Columbus Crew Week in Review:
The Columbus Crew had never played the expansion Vancouver Whitecaps before Saturday night. The Black and Gold currently lead the all-time series one game to none. Powered by Emilio Renteria’s two goals, the Crew walked away from Columbus Crew Stadium with a 2-1 victory in front of 11,298 fans.
Neither team was able to net the ball during the first half leaving the score at nil-nil after 5 minutes. In the fiftieth minute, Renteria attacked a loose ball in the Vancouver box but was fouled by Whitecaps keeper Jay Nolly. Renteria squared up for the penalty kick and buried the shot into the left side of the net. The boisterous Nordecke crowd was not satisfied with this goal, chanting “We want two! We want two!” A few moments later, Renteria obliged them.
Dejan Rusmir fed Renteria a magnificent pass in the 59 minute which the latter buried for the two-nil lead. The upstart Whitecaps however showed some spirit. Seventeen-year-old rookie Omar Salgado was able to sneak one past Crew keeper William Hesmer in the 69th minute but that was the end of the scoring for the game.
The Crew now sports a 3-1-3 record worth 12 points and 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. Columbus returns to play next Saturday when they host the Seattle Sounders.
Corey Barnes is a third year at The Ohio State University studying business. He hails from Cleveland, Ohio and has a profound understanding of sports suffering and mediocrity. In addition to this column, he also writes sports things at buckeyenerd.tumblr.com and can be followed on The Twitter @Corey_Barnes.
Columbus Crew game photos from thecrew.com.
