[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8rSM7UyDSQ]
Brian Bliss took over for Robert Warzycha two days ago. Now he has his first win as coach of the Columbus Crew, though had Will Bruin been on his game, this match would have gone much differently. The Houston Dynamo striker had three great chances in this game’s first 11 minutes, and as the Columbus Crew color analyst notes, it’s difficult to look beyond casual finishing on two of those misses.
With Bruin struggling, tonight’s match at Crew Stadium went into halftime 0-0. From there, it was all the home side, creating Ryan Finley’s first goal two minutes into the second before Justin Meram put the game away. Columbus would go on to defeat the Dynamo, 2-0.
There’s really no way around talking about Bruin. The misses where just that important. Where Houston was controlling the outset of this match — where Bruin’s teammates and, to a certain extent, himself were firing on all cylinders — it’s his job to finish those chances. He needs to make the plan, work, and execution pay off. That he didn’t allowed the Crew to hang around and, eventually, prolong Houston’s agony.
That agony’s been defined by their last five matches. At a time when Houston should be surging — their team finally settling in after a season disrupted by injuries and national team call-ups — they’ve gone 1-3-1, dropping out of the East’s top five. National team call-ups are still bothering them (Boniek Garcia was absent tonight), and injuries have now claimed Ricardo Clark. But at some point, beyond all circumstances and excuses, this team needs to turn it around.
That point wasn’t tonight, with Columbus’s second half dominance seeing Houston out of Crew Stadium with a two-goal loss.
