Crew, fans relish Shield ceremony

COLUMBUS -- When the final whistle blew on the regular season, it was party time for the Columbus Crew.

After the Crew downed D.C. United 1-0 on Sunday evening to eliminate their Eastern Conference rivals from postseason play, the players and coaches headed to the northeast corner of Crew Stadium to the supporters section known as Nordecke.

There, the Crew received the Supporters' Shield for having the most points in MLS -- a stunning turnaround for a team that had not made the playoffs since winning its first Shield in 2004.

"It was awesome, the celebration at the end with the fans," said midfielder Duncan Oughton, the longest tenured Crew player (2001). "It definitely goes down as one of the top memories I had here and hopefully there will be more this year."

Just as they had done throughout the season, the fans yelled and provided one of the most hostile environments in the league to help the Crew to a 11-2-2 home mark -- without a loss in nine games (7-0-2) since June 7 -- and winning five at home in 2007.

"That was a sweet, sweet moment to celebrate with them," Oughton said. "They've been battling right along with us, throwing stuff on the field and battling to be allowed to throw stuff on the field."

For coach Sigi Schmid, it was a moving moment. Fired two-thirds of the way through the 2004 season even though he had Los Angeles in first place, he came to Columbus before the 2006 season and endured two losing years.

"Things like that for me become emotional," he said of the postgame ceremony. "It's just great to see. The Nordecke and the support that's been there all season. I don't think it's ever been like that -- just the emotion and passion that's been in that corner."

He likened this season to coaching his first title at his alma mater, UCLA, in 1985.

"When I heard fans chanting and shouting as they were giving us the Supporters' Shield it's like, 'We've come a long way,'" he said. "The real tribute goes to the players. They're the ones that believed."

He especially liked that the fans chanted "We're not done yet."

The Crew opens the two-game, aggregate goals series at Kansas City on Saturday. No Supporters' Shield winner has won MLS Cup since Schmid's Galaxy in 2002. "I'm a little familiar with that so that's what we want to do," he said. "This is the 13th year of MLS and 13 was my mom's lucky number so there are good omens aligning."

There certainly were a few in the match, which was a must-win for D.C. if it were to surpass New York and claim the final playoff spot.

D.C. hit the left post in the north end twice in the first half and the crossbar at the other end once before Brad Evans' strike from 30 yards hit that same left post and careened into the goal in the 77th minute.

"We caught some breaks but at the same time you have to earn your breaks and we wanted to keep plugging away," Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer said. "We were a little bit off. You've seen a lot better from our attacking players not only in their final pass but the little things like keeping the ball at times."

Schmid jokingly credited Hesmer with a little gamesmanship to keep D.C. off the board for his 10th shutout of the season to tie a team record.

"I think Will in the first half put some sandpaper on them. He roughed them up so when they hit they would bounce the other way. Then at the half we came out and repainted them so it would be nice and smooth when Evans hit it," Schmid said, tongue firmly in cheek. "Sometimes you need that. When (Thabiso) Khumalo hit the other post from in tight I remember saying, 'It's not going to be their day. It's just not going to happen for them.'"

That the Crew knocked out a longtime nemesis was probably more important to many in the crowd of 19,591 than the players and Schmid, who did not have to live through United beating the Crew in the Eastern Conference Championship in 1997, '98 and '99.

"Fans memories are longer than coaches' and players' memories are so for sure they were pleased with that," Schmid said. "I know our ownership was pleased with that because there's a history of D.C. in the years when Columbus was a very talented team with (Brian) McBride, (Robert) Warzycha, Stern John and all those people that D.C. kept knocking them off.

"Is it payback? No, because it's certainly not the same era, but the guys know what the fans know."

Crew midfielder Brian Carroll, in his first season after being acquired from D.C., did not find reason to gloat.

"I'm just happy to be in the playoffs. It just happened to come down to the last game against them," he said.

As for the game itself, Oughton made no apologies for the Crew escaping with a win.

"Sometimes when things are going well those things happen and when they're not going well, as we've experienced, you hit the post," he said. "Tough way for them to go out but we've been on the other end of it in the past."

While the Crew were not at their best, Schmid and the team feel the fact the Crew did not need a win -- they clinched the Supporters' Shield two weeks ago -- played into the game.

"No matter what you say, when the other team has to win and you know going in you're going to play the following week, I've been there as a player -- it's been a long time ago -- you want to make sure you don't get hurt," Schmid said. "You don't go completely reckless into a tackle. You work and do all the stuff but you don't quite have the same bite.

"It was a good win for us. I'm confident next week on an even playing field we'll come out with the bite we need. We knocked out on team tonight and we want to knock out another team in the next two weeks and then another after that and another after that."