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RSL flexed their muscles at home last week. The better team won and rightly so last week. The Crew were out of sorts during the whole first half, came out well for the first 20 minutes of the second half, and then the changes made by Robert Warzycha allowed RSL to retake the momentum.
I can't really tell you why the changes led to RSL's two second half goals; but I can say that when your team is down 2-nil, scores a goal to start the second half to bring themselves back into the game, and starts to play themselves into a game you don't make 3 changes because it has the possibility to change the momentum.
The Crew players who started to link up well in the second half, had to learn to link up well with three new faces, and it didn't work out well; In comparison, RSL who are all used to each other started to take the game over in front of a good crowd.
Stubbing your own toes. The Crew called game over on themselves in this series by playing better than RSL in the home leg but not scoring, and seeming perfectly content to not score and play to a 0-0 draw. Also, RSL finished that game with 9 men compared to the Crew's 10. This team, just like last year's, doesn't seem to have that killer's instinct to put a team away.
Also, chance after chance to win silverware in 2010 and now 2011 is wasted. Here goes another.
This Crew didn't seize the occasion to win the U.S. Open Cup last year and they didn't seize the occasion last week against Real Salt Lake. They lost a Supporters Shield they were running away with last Summer, and plummeted out of the playoffs in the first round for the second time in two years last October.
Losing the big games is just becoming an unhealthy habit for the Crew as of late. And a lack of distraughtness over it is particularly distressing.
No Ratings. I'm going to bypass on rating players for this game, because it would get ugly in a 4-1 loss.
In Other News, the RSL fans came out in numbers for their leg, while only the Nordecke came out in Columbus. Probably the overall reason MLS players rank Rio Tinto as a tougher place to play this week. Got to think overall that has to do with the altitude (with the Rapids also being ranked higher) than the fans.
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