by Andrew King, Columbus Wired (7/24/10)

As the sun began to drop in Columbus Saturday evening, 13,000 fans braved the blazing heat to come watch their hometown Crew play the Houston Dynamo. Luckily for these sweat-covered fans, they got their money’s worth and the Crew won 3-0.

The Crew lineup once again strayed from the norm, even more than their last game. Once again, Emilio Renteria earned the start up front, while winger Robbie Rogers returned to the lineup. The big change, however, was defender Shaun Francis getting his first career start in place of suspended captain Frankie Hejduk.

The heat didn’t slow the play of either team, and the game started fast. In just the second minute, the referee issued the first of four cards to Mike Chabala of the Dynamo after a hard tackle. The rough play was a recurring theme throughout the game, with players from both teams getting physical, perhaps to a fault.

File photo by Joel Torres, Columbus Wired

After a quick start for both teams, the Crew quickly began to control the game. Their first scoring chance came in the 13th minute, when Guillermo Barros Schelotto played an amazing volley into the box for Emilio Renteria, who headed the ball just above the crossbar for one of the game’s first shots.

The second yellow card of the game came in the 22nd minute, when Danny O’Rourke went in too hard on a challenge, and gave Houston a free kick just outside of the Columbus 18 yard box. The free kick was well taken, and skimmed above the bar just beyond the outstretched arms of William Hesmer.

The game’s turning point came in the 34th minute. A Houston pass was intercepted by Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven, who played a ball towards the far corner for Renteria. The pass was well past its target, and rolled harmlessly towards Dynamo keeper Pat Onstad.

Onstad inexplicably came out of his box to get the ball, but realized that Renteria had not given up on the play, and began to backpedal back into the box. In a panic, the keeper seemed to lose his footing, but appeared to still be in the path of the ball. Somehow, however, Onstad allowed the ball to slip out of his hands and into the welcoming feet of Renteria, who took two touches and calmly put the ball in the back of the net.

Emilio’s dance that followed the goal likely took more effort than the bump of the foot that the score required, as the unamused referee would likely point out.

Just six minutes later, the referee once again reached into his pocket and booked Houston’s Bobby Boswell, after what appeared to be a hip check sent a mid-breakaway Emilio Renteria flying for what seemed to be the hundredth time. Boswell was given a yellow card, though fans seemed to think he deserved a red.

The Dynamo escaped what could have been a 3-0 deficit at the half by barely missing two Crew goals in the last five minutes of the half. In the 42nd minute, Chad Marshall saw a seemingly perfectly-placed header bounce off the ground and just over the bar, while Renteria had a one on one opportunity against keeper Onstad, who redeemed himself by making an incredible stop to save the goal. Nevertheless, the Crew entered the locker room at halftime with a 1-0 lead.

The second half started much differently than the first. The Crew seemed content to hold onto their one goal lead, while the Dynamo showed no indication that they had the ability to change the result. After subs by each team midway through the half, the game began to stretch as Houston pushed further in an attempt to get the tying goal.

In the 72nd minute, the game’s second key moment occurred. Once again, Renteria was played a ball with his back to the only defender left to beat. He took one touch, turned, and Bobby Boswell once again swept his leg out from underneath him, sending Renteria to the turf, and earning Boswell his second yellow card, sending him off. Renteria had little doubt that the call was a good one.

“Yeah, yeah it definitely was the right decision,” Renteria said. “It could’ve been a straight red.”

After the card left Houston with only ten men, there was little they could do against the stout Columbus defense. The Crew controlled nearly all possession for the next 12 minutes, when in the 84th minute they were given a free kick just outside the corner of the box.

Schelotto once again stepped up to take the kick, and played a beautiful ball into a streaking Andy Iro, who flicked the cross into the back of the net for the second goal of the game. Judging by the body language of the Dynamo, the remainder of the game was just a formality. They had checked mentally checked out.

This was never more evident than in the final seconds of the game. In the 88th minute, the Crew’s newly acquired french midfielder Leandre Griffit entered the game. Griffit had only been on the team since April 16, and was seeing his first minutes in an MLS match.

Seconds later, Schelotto sliced through the maligned Dynamo defense with a beautiful run, and lost control just before reaching the keeper. Before Onstad could dive for the ball, however, Schelotto slid beautifully in the way and touched the ball just out of the reach of the keeper, to a floating Griffit, who took one touch, and buried the ball into the open net past several Dynamo defenders. In just his second MLS minute, the frenchman scored his first MLS goal.

“I said to myself you have one chance to score, you have to take it” Griffit said after the game. “I mean you put me in and two minutes later, you score, and go home. It’s perfect.” When asked if he was setting the bar for fellow frenchman Thierry Henry, Griffit jokingly responded,”you have to watch, I’m coming.”

The game ended with a 3-0 shutout victory for the Crew, their second multiple goal shutout victory in a row. Coach Robert Warzycha was happy with the result, and discussed it after the game.

“I think they grabbed the game a little bit [at the end of the first half], and we went into halftime and made some adjustments, and the second half was much better,” Warzycha said. The coach was also happy with new starter Shaun Francis. “He played a good game. He showed his quality during practice, and showed that on the field today. There was no unknown for us, and he played well.”

The Crew now have an eight point lead in the Eastern standings over New York, who they defeated one week ago. Their next game is against Chivas USA next saturday at the Home Depot Center.