Crew’s loss has feel of 2016 season
There are nights when Federico Higuain is clear of mind and happy of feet and he makes beautiful geometry. He makes you wonder:
Who stands in the middle of the penalty area, in a prime scoring spot, and doesn’t take a rip at a perfect cross? Who stands there and makes London Bridge with his legs,
so that the perfect cross can pass through his legs? On purpose?
Higuain did that Saturday night for Crew SC. He let the ball roll through his legs because he somehow knew striker Ola Kamara was behind him. It was one of the best non-assist assists in the history of un-touches.
Higuain played like he wanted to show David Villa and Andrea Pirlo a little something. Higuain put on a show. He had the ball on an ankle-leash. He had a goal. He had the nonassist assist.
He and the rest of the Black & Gold were swallowed by New York City FC later in the game. The Crew blew a second-half lead, allowed two goals in a span of 12 and lost 3-2 at Mapfre Stadium. A crowd of 17,336 was alternately titillated and flabbergasted.
“The first half could have been one of our best halves of the year,” Crew coach Gregg Berhalter said. “We lost total control of the match after we scored our second goal.”
Earlier in the day, Kaka returned from injury and propelled Orlando City to a 2-0 victory over Colorado. With that, Orlando pushed its league-best record to 6-1-0. The news rang through Major League Soccer. It was heard in both locker rooms at Mapfre Stadium.
This was a big three points. The Crew (4-4-1) had a chance to take three points from NYCFC (4-3-1) and keep in touch with Orlando in the East.
As it turned out, Villa (illness) did not play. He never even got out of his hotel room. Pirlo didn’t play, either. He never got off the bench. He didn’t have to. New York City, on the road, against an Eastern Conference rival, has Pirlo available for selection and says, “We don’t need no stinking genius.”
Afterward, Higuain said, “Frustrating. We lose.” And then he showed the media his back and blew right out of the locker room. Is he still on the leadership council? By the way, Kei Kamara visits next weekend.
You hate to say it, but this game felt like last season — when the Crew was vulnerable to handing games away in the second half, especially at home. The Crew dominated most of the first half. In the second, it was picked up and jammed, headfirst, into its home turf.
The Crew let a 2-1 lead go and the good news was NYCFC didn’t pin a couple of more goals on it. Maybe New York City would have, if Pirlo or Villa had played, or both.
“It’s like Gregg said: That wasn’t us in the second half,” said Ethan Finlay, who sent the cross under Higuain’s bridge. “They (NYC) passed the ball around us, and they did it in our place, and that’s rare. Really, that’s the difficult part of it. It was a mystifying way to lose, because that’s not us.”
It used to be them. It hasn’t been them this season, until Saturday. Is it them again?
It’s early. The Crew has played well, by and large. It was terrific in the first half and maybe learned something in the second. It can be a point of discussion at the next meeting of the leadership council.