Beast of the East: Crew Take Top Spot With 3-1 Road Win

New York Red Bulls 1 Columbus Crew 3

Harrison, N.J. – No Schelotto, no Rogers, no Marshall, no problem. The Columbus Crew shrugged off the absence of their three World Cup stars to produce a 3-1 win at Red Bull Arena. 

The Red Bulls started well and for half an hour this was a tense affair, both teams giving away little. The midfield units went toe to toe in a game of much possession and only sporadic penetration. The opening goal came in the 35^th minute, when the movement of Eddie Gaven allowed him to be wide open in front of goal, converting a Frankie Hejduk cross with a smart header past Bouna Coundoul.

The Red Bulls were stung by the goal and quickly carved out an opening in retaliation, only for Ubiparipovic to strike the post. In the 39^th minute, Columbus struck a huge blow by taking a somewhat against the run of play 2-0 lead. A Gaven corner found a wide open Andy Iro, who powered a header into the net to send the travelling Crew fans into raptures.

The Red Bulls came out after half time and responded well to the 2 goal deficit. The home side pressured further up the field, added width with a change of shape and asked more questions of Columbus. Five minutes into the second half, a through ball to Dane Richards saw the Jamaican forward beat Iro for pace, only to see his shot rebound off the goal post. In the third Red Bull effort of the night to find the woodwork, Juan Pablo Angel struck a 60^th minute free kick against the cross bar.

The Red Bulls second half play was rewarded in the 81^st minute. Full back Carlos Mendes pushed up the flank to cross from deep.  Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer found himself in no man’s land as rookie Tony Tchani headed in his first career goal.

As the home crowd prepared for a nine minute onslaught, the Crew quickly burst their bubble. A defensive mix up presented Emilio Renteria with a breakaway chance, he ruthlessly converted to suck the air out of the home crowd, and send the Crew home with a valuable three points.  The Crew are now in first place in the Eastern Conference, with two games in hand over New York.

Scoring Summary

CLB – Eddie Gaven 2 (Frankie Hejduk 2) 35

CLB – Andy Iro 2 (Eddie Gaven 2) 39

NY – Tony Tchani 1 (Carlos Mendes 1) 81

CLB – Emilio Renteria 1 (unassisted) 83

NY – Coundoul, Albright (Mendes 71), Petke, Ream, Borman, Hall (Wolyniec 68), Ubiparipovic (Tchani 65), Miller, Stammler, Richards, Angel.

CLB – Hesmer, Hejduk, Brunner, Iro, O’Rourke, Gaven, Carroll, Moffat (Zayner 57), Ekpo (Renteria 68), Lenhart, Garey (Oughton 89).

Att: 11,940