MLS Playoffs: Real Salt Lake Not Satisfied With Win Over Crew

SANDY, Utah—Real Salt Lake beat Columbus 1-0 in their home leg of a two-game series. The victory came off of an 88th minute goal by Robbie Findley. It negated nearly a full game worth of stifling play on the part of Columbus, that has managed to bring back to earth this Real Salt Lake team which is often high-flying (and high-scoring) at home.

Despite the 1-0 advantage, Coach Jason Kreis was still left wanting with the effort.

“I’m a little disappointed in the play tonight. I’m a little disappointed that we couldn’t be more stylish. I like to win our games at home with a little more flair, and a little more possession.”

Stylish was definitely not what Columbus was after. They wanted a grind-it-out game, one that kept RSL’s chances to a minimum. Crew Coach Robert Warzycha summed it up this way,

“You always go into the game to score goals. You can’t tell the players not to score goals, but sometimes you can’t create chances. With a 0-0 tie, we would probably be very happy.”

In trying to play that style, Warzycha made a controversial decision: to keep reigning MLS MVP, Guillermo Barros Schelotto, and veteran, clutch forward, Alejandro Moreno on the bench. However, Coach Warzycha explained the decision this way,

“Well, we didn’t score any goals in the last five games and they were on the field, and so I felt like maybe we go with a different combination.”

The lack of the two offensive juggernauts for Columbus had an obvious impact on their play offensively, but the insertion of the physical Steven Lenhart and Emilio Renteria up top likely was part of their game plan to grind it out. However, the fact that Schelotto didn’t at least make a late game appearance caught many off-guard.

“Surprised,” Kreis said of the move. “Real surprised. We felt good when he wasn’t in the lineup, and we felt good when he didn’t come in late in the game. I thought for sure he’d come in late in the game.”

Expect Schelotto, and perhaps Moreno, to play a key role in the second leg in Columbus. Being down a goal in the aggregate goal series, the Crew will need to produce at least one goal – two to avoid a penalty kick shootout situation.

That won’t be an easy achievement. The Crew have struggled scoring goals in recent weeks, now scoring only one goal in their last five league games. Coach Warzycha was aware of this lack of momentum.

“Sometimes during the season you’re in a position that you are not winning, where everything you do is not working. Maybe that’s the time that we are in right now.”

However, Real Salt Lake General Manager, Garth Lagerwey was still wary of the defending champions

“They are a tough team to break down that way, and look, they are the Supporter’s Shield winners and the defending champs for a reason and they are not going to go down without a fight.”

This match also represented RSL forward Yura Movsisyan’s last home match. He will be making the move to the Danish team Randers when the transfer window opens on January 1st. It was Movsisyan who made a nice move and delivered the winning cross to forward Robbie Findley. The moment wasn’t lost on Movsisyan, either.

“It was very important - these fans, this team, this club has given me a lot, has given me my break, has given me everything that I have right now, and has given me really good memories.”

Coach Kreis was complimentary of both the delivery and the finish on the play,

“He (Findley) was there to finish off what I thought was an unbelievable play by Yura Movsisyan to get that ball turned and served in a fantastic cross for him. So hats off to both of those guys.”

The two clubs will face each other again on Thursday, with RSL needing a draw to advance and Columbus needing to finish the game with a goal advantage to at least force a shootout. Perhaps in this one the roles will be reversed, with Coach Kreis settling for a grind it out game, and Coach Warzycha wanting things to be a little more “stylish”.

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

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