In the first game of the post-Kei Kamara era, the Columbus Crew earned a hard-fought point against a Western Conference contender.
Following Thursday’s blockbuster trade, the Crew earned a home draw against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. The result sees the Rapids extend their unbeaten run to seven straight games, while the Crew earned their second draw in as many games.
While forward Ola Kamara started in place of the now-New England Revolution winger, a Crew winger provided his first goal of the season to start the scoring in the 23rd minute. After gliding past several defenders down the left side, Cedrick Mabwati’s shot from the center of the box was blocked away by the Rapids defense. The ensuing rebound fell to Harrison Afful, who squared a pass back to Mabwati for the first-time finish.
Just 10 minutes into the second half, the Rapids found their equalizer via a set piece. Taking full advantage of their size advantage as well as an early knock to Michael Parkhurst, Rapids forward Kevin Doyle rose above the Crew defense to head home a corner kick to level the scoreline.
Doyle proved dangerous in the moments following his goal, forcing a save from Steve Clark in the 73rd minute. The Crew goalkeeper parried the ensuing rebound for one of his five saves on the evening, enough to lead the Crew to a 1-1 draw.
The Crew, who now sit on 10 points through as many games, visit Toronto FC next Saturday, while the Rapids will look to continue to set the pace out West against the Seattle Sounders.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Cedrick Mabwati was a menace throughout Saturday’s match, and deservedly got a goal after torching the Rapids defense. Still far from the first name on the team sheet, the winger gave head coach Gregg Berhalter some major evidence that he is deserving of more time going forward.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Kevin Doyle took full advantage of a vital set piece opportunity to earn his side a road point. The longstanding belief is that MLS contenders win at home and draw on the road, and Doyle’s goal helped the Rapids do exactly that at an energized MAPFRE Stadium.
MATCH TO FORGET
Swapped to the right winger position, Justin Meram struggled to find a rhythm throughout his 79 minutes of action. The Iraqi international misplaced 12 of 31 passes on the day and never truly got going on an unfamiliar side of the field.
I was happy to see that we kept Jones pretty quiet last night. Crew definitely left some goals on table again. I really want to see more of those going in!
If you win your home games and draw on the road, you just might win the Supporter’s Shield. So far, that’s what Colorado has been doing. With 24 points in 12 games, Colorado is averaging 2 points a game. From last place to 2 points a game through 12 games is not a fluke.
All of this has happened with Colorado missing players. At some point, Colorado will be able to play Marco Pappa instead of Michael Azzira and Tim Howard for Zack MacMath.
Colorado is for real this year. If they can stay healthy, they just might be looking at some silverware.
Go Rapids!!
The continued results (and I would say particularly the 2 come from behind draws on the road) are very encouraging, I agree. After MacMath’s early stumbles, he has done well, and they seem to be covering Pappa’s absence well, too.
But there is also international duty looming that will cost the team other players, most notably of course Jermaine Jones. (Do they even get to keep him for the next match at Seattle, given the friendly v Puerto Rico the following day?) So it will continue to be a bit of a juggling act for Pablo and the players to keep the whole thing moving along this well, I think. Hopefully they can keep pulling it off.
Higuian was pretty poor, I think the Crew made the wrong move.
Removing ability and skill from the equation: What kind of teammate grabs the ball from another teammate on a hat-trick, when you’re up 3-1, and makes a complete production out of something he should have conceded?
Answer: a complete douchebag.
Far too many on SBI looked at this from one side of the equation while ignoring the most obvious sad excuse for a teammate in Higuain.
More like the Rapids earned a tie with the Crew, who after all were playing at home, had a week’s rest and scored first, but very happy to see the truly for the Rapids.
How autocorrect turned “result” into “truly” there is beyond me.