Crew vs. Chicago Fire - May 26, 2012

Columbus
2- 1
Chicago
SATURDAY, MAY 26 7:00PM EDT Crew Stadium
Match Day presented by CoughlinCars.com

Columbus Crew – Andy Gruenebaum; Sebastian Miranda, Carlos Mendes (Eric Gehrig, 54’), Josh Williams, Shaun Francis (Nemanja Vukovic, 50’); Dilly Duka (Chris Birchall, 66’), Kevan George, Tony Tchani, Bernardo Anor; Eddie Gaven, Emilio Renteria

Substitutes not used: Matt Lampson, Cole Grossman, Justin Meram, Olman Vargas

Chicago Fire – Sean Johnson; Dan Gargan, Jalil Anibaba, Austin Berry, Gonzalo Segares; Logan Pause (Daniel Paladini, 60’), Pavel Pardo; Patrick Nyarko, Rafael Robayo, Marco Pappa (Dominic Oduro, 46’); Federico Puppo (Orr Barouch, 46’)

Substitutes not used: Paolo Tornaghi, Hunter Jumper, Corben Bone, Michael Videira

MATCH RECAP

Goals and Assists

Club Time Player (Assisted by)
CLB 9' Eddie Gaven (Shaun Francis)
CLB 43' Emilio Renteria (Eddie Gaven, Shaun Francis)
CHI 72' Austin Berry (Dan Paladini)

Disciplinary

Club Time Player Reason Action
CLB 67' Bernardo Anor Encroachment Yellow

 

Match Stats
Columbus Crew   Chicago Fire
14 Attempts on Goal 16
5 Shots on Target 8
7 Shots off Target 4
2 Blocked Shots 4
4 Corner Kicks 10
8 Fouls 6
24 Open Play Crosses 20
0 Offsides 2
1 Yellow Cards 0
0 Red Cards 0
51 Duels Won 42
53% Duels Won % 44%
407 Total Pass 371
80% Passing Accuracy % 77%
51.7% Possession 48.3%

 

MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank Player What We Saw
1 Eddie Gaven With the opener and assisting on the winner, Crew veteran carried his team, especially in the first half.
2 Emilio Rentería Another goal in as many games for big Venezuelan, who was especially impressive in shucking Austin Berry to score before halftime
3 Patrick Nyarko Should've buried the equalizer in the 41st, but speedster was the only consistent threat for the visitors.

 

Postgame Quotes

Crew head coach Robert Warzycha
General thoughts on the match:

It was a very difficult game for us because of the two previous games and the travel.  We actually started the game pretty well. The first have was pretty good. We moved the ball. Second half (the Fire) just pushed us in the box and we defended the troubles on the corner kicks. We probably could have scored more goals, but Bernardo's (Anor) shot hit the crossbar and Emilio(Renteria) nearly had one in front in the first half.  We did what we had to do and we won the game.

On the results of three games in seven days:

Especially going against San Jose and Seattle away from home, we had to travel across the country. So yes, I would like to say it was a good week for us.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Highlights
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