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Columbus Crew vs. Chivas USA: Match Day Commentary

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BY ADAM SERRANO

It's the battle of a pair of teams on the opposite sides of the spectrum tonight at the Home Depot Center as the Columbus Crew play a visit to Chivas USA on a chilly night in Carson. 

The Crew may be the Eastern Conference leaders, but they have had considerable difficulty visiting the Rojiblancos having only won once at the Home Depot Center since 2005 against Chivas USA. The Eastern leaders will look to improve upon a lackluster 2-4-1 record away from Columbus against a Chivas USA club that has been been much improved scrapping a tough draw from Real Salt Lake last week.

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump): 

FINAL – A part from some shakiness in the dying minutes of the match, The Rojiblancos get a comprehensive victory over the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew. Chivas USA outworked the Crew throughout the night fighting for each ball and capitalizing on their chances. A stellar performance by Justin Braun –who may be in the mix for a national team call up — and Blair Gavin who each added goals proved valuable for the Rojiblancos. Coupled with the first career goal for Southern California native, Carlos Borja, it may appear that at long last things are coming together for the Rojiblancos. The final score from the HDC is Chivas USA 3 and the Columbus Crew 1.

Thanks for following along and check SBI for more coverage on this game later tonight. 

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93rd Minute – The final whistle is blown and that's the final: 3-1 to Chivas USA. 

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92nd Minute – The crew nearly get a second as Kennedy as to wrap up another weak cross that Garey nearly got to. 

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90th Minute – Three minutes of stoppage time. The Crew are showing some signs of life. They could have used that a tiny bit earlier tonight.

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89th Minute – A lazy cross catches the Chivas USA defense sleeping and Steven Lehart buries the header to make the score 3-1.

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87th Minute – GOAL!!! COLUMBUS PULLS ONE BACK! STEVEN LEHART

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81st Minute – Padilla comes in and is immediately served up a fantastic chance by a streaking Lahoud, but he fires it into the stands. Columbus is lucky not to be down by a greater margin tonight. 

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80th Minute – Braun comes off the field for Jesus Padilla. Braun gets a nice ovation after scoring what is currently the winning goal. 

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75th Minute – Crew earn a corner, but the Rojiblancos again send it out. Not a good performance from the Crew today on set pieces.  

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71st Minute – Maldonado gets a break away and instead of playing the ball to the right, he loses the ball after a pass to thin air. For all the positives tonight for Chivas USA, Maldonado has not been one of them. Incredibly sloppy tonight. 

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68th Minute – The Rojiblancos with a free kick, but a poor effort by Espionza — one of few that have happened tonight — leads to a Crew clearance. 

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65th Minute – Crew sub as Shaun Francis leaves the field for Jason Garey. 

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62nd Minute – I said it at after the victory over Pachuca in Superliga, if Chivas USA were able to come away with positive results against Chivas USA were able to get results in their matches against RSL and Columbus, things may start to come together for this team. We will have to see. 

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56th Minute – A pair of subs: Columbus removes Iro for Andy Lehart and Gavin comes off for Lahoud. Gavin had another splendid night and after that injury and the game seemingly in hand, Martin Vasquez will bring on Lahoud. 

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54th Minute – The ball gets pushed out after the corner and Zemanski beats Scelotto to the ball, fires it into Maldonado who chests it down to Borja who fires in his FIRST career goal. 

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53rd Minute – GOALL!! BORJA!!!

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52nd Minute – Gavin certainly looks healthy as he charges through the defense. He plays the ball to Maldonado who earns a corner. Gavin should have shot that one. 

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51st Minute – Gavin down on the field. A bit of a limp, but it looks like he'll continue. 

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48th Minute – Ran into Jonathan Bornstein at the half. told me that he expects to be ready in a week. Looks like he'l be ready for the Brazil match in New York. 

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45th Minute – We're underway for the second half. 

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HALFTIME – The Red and White striped nightmare is in full swing for the Columbus Crew. The Rojiblancos are outhustling the Eastern Conference leaders and up with a deserved lead.  Goal scorers Blair Gavin and Justin Braun have been some of the hardest workers tonight, beating Columbus to nearly ever ball. The match at the half is Chivas USA 2 Crew 0. 

If you're following along. Let me hear from you and where you're coming from. 

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45th Minute – Kennedy sends in a lazy goal kick that bounces over Iro, who lets it go. The ball goes off of Francis' chest and Gavin ever the hard worker races in and puts it in the back of the net. Great work rate there by Blair Gavin. 

