Slow start results in Crew SC loss in LA

Crew SC came out of the locker room with more fight to begin the second half against Los Angeles Football Club on Saturday night.

It was the only way to even begin to think about chipping away at a two-goal deficit. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s message to his team after a rough first half was, “We need more. Stay calm, believe we can get back into this and encourage each other.”

Even in a 2-0 defeat, that was what the Crew coach liked. He wasn’t pleased with his team’s execution but was proud of the effort.

At the very least, it was an improvement over a head-scratching opening sequence. After a 2-0 home loss to Atlanta United entering the World Cup break, several players spoke of a bitter taste left by the sound defeat, that it would light a fire under the Crew entering the second half of the season.

Evidently, it failed to ignite for at least 10 minutes at the new Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

“What I question, I think, is the start to the game by some of the players,” Berhalter said. “I didn’t think it was an appropriate start for playing in front of 20-something thousand people in this atmosphere.”

A poorly defended free kick put LAFC up 1-0 in the fourth minute. A turnover and a series of quick passes created an Adama Diomande goal — believed by Crew players and Berhalter to be offside — to double that lead four minutes later.

Disastrous starts have been rare for Crew SC in 2018, but they have led to two of the team’s five losses. Saturday’s game resembled the start to an April 14 game at D.C. United in which a sluggish opening minute led to the lone goal in a 1-0 D.C. win. Berhalter couldn’t explain his team’s approach to the opening minutes against LAFC.

“We’ll take a look at it, but I think it’s just the understanding of, ‘Hey guys, let’s get it going,’” he said. “By and large we’ve been good at that. If we’re talking about two games — D.C. and LA, out of 18 games — we’ve been doing fine, but it’s something that we want to address and make sure guys are in the right mindset to perform.”

Once that mindset returned, the Crew commanded more of the game but didn’t do much to chip away at the deficit created in the first half. A clear chance came in the 69th minute, when Artur crossed a ball to Federico Higuain, who headed it into the back of the net only to have the play waved off because of an offside call.

“I didn’t see it being offside. I saw maybe Federico’s hand being offside, but when we freeze-frame it, I don’t see him being offside,” Berhalter said. “It’s an issue because the guy’s offside on the (second LAFC goal) and (Higuain is) not offside on the one that we have, so it’s confusing.”

Perhaps as confusing as the start that sent the Crew to its second straight loss.