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Columbus Crew SC

Black & Gold return home to face San Jose

June 4, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Columbus Crew SC News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Columbus Crew will look to get back on track this week as it hosts the San Jose Earthquakes at Crew Stadium on Saturday, June 7. The match will be the second of two regular-season match-ups between the two teams. In the teams' Week 7 battle in San Jose, the Crew (6-3-1, 19 pts.) came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat the ‘Quakes (2-6-1, 7 pts.) in a 3-2 thriller, thanks to two goals from Robbie Rogers and the game-winner by Brad Evans. Rogers earned MLS Player of the Week honors for Week 7 for his efforts.

Saturday's match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised live nationally on HDNet, as well as on the DirectKick package, and will also be shown locally on a tape-delayed basis at 10:30 p.m. on Columbus Sports Network, with Dwight Burgess and Bill McDermott calling all the action. The game can also be heard in English on News/Talk 610 WTVN with Neil Sika behind the microphone and on-line at theCrew.com and MLSNet.com, as well as in Spanish on La Que Buena 1550-AM with Marcelo Carrera, Eduardo Carvacho and Benny Pietrangelo on the call. Crew team-photo posters will be given away upon entry, while supplies last, courtesy of Three-A-Day Dairy.

San Jose travels to Columbus this week after falling to Real Salt Lake, 3-1, last Saturday (May 31), keeping the Earthquakes in seventh place in the Western Conference. Prior to last week's loss, the ‘Quakes registered their second victory of the season, a 2-1 decision over the defending MLS Cup-champion Houston Dynamo on May 22.

The Earthquakes are currently in the midst of their first season back in MLS after a two-year hiatus. The original ‘Quakes, who defeated D.C. United, 1-0, in the league's inaugural game in 1996, played 10 seasons in Major League Soccer from 1996-2005. Following the 2005 campaign, the Earthquakes were placed on hiatus by the league, with their players and coaching staff moving to Houston where they now play as the Houston Dynamo. However, when the original franchise moved, the decision was made to preserve the San Jose Earthquakes' nickname, logo and club history separately from that of the new Houston team, much like the NFL's decision to maintain the Cleveland Browns' legacy when the original franchise departed for Baltimore 1996.

San Jose features two players who suited up for the Black & Gold last season, both of whom became members of the Earthquakes thanks to the 2007 Expansion Draft, held in November of last year. Former Crew midfielder Ned Grabavoy was selected by San Jose in the third round of the Expansion Draft, while former Crew forward Kei Kamara was traded to San Jose in exchange for midfielder Brian Carroll, who had played each of his first five season with D.C. United, before being selected by the Earthquakes in the seventh round of the Expansion Draft, just days previous. San Jose defender Eric Denton also spent three seasons with the Crew (2002-04). The Crew's current roster also features two former ‘Quakes, forward Alejandro Moreno and midfielder Danny O'Rourke who both spent the 2005 season in San Jose.

In last week's action, the Crew defeated Real Salt Lake, 2-0, Tuesday in U.S. Open Cup play, then dropped just its third league game of the season, a 2-0 decision at Chivas USA. The Black & Gold was doomed in the match by a deflating three-minute stretch midway through the first half that it could never fully recover from. The Goats scored two goals in that span, beginning with Jorge Flores in the 20th minute, followed by Jesse Marsch in the 21st, and then went a man up in the 22nd thanks to a Danny O'Rourke red card. The red card was Columbus' first of the season and will force O'Rourke to sit out this Saturday's match vs. San Jose with a mandatory one-game suspension.

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