MLS Playoffs: Crew Real Shocked As Salt Lake Win

SANDY, Utah—Two different objectives clashed in the lone Saturday affair on the MLS schedule. Real Salt Lake clearly wanted to exert their home field advantage, while the visiting Crew had their mindset on playing a controlled game and limiting its opponent’s opportunities. It appeared that the Crew strategy was going to payoff, until Robbie Findley’s goal in the 88th minutes gave Real Salt Lake a one goal advantage in the two-game series.

Although Crew defender Chad Marshall started in this one, head coach Robert Warzycha chose to keep League MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto and veteran forward Alejandro Moreno out of this one.

First Half

Real Salt Lake came out trying to create chances early, but the Crew did a good job closing down space and forcing quick decisions from their opponents.

Real Salt Lake had two good chances early on that fell to the foot of defender Nat Borchers. The first came off a set piece that found him alone, about 10 yards out at the far post. He managed to settle the ball and get off a shot, but a Crew defender managed to get in front of it for the block. Just minutes later, he nearly got a foot on a cross from midfielder Andy Williams, but a Crew defender managed to intercept the play at the last second.

In the ninth minute the Crew nearly capitalized off of a Real Salt Lake mistake. Defender Tony Beltran found himself pinned in along the right edge, and passed it to teammate Will Johnson, who tapped the ball back to Beltran only to find that he had vacated the space. This resulted in a break along the left flank by Robbie Rogers. He managed to thread the ball through to forward Steven Lenhart. Lenhart was alone inside the area, but he tried to curl the ball into the corner of the net, and it went wide to the right.

Real Salt Lake put up their first shot on goal in the 23rd minute. Midfielder Javier Morales found Williams open just outside of the area, and Williams wound up for a big blast. He managed to get plenty of power on the shot and it challenged ‘keeper Will Hesmer initially, but he recovered in time to leap to his left to cover the shot.

The Crew forced their first save on Salt Lake’s keeper Nick Rimando in the 41st minute. Defender Gino Padulla took a long free kick, and found Lenhart wide open in front of the goal after his defender had fallen on the play. Unfortunately the effort went directly into the arms of Rimando.

The Crew’s game plan worked well in the first half, limiting Real Salt Lake to just two shots in the first half, while getting off five of their own.

Second Half

The second half was a physical one, with Columbus and RSL each using their physical presence to try to control the play. It also was not a very fluid one, as the passing in the midfield was often lacking in quality.

About 20 minutes into the half, however, both teams seemed to gain focus. In the 59th minute, Real Salt Lake managed a nice buildup through the midfield. Defender Chris Wingert found his way along the left side, and had options in the box, but Hejduk disrupted the play before Wingert could get the cross off.

Six minutes later it was the Crew’s turn. They put a cross into the area that was headed out by defender Jamison Olave, but it went directly to midfielder Danny O’Rourke who gathered the ball and made a nice blast from 25 yards out that went just wide.

The introduction of substitute forward Yura Movsisyan and midfielder Clint Mathis midway through the second half appeared to give the home team a lift. This lift nearly produced dividends in the 82nd minute. Mathis made a pass forward to Movsisyan, but Hedjuk stepped forward to confront him and the ball rolled past him. Fortunately, Findley was able to run onto the end of what seemed like a broken play and he gathered the ball just beyond Marshall. Marshall rode his left shoulder forcing his near post shot to hit the outside of the net.

The series lead came just six minutes later off of a quick throw-in by Johnson deep in the Columbus end. He found Movsisyan who took a step toward the end line and then made a quick left-footed cross that found the foot of Findley making the near post run. Findley connected with the ball just in front of Hesmer only a couple of yards from the goal and the ball slipped past the Crew ‘keeper.

A noticeable change occurred at that point as the Crew began pressing for an equalizer, however, it was too little too late, as the game ended at 1-0. The aggregate-goal series will now switch to Columbus this Thursday with the Crew needing at least a one-goal advantage in that match in order to keep their MLS Cup defense alive.

Randy Davis is the Salt Lake correspondent for Goal.com.

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