Crew Comes Back To Down Earthquakes, 3-2

Matt Bernhardt
May 10, 2008

Columbus kept its early-season winning streak alive tonight, coming back from an early deficit to defeat San Jose 3-2. Robbie Rogers scored twice in an eight minute span, while Brad Evans tallied the eventual game-winning goal. San Jose tried to scrape a tie with a late consolation goal, but were unable to find the equalizer before time ran out.

San Jose opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with just their third goal of the season. A Ronnie O'Brien corner kick from the right side found Ramiro Corrales inside the 6-yard box; he just managed to stretch down and get head the ball on frame, directly over William Hesmer and into the net.

Heading into halftime, then, the Crew were faced with the knowledge that no team this season had managed to come back to win after conceding the first goal. Add to that the team's historically abysmal record while trailing on the road, and fans might have been forgiven for writing this contest off.

The 1-0 scoreline held until the 73rd minute. Nigerian youth international Emmanuel Ekpo, a 69th minute substitute for Eddie Gaven, released Robbie Rogers with a clever ball down the left flank. Rogers outraced the Earthquakes defense and blasted home to tie the score. Ekpo, who was barely into the attacking half when he played a diagonal ball into Rogers' path, will surely have made Sigi Schmid's job more difficult in putting together a starting lineup next weekend.

Eight minutes later, Rogers notched his second to put the Crew ahead. Alejandro Moreno was the provider on this occasion, splitting the central defenders while Rogers raced in from the left side. Just beating Joe Cannon to the ball, his slow shot from a wide angle was just too far ahead of the recovering XYZ.

Columbus padded their lead two minutes later. Guillermo Barros Schelotto, battling for the ball in tight quarters, stretched with his XYZ foot and flicked the ball behind himself. Incredibly, his service found Brad Evans - who took a few controlling touches around the top of the area and buried a long shot high over Joe Cannon.

With only seven minutes to play, the Crew appeared to have the game in hand. Having scored three goals in an 11 minute span to stun the 9,318 fans in attendance, they fell victim once again to a defensive miscue on a corner kick. Ryan Johnson out-leaped Ezra Hendrickson in the 89th minute, and his goal-bound header skipped off the top of Frankie Hejduk's head to nestle in the back of the net.

Try as they might, however, the Earthquakes were unable to find an equalizing goal in four minutes of stoppage time. Jair Marrufo blew full time, and the Crew found themselves once again in first place in the league.

The Big Picture

This victory puts Columbus back in first place in the MLS league table, a position they had briefly surrendered to Chicago. Their record is 6-1 with 18 points, the team's best start in franchise history. Their next match is next Saturday at BMO Field in Toronto.

San Jose, meanwhile, falls to 1-4-1 with four points. They next take the field on Saturday against New England, followed by a home match on Thursday with Houston.

Lineups

Columbus

William Hesmer, Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Ezra Hendrickson (Andy Iro, 90+'), Brian Carroll, Eddie Gaven (Emmanuel Ekpo, 69'), Robbie Rogers, Stefani Miglioranzi (Brad Evans, 31'), Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Alejandro Moreno

Subs not used: Andy Gruenebaum, Nicolas Hernandez, Steven Lenhart, Jed Zayner

San Jose

Joe Cannon, James Riley, Jason Hernandez, Nick Garcia, Eric Denton, Ned Grabavoy, Ronnie O'Brien (Gavin Glinton, 82'), Ramiro Corrales, Ivan Guerrero (Ryan Johnson, 66'), Kei Kamara, Peguero John Philippe (Shea Salinas, 64')

Subs not used: Preston Burpo, Ryan Cochrane, John Cunliffe, Joe Vide