In its first nationally televised game of the season the Columbus Crew SC hosted the Chicago Fire in a Friday night rivalry game between the two squads. Chicago came to Columbus fresh off a visit to Yankee Stadium where they saw a two goal lead squandered and came away with a draw. Columbus returns home after an ugly trip to San Jose that yielded a similar result Crew SC fans are used to seeing when the team is not playing in MAPFRE Stadium.
The Crew SC faithful did not have to wait long for the scoring to open in the match when MLS golden boot leader netted a tap in finish in the 8th minute of play. It is a shame that soccer does not use the “double assist” method like hockey does because he was the reason the beautiful cross from Finlay could be made. Meram played a ball through the box that left Finlay wide open at the right corner of the six where he quickly touched the ball through the penalty area right to the foot of Kamara and into the back of the net.
Kamara netted his third brace of the season ten minutes after the half way point off a corner taken in front of a roaring Nordecke by Higuain. Pipa took the kick and Kevan George flicked a header across the penalty area where a leaping Kamara was able to head the ball home past the out stretched hands of goalkeeper Jon Busch.
Just minutes later, Chicago brought the match back within one with a goal off a misdirected cross right to the head of David Accam who was able to slip the ball past Steve Clark. The cross from Kennedy Igboananike was defended well by captain Michael Parkhurst but an unlucky bounce off his heal towards the penalty area allowed for Accam to slot home the first goal for Chicago.
The waning minutes of the match proved to be deadly for Crew SC’s hopes for a win with the game tying goal coming in the last possible second. It was all hands on deck for Chicago in the last ten minutes of the match, as they had plenty of opportunities to tie the game. The dagger came with help from former Crew SC player Eric Gehrig’s cross to the six yard box and was headed him by Jason Johnson, just getting to the only spot that Clark could not cover between himself, the turf, and the post. The goal secured a draw for both sides but it was a draw that felt like a heartbreaking defeat for Columbus, especially when home points is what is keeping them afloat in the beginning matches of the campaign.
Summary
Goals: Discipline:
Columbus- Kei Kamara 8’ Columbus (Caution)- Kevan George 21’
Columbus- Kei Kamara 55’ Chicago (Caution)- Eric Gehrig 42’
Chicago- David Accam 58’ Columbus (Caution)- Justin Meram 90’
Chicago- Jason Johnson 94’
Grades:
Kei Kamara- With 2 goals in a match for the third time this season Kei Kamara is the most deadly man inside the penalty box in the MLS. The goals he is slotting past opposing keepers are not amazing by any means but he is always in the right place at the right time and making the perfect touch to net a ball home. Grade: A+
Spanish Goal call in English: The Friday night games in MLS are on Univision and if you didn’t know you can press a few magic buttons and have the announcers speak English for you (technology these days). The call for a goal remains the same even when the language has been changed, a very long yelling of GOAL that seems to go on longer than is humanly possible. It just seems wrong to have it in English, kind of like putting Ketchup on a burrito wrong. Grade: F
Jon Busch: Got his 300th appearance in between the pipes at the place that gave him his first appearance, MAPFRE Stadium. 300 appearances for a goalkeeper that stands 5’10” and nobody in MLS gave a shot to out of college. Grade: A
