MLS Columbus Crew SC

Crew hosting Eastern Conference Championship game Thursday

Published on November 10, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Columbus Crew SC News Release


COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Supporters' Shield-winning Columbus Crew prepares for its final match at Crew Stadium this season and it is a monumental one, as it hosts the MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Championship against the Chicago Fire this Thursday, Nov. 13. The Crew advanced with a 3-1 aggregate-goal victory over Kansas City in its two-game, conference-semifinal series. Columbus won Game 2, 2-0, Saturday at Crew Stadium.

Thursday's big match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (ET) and will be televised live nationally on ESPN2 Primetime Thursday, with JP Dellacamera and John Harkes calling all the action, and Allen Hopkins and Pedro Gomez reporting from the sidelines. The game can be heard in English on The Brew @ 105.7 (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE) and on-line at theCrew.com and MLSNet.com, with Dwight Burgess and Neil Sika behind the microphone.

Thursday's match will also feature a special, playoff-edition Bob Evans Buck-a-Brat Night, when juicy, full-size Bob Evans bratwursts will be sold for just $1 throughout Crew Stadium. The Eastern Conference Championship is a one-game winner-take-all format. Should the two teams remain even at the conclusion of regulation time, two additional overtime halves of 15 minutes apiece will be played. If a definitive result has still not been determined after overtime, a penalty shootout will decide the winner, with the victorious squad advancing to the 2008 MLS Cup Final at the Home Depot Center on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 3:30 p.m. on ABC.

In Saturday's (Nov. 8) clincher over K.C. at Crew Stadium, the Crew returned to its familiar home form, defeating the Wizards by a 2-0 score, and running it home record to 12-2-2 this season, including playoffs. Columbus got an early goal from Brad Evans, in the seventh minute off a beautiful service from Brian Carroll, and an insurance score from Robbie Rogers in the 58th, assisted by Alejandro Moreno and MVP candidate Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The victory was the Crew's first in the playoffs since a series-clinching 2-1 win over San Jose on Sept. 28, 2002, which also marked the last time the Black & Gold won a playoff series before this year.

The Fire is led into Thursday's big match by former Crew icon Brian McBride, Mexican superstar Cuauhtemoc Blanco and former Crew goalkeeper Jon Busch. McBride returned to MLS this summer, after four-and-a-half successful seasons with Fulham FC of the English Premier League, and tallied five goals and two assists in 11 games with the Fire. McBride was originally selected by the Crew with the first overall pick of Major League Soccer in its inaugural draft in 1996. He went on to play eight seasons in the Black & Gold (1996-2003), finishing his Crew career with 62 goals and 45 assists in 161 league games. His total of 62 goals is still tied with Jeff Cunningham for the Columbus franchise record. McBride was selected to eight MLS All-Star games, with seven appearances, in his time in Columbus, and he was also selected to the MLS All-Time Best XI in 2005 as part of the league's 10th anniversary. Thursday will be the first time that McBride has suited up against his former squad in an MLS match at Crew Stadium. Busch, who edged out current Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer for MLS Panasonic Goalkeeper of the Year honors, played for the Black & Gold for five seasons (2002-06). Midfield playmaker and MVP candidate Blanco had seven goals and 11 assists in the 2008 campaign.

Thursday's match will be the first-ever playoff meeting between Eastern Conference rivals Columbus and Chicago. The two sides were dead even in the two-game regular season series this season, as both matches resulted in 2-2 draws. In the first match, on July 5 at Crew Stadium, Fire forward Chris Rolfe, who grew up in Kettering, Ohio, and played collegiately about 60 miles west of Columbus at the University of Dayton, returned to the Buckeye State to put a damper on the festive crowd by scoring the first goal and assisting on the second, from Calen Carr, to put the Fire up 2-0 before the game was 25 minutes over. But before the half was out, Emmanuel Ekpo cut the deficit in half, finishing a Schelotto service in the 36th minute. Rookie Steven Lenhart came off the bench to score his second career professional goal, equalizing for the Crew in the 87th minute to send the squads away with a point apiece.

In the second regular-season match between the two teams, Chicago took the lead early in the proceedings at TOYOTA Park when McBride sent home a Justin Mapp corner kick in the 13th minute for the match's only goal in the first half. The Crew stormed back in the second half when a loose ball found its way to Eddie Gaven at the top of the box, who blasted home the one-timer into the back of the net to equalize the match. Columbus took the lead just two minutes later when Danny O'Rourke found a streaking Robbie Rogers down the right channel. Rogers dribbled upfield and found Schelotto with a well-placed cross to the back post, which Schelotto nodded home to give the Black & Gold the lead. McBride would strike for the second time against his former club late in the second half when Blanco bent a free kick into the box, which Wilman Conde headed toward goal. McBride collected the ball and slotted it into the lower right corner, to again send the teams away with a 2-2 tie.

