On rare off night, offense falters as Columbus Crew takes 2-0 loss at Houston
It turns out that the Crew is capable of being shut out.
Wednesday night, Major League Soccer's most prolific offense headed into Shell Energy Stadium boasting a league-best 50 goals. The Crew had scored at least once in all but one of its first 25 games this season and riding a stretch of 16 straight games with at least one goal.
Those statistics weren't as important as this one: the Crew, despite sitting fifth in the Eastern Conference standings, were just 2-6-3 away from the fortress that has become Lower.com Field. At Houston, the Crew (12-8-6) tacked another loss onto that litany of road woes this season, falling 2-0 to the Dynamo (11-10-5).
What had already been a piecemeal lineup during a congested week saw coach Wilfried Nancy make two halftime substitutions. Diego Rossi came on for Jacen Russell-Rowe at forward and Rudy Camacho subbed out Darlington Nagbe, allowing starting center back Sean Zawadzki to move into the midfield in Nagbe’s place.
The changes helped, but they couldn't produce a goal. Former Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark wasn’t seriously challenged until the 68th minute when Cucho Hernandez forced him into a leaping save. As Hernandez cut into the area from near the midpoint of the field, left wingback Yaw Yeboah’s service was deflected toward the goal by the forward only to have Clark deftly deflect it over the goal and out of bounds.
After his low corner kick was deflected back toward the corner, Crew midfielder Julian Gressel hesitated as if to let the ball roll out of play but decided instead to step into the ball and send a right-footed shot on net from a tight angle. The second-half substitution got enough on the ball to force Clark to dive into his own net to make the save, but once the play ended Clark dropped to the ground and writhed in pain while holding his lower back in the 78th minute.
The Crew kept pressing for the equalizer, but Houston was able to break free on a counter keyed by a long through ball from Héctor Herrera that allowed Aliyu Ibrahim to outrun the entire Crew defense and beat Patrick Schulte in the 90th minute.
That sealed another in a long line of woes for the Crew at Houston. The Dynamo are now 7-1-7 all-time at home against the Crew, with the lone Columbus win a 2-0 final on June 18, 2011. Clark remained in the game and finished off his 11th shutout of the season.
"We had to make rotations because of the trip and it’s not easy to play here and we have another game in three days so the rotation is normal," Nancy said. "It’s not about position. This is more about, yes, I told them I count on every player and they know that, but at certain moments we didn’t have the energy that we usually have."
After attempting 31 shots in Saturday's 2-0 win against Toronto FC, the Crew finished with 10 against the Dynamo.
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Houston took advantage of a patchwork Crew lineup, pressured the defense early and was justly rewarded with the game’s opening goal. Dynamo defender Griffin Dorsey served the ball to Corey Baird, who timed a run past Crew defender Sean Zawadzki, stayed onside and found himself one-on-one with Crew goalkeeper Patrick Schulte. Baird’s first shot was actually saved point-blank by Schulte, who deflected it with his right arm, but the ball bounded right back to Baird.
He didn’t miss on his second attempt, scoring his fifth goal in the last seven games across all competitions and putting Houston ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute. The goal was the first allowed in MLS play by the Crew since its final game before the Leagues Cup, ending a stretch of 214 consecutive minutes without Schulte conceding a goal.
"I thought we had a little more urgency for a couple minutes (after Houston scored), but after that it kind of went back to us not being on the front foot," Crew captain Darlington Nagbe said. "I think we’re a team that’s built to be on the front foot and have the ball, and when we don’t do that we’re not as good as we are and we don’t show what we’re capable of doing."
Houston had already taken eight shots and put five on goal before the Crew’s first shot on goal. It was a blast from the left side of the penalty area that was easily saved by Clark four minutes into first-half stoppage time. A moment later, the Crew nearly pulled even when Cucho Hernandez got on the end of a corner kick from Alex Matan but deflected the ball over the net. That it was still a 1-0 deficit was a credit to Schulte and the crossbar, which deflected a Herrera blast from finding a wide-open net after Schulte made the initial save on a Franco Escobar shot from the left wing.
Nevertheless, the Crew only trailed 1-0 at the break despite their expected goals mark of 0.18 ranking well behind Houston’s 2.09.
Playing the middle game of a stretch of three in eight days, Nancy made five changes to the lineup that started Saturday’s 2-0 home win against Toronto. Forwards Diego Rossi and Christian Ramirez were replaced by Matan and Jacen Russell-Rowe, midfielders Max Arfsten and Mo Farsi replaced Yeboah and Gressel and defenders Yevhen Cheberko and Zawadzki replaced Malte Amudsen and Rudy Camacho, respectively.
The start was Cheberko’s first for the Crew since he was acquired during the summer transfer window. Russell-Rowe’s start was his fourth of the season while Arfsten made only his third start and 12th appearance. Cheberko earned a yellow card for a physical challenge on Dorsey in the fourth minute.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Houston Dynamo hands Columbus Crew rare shutout loss
