By IVES GALARCEP
The Columbus Crew came into Saturday’s Eastern Conference showdown vs. the Montreal Impact looking like a team poised to fall apart.
After losing their second starter in the past three weeks to a torn ACL (Glauber joined Eddie Gaven on the season-ending injury), and suffering a U.S. Open Cup loss to the Chicago Fire last Thursday, the Crew figured to struggle against a rested and dangerous Montreal side.
The Crew didn’t struggle. They came out inspired and rode a pair of early goals on their way to a 2-0 victory over the Impact at Crew Stadium.
Matias Sanchez scored a sixth-minute goal, when he ran onto a Dominic Oduro ball and delivered a long-range shot that took a deflection before beating Troy Perkins.
Oduro made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute when he stripped Collen Warner in midfield and raced by a pair of defenders before slotting his fifth goal of the season past Perkins.
Montreal worked to get back in the match, but the Crew defense held up well as the centerback tandem of Chad Marshall and Josh Williams helped contain the ever-dangerous Marco Di Vaio.
Here are the match highlights:
What did you think of the match? Impressed with the Crew’s performance just three days after an Open Cup loss? Think Columbus can stay in the playoff race despite losing Glauber and Gaven? Surprised to see the Impact struggle, or think the week off left them a bit rusty?
Share your thoughts below.
Montreal has a lot of european players which is great for the team, but also use every chance they have in american soil to do some tourism (and watch some NBA live). During the last 10 day brake we saw picture of players at NBA games, on planes, vacationing in Florida, enjoying F1 race and so on. I think they were more than rusty yesterday and it showed.
Colombus on the other hand were very focus and sharp in their execution. Congrats to them!
18,000+ at Crew stadium was a nice crowd to see. It felt energetic and the team seemed to rise to the occasion. Oduro’s speed is something this team has lacked since ekpo departed 2 years ago. The crew have enough role players to make a push for the playoffs, and this game may kick start the run.
Crew once had great crowds; its big for MLS when they can sell out that stadium.