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45th Minute – GOAL!!! BLAIR GAVIN!!!!

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44th Minute – The goal was the seventh goal of the season for Braun, which is good for a 4th place tie with Alvaro Saborio. 

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43rd Minute – The Crew are turning on the energy now, but no luck breaking through the strong Chivas defense. 

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41st Minute – The Crew with a free kick in a dangerous position, but there is nothing on it and Chivas earns the goal kick. For those asking as I stated in my story on Sal Zizzo on Friday, the midfielder is not expected to be added to the bench for at least two weeks. 

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40th Minute – Espionza with a great cross into Braun who appeared to be aided by Blair Gavin who was being marked directly in front of him. The forward confidently takes the effort and buries it into the back of Hesmer's net. Fantastic run of form by Braun. He may be giving Bob Bradley something to think about tonight. 

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37th Minute – GOAL!!!! JUSTIN BRAUN!!!! WITH THE HEADER OFF THE ESPIONZA CROSS!!

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31st Minute – Braun fires a short from 25 yards that just misses Hesmer's net. The burly forward has been fantastic tonight and has been displaying a great work rate over the past few weeks. I would have to say that there is a chance that he could get a call up to Bob Bradley's squad for the Brazil match. 

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29th Minute – Not a confident performance so far by the Crew. Chivas USA is swallowing up their attacks and looking increasingly dangerous on the counter.  

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22nd Minute – Neither team has been able to string together a cogent attack all night. We're getting a few chances, but no sustained efforts so far. 

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20th Minute – The Rojiblancos fire at the net, but are unable to force Hesmer to make a save. Gaven is finally leaving the side of the net and being helped off by a trainer. 

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19th Minute – JUST Over the Bar. Braun gets a break away with Marshall clinging on to him. Corner for ChIVAS usa. 

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18th Minute – There's the sub, Rogers for Gaven. Warzycha was livid that Chivas USA was able to play on with Gaven in pain. The midfielder is still on the ground to the left of Kennedy's net and it doesn't look like he's going to be up any time soon. 

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15th Minute – Gaven is helped off the field as Robbie Rogers gets ready to come on the field for the midfilder, who took a strong knee to the head. Ouch.

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13th Minute – JUST OVER THE BAR! Gaven with a header from Schelotto, but the shot goes just over the bar. He collides with Kennedy and is still down on the ground.  

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8th Minute – SAVE! Maldonado with a clean breakway, but instead of shooting, the forward decides to chip the ball over Hesmer. No luck there as Hesmer easily reaches the ball. Poor chance by the Venezuelan. 

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5th Minute – Schelotto sends in a free kick that is nearly cleared by the Rojiblancos, but the crew will have a throw in deep in the Chivas end.  

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1st Minute – We're underway. The Rojiblancos attacking the right of your computer screen. 

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PRE-GAME: It's Chivas USA Legends poster night tonight. First up, Paulo Nagamura. Earlier in the season, I was panned for declaring him a legend of Chivas USA. It seems that they've validated me — in poster form at least — tonight. 

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PRE-GAME: Here are the line ups:

COLUMBUS CREW

————Schelotto———Renteria—————

Carroll—————Gaven—————–Ekpo

————————-Moffat—————————-

Francis———-Iro———-Marshall———-O'Rourke

———————-Hesmer————————–

CHIVAS USA

————Braun———Maldonado—————

Espinoza—–Nagamura—–Gavin—-Zemanski

Jazic———-Umana———-Delgado———-Borja

———————-Kennedy————————–

Comments

  1. That’s a ridiculous comment. GBS was running all over the place in the first half, even slide tackling to stop a Chivas break-away. He’s 37, and yes, he gets tired late in the match but useless? The Crew’s problem tonight was horrible defending.

    Reply
  2. GBS can’t defend and is useless, he just gives up on the third goal right after the he loses to the chivas usa player

    Reply
  3. Alright… the Crew seem to mailing this one in… I was trying to stay awake until the next feeding rather than sleep and wake back up, but I’m calling it a night. Adam – thanks for your coverage, but I’m punching out from the East coast at this point 🙂

    g’night y’all!

    Reply
  4. … and as if Bob willed it to happen, as the page if refreshing with my reply, the nurse opens the door – quietly, thank heavens – to check on everyone, and then shuffled back out when she realized everyone’s asleep.

    Reply
  5. I’m sure a nurse will be in shortly to wake up everyone. Best wishes and good luck getting some sleep in the next two weeks.

    Boy or girl??

    Reply

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