All Good Things Must Come To An End (Crew 0-2 New England)

Well it’s true!

Even the most ardent Crew supporters wouldn’t tell you they thought the team would run the table the rest of the season. Quite frankly, I’m surprised it was the final game of a “7 in 21 days” stretch that ultimately caught up to the Crew. This team has been battling injuries all season and I had concerns about such a difficult stretch for the Black And Yellow.

I must admit, I was not able to view this match in its entirety either. I know, I’m slipping! Luckily I’m getting out of retail and back into 9-5 hours! The major talking point seems to be Chad Marshall’s own goal that doubled New England’s lead. It was very uncharacteristic of the Columbus captain, although Crew haters will try to tell you that his lack of speed (exposed during that fateful error) is what ultimately keeps him from starring for the US Men’s National Team. Personally, I think it was tired legs catching up with the Stanford product. The same goes for the rest of the team. The high had to wear off at some point. Did it come against a lousy team? Yes, but that’s irrelevant.

What’s important now is focusing on September 15′s trip to New York. The Crew have nine days off to rest up and prepare. The significance of this turn of events cannot be overstated. What this team needs more than anything is to get healthy. It’s a miracle nothing happened to Jairo Arrieta, Federico Higuain, or the Ageless One Eddie Gaven. Beyond New York, Columbus has a lot of matches down the stretch with fellow Eastern Conference playoff contenders (Sporting KC and DC United chief among them) so they really need time off get prepared physically and (more importantly) mentally for the regular season finale.

So yes, Wednesday night’s loss as disappointing. But it was also necessary. Now the team can recover and prepare for the next wave. Let’s hope Higuain and Arrieta are up to the challenge!

“Be MASSIVE!!!”