The Columbus Crew dropped a 3-1 decision to the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Saturday night. The Black & Gold suffered three unanswered goals after Milovan Mirosevic, assisted by Jairo Arrieta, put the Crew on top early in the first half. Red Bulls’ Thierry Henry tallied two goals and an assist, while Dax McCarty notched the game winner.
It only took three minutes for the Crew to find the back of the net. Arrieta received the ball from Mirosevic, who then tucked into the middle of the box. The Costa Rican forward sent it back in and the Chilean tapped it into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Six minutes later Henry was on the receiving end of a long ball from Rafa Marquez and, after splitting the Crew center backs, proceeded to shoot it to the right of Andy Gruenebaum, bringing the game level.
The Black & Gold almost got on the board again in the 15th minute but Mirosevic’s diving header, from a perfect service by Dilly Duka, went wide to the right of goal. The Crew continued to attack, trying to break the stalemate, but Tony Tchani’s 37th minute blast, from 35 yards out, barely cleared the crossbar sending the teams to the locker rooms tied at the half.
The teams entered the second stanza still tied and both goalkeepers did well to keep the score level early on. In the 60th minute, McCarty took a right footed shot from about 30 yards out, but Gruenebaum parried the ball away. A minute later, New York ‘keeper Bill Gaudette saved a long-range shot by Eddie Gaven.
The Red Bulls finally got the go-ahead goal in the 79th minute when Henry’s corner kick found McCarty who headed the ball into the upper 90 for the 2-1 lead. Play stopped for five minutes immediately after the goal, as Gruenebaum hit his face against the post while he was attempting to save the header. The Crew netminder was replaced by Matt Lampson with five minutes left to play.
Henry would find the back of the net again in stoppage time with a phenomenal, unassisted goal, from the corner. The Red Bulls captain took a right-footed shot from the flag that sailed over the box and hit the far post before ricocheting into the back of the net fixing the result at 3-1.
The Crew is now 12-10-6 on the season and 4-6-4 on the road. The Crew loss, paired with D.C. United’s 2-1 win against New England, dropped the Black & Gold into sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings, two points behind D.C.
The Crew will only have four days of rest before returning to the pitch for a match against Chivas USA on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Crew Stadium.
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