COLUMBUS CREW vs. Chicago Fire

MLS Cup Playoffs - Eastern Conference Championship

Thursday, Nov. 13 - 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Crew Stadium

National Television: ESPN2; Local Television: N/A

Crew Radio: The Brew @ 105.7 (English); Crew Webcasts: TheCrew.com; MLSNet.com (English)

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE FOR THURSDAY'S EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP VS. CHICAGO

Tickets for the Crew's final home match of the 2008 season - the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs Eastern Conference Championship vs. Chicago - are currently available at the Crew Stadium Box Office and all central Ohio Ticketmaster retail locations, via Ticketmaster phone at 614-431-3600 and on-line at TheCrew.com and Ticketmaster.com. Advance tickets start at $22.

EXPERIENCE COLUMBUS AND SPORTS COMMISSION TO HOST CHAMPIONSHIP EVE RECEPTION WEDNESDAY

Experience Columbus, the area's convention and visitor's bureau, and the Greater Columbus Sports Commission are hosting a Championship Eve Reception this Wednesday, Nov. 12, from 4:30-6:30 p.m., at the Experience Columbus Visitor Center (277 W. Nationwide Blvd.). Head Coach Sigi Schmid and select players will be on hand to sign autographs and mingle with fans, while Donatos Pizza and Pepsi products will be provided and tickets to Thursday's Eastern Conference Championship game vs. Chicago will be available for purchase on-site.

SCHMID EXTENDS MLS ALL-TIME RECORD FOR CAREER PLAYOFF WINS AMONG COACHES

With the Crew's 2-0 win over K.C. last Saturday (Nov. 8), head coach Sigi Schmid now has a playoff record of 17-7-4, extending his all-time career lead in playoff wins among MLS coaches. Schmid, the frontrunner for MLS Coach of the Year honors, led the Black & Gold to a new club record for points in a season (57), eclipsing the 2004 Supporters' Shield-winning squad that earned 49, while also setting new club marks for wins (17) and goals (50) in the post-shootout era (since 2000). While leading the Crew to the 2008 Supporters' Shield trophy, Schmid also achieved a pair of new personal milestones this season, as he notched his 100th career MLS victory on April 26 - making him only the second coach in MLS history to reach that plateau - and the club's 17 wins set a new single-season career-high, one more than his 2002 MLS Cup-champion Los Angeles Galaxy squad.

CREW SET TO MAKE FIFTH EASTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP APPEARANCE IN CLUB HISTORY

The Crew's match against Chicago this Thursday (Nov. 13) will be the club's fifth appearance in the Eastern Conference Final(s) in the club's history, but first since the one-game format was introduced and first since it lost to New England in the 2002 conference finals series. The Black & Gold earlier had a run of three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances from 1997-99, all against D.C., but has yet to reach an MLS Cup Final.

YOUTH MOVEMENT STEPS UP FOR BLACK & GOLD IN PLAYOFFS AS PART OF DIVERSE ATTACK

All three Crew goals in the 2008 MLS Cup Playoffs have come from three of the Crew's younger contributors, as rookie forward Steven Lenhart and second-year midfielders Brad Evans and Robbie Rogers have all tallied scores. All three have helped fuel a diverse attack for a Crew squad that boasts five players that have scored at least five goals in the regular season and playoffs combined, including the aforementioned youngsters. In total, the Black & Gold has gotten goals from 14 different players this season and 10 of them have scored at least two goals, eight have scored at least three and six have scored at least four.

CREW PLAYING AS LATE AS EVER INTO CALENDAR YEAR

The Crew's 2008 MLS Cup Playoff run has led to the squad playing late in the 2008 calendar year, with its match against Kansas City last Saturday (Nov. 8) being the latest the team has hosted an MLS home game, while this Thursday's (Nov. 13) match vs. Chicago will match its Nov. 13, 1999 game at D.C. United for the latest the team has ever played an MLS match.

BLISS TO BE INDUCTED INTO NYSWYSA HALL OF FAME ON NOV. 15

Crew Technical Director Brian Bliss will be inducted into the New York State West Youth Soccer Association (NYSWYSA) Hall of Fame this Saturday, Nov. 15, at its Annual Awards Dinner in Rochester, N.Y., after being unanimously approved by the NYSWYSA Awards' Committee. Bliss also played for the Crew (1996-97) during his 20-year professional playing and coaching career. A native of Rochester, Bliss was a member of the 1990 U.S. World Cup team and earned 33 caps with the U.S. National Team, overall, from 1984-95, tallying two goals. He also represented the U.S. at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. His playing career culminated with 50 MLS games during the league's first three seasons, including stints with the MetroStars an Kansas City. Prior to MLS, Bliss played for Carl Zeiss Jena (1992-95), Chemnitzer FC (1991-92) and Energie Cottbus (1991) of the German Second Division, Boston Bolts (1990) and Albany Capitals (1989) of the APSL and Cleveland Force of the MISL (1987-88). He played collegiately at Southern Connecticut State University. Bliss began his coaching career in 1999 as head coach of the A-League's Connecticut Wolves. He then returned to Kansas City, where he served as a Wizards assistant coach from 2000-July 2006 and as interim head coach from July-Dec. 2006. During his tenure in K.C., the club won MLS Cup and the Supporters' Shield in 2000 and the 2004 U.S. Open Cup.

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Major League Soccer Stories from November 10, 2008


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