winless streak dating back to June 14th with a 5-2 triumph over D.C. United.
Donovan is the league leader with 19 goals this season and his hat trick finally gave Bruce Arena his first win as the Galaxy’s coach.
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