COLUMBUS -- As the Columbus Crew prepare for the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series against Kansas City, there's a good possibility they wouldn't be in position to defend the Supporters' Shield if not for their first trip to CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
The Crew were reeling when they faced the Wizards on June 14. After opening the season with a surprising six wins in seven games, the club fell on hard times and entered the game with a tie and three consecutive losses in its previous four games -- and had not scored in any of them.
Also, it had been eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup four days earlier after losing in overtime to Chicago in Peoria, Ill. Midfielder Eddie Gaven suffered an ankle sprain in that match and joined defenders Ezra Hendrickson and Gino Padula and midfielders Adam Moffat and Stefani Miglioranzi on the disabled list while midfielder Brad Evans was suspended for the K.C. match.
Facing that adversity the Crew needed a positive start. Defender Chad Marshall came to the rescue, scoring a header off a corner kick by Guillermo Barros Schelotto in the fourth minute to end a club-record 370-minute goalless streak. Alejandro Moreno added two more scores and William Hesmer needed to make only two saves in the 3-0 victory.
"It was an important game for us at that time of the year," coach Sigi Schmid said. "We had the Open Cup game in between where we scored a couple of games but we were struggling in league games. Getting an early goal by Marshall off a corner kick and Alejandro getting goals against Kevin (Hartman) gave us momentum. It was a big road win."
The Crew followed with a 3-3 tie at Los Angeles, a 2-1 win vs. Colorado and a 2-2 with Chicago.
"We went on a big run after that. Before that we had been on a stretch we were tying a few games and maybe losing one or two," Evans said.
Schmid said the turnaround at Kansas City helped ease the sting from what had been the pivotal moment of the 2007 season when the Wizards scored two goals in stoppage time to turn a 2-1 defeat into a 3-2 victory in Arrowhead Stadium in the 25th game of the season.
Columbus was victimized in the 93rd minute by a controversial penalty kick that Eddie Johnson converted, then Scott Sealy scored just after play resumed to enable the Wizards to become the third team in MLS history to trail at the 90-minute mark and win in stoppage time.
The loss extended the Crew's winless streak to seven games. The six-point swing in the final moments proved costly as the Wizards edged the Crew by three points for the last playoff spot.
Contrast the Crew's spiral then with this season's post-K.C. turnaround. They were 6-4-1 going in but 11-3-5 over the final 19 games. And that long scoreless streak? A distant memory. The Crew were second in MLS with 50 goals, the most in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
"Our season the year before sort of got derailed in Kansas City and this year it probably got reignited in Kansas City," Schmid said.
He was not surprised the Crew broke out of their scoring funk against the Wizards.
"Sometimes when you look at a team and they're not scoring you're looking at: 'Are we creating chances? Are we getting close?'" he said. "We were around there. We were getting close. Sometimes you've just got to be patient. We were still playing all right. I thought we were moving the ball better in training and it was just a matter of time before we got goals."
The Crew, who had beaten Kansas City 2-1 at home on May 3, also scored three on the Wizards July 17 in a wild game in Crew Stadium. The Wizards went up 2-0 by the 24th minute but goals from Schelotto, Moreno and Marshall over the next 12 minutes put the Crew in the lead. Josh Wolff got the equalizer in the 75th to complete the scoring.
"I don't think the 3-3 game will be reflective of the series," Schmid said. "Usually you don't have those offensive outbursts in a playoff game unless it's a Game 2 or a deciding game and one team takes the lead and the other has to throw everything out.
"Kansas City has changed their lineup an awful lot. They're a much different team than they were in the three games we played them. Our season series with them ended early. They've added Herculez Gomez and Abe Thompson to the starting lineup. Davy Arnaud is playing central midfield now. Jack Jewsbury is in there now. They've got a lot more workers on the field than they had before."
The playoff series, the first between the charter members, features two of the hottest teams in MLS. Columbus is 8-1-2 in the past 11 and carries a 7-0-2 home mark since June 7. Kansas City is 3-0-1 in the past four and 5-1-1 over seven matches while going 7-0-3 at home since the loss to Columbus.
Kansas City hosts the first game Saturday in the converted baseball park that has become its fortress because of a smaller pitch.
"It's narrower. Sometimes it can be box-to-box because it only takes a couple of passes to get from one box to the other," Moreno said. "It's very similar to what the stadium (Spartan Stadium) used to be in San Jose. The game is going to be pretty physical, not a lot of space; a lot of one-two touches. There's going to be opportunities simply because of how many balls get into the box because of a lack of space. It's important for us to be sharp in front of the goal and certainly be organized in the back as we have been the whole year."
The second leg of the aggregate-goals series is Nov. 8 in Columbus.
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