Soft loss to the Crew

By: travis | May 3rd, 2008

The Wizards let another one get away from them yesterday, dropping to the Crew 2-1. Falling behind in the 4th minute after some soft defending – a free kick floated in by Guillermo Barros Schletto was headed back across the goal and in the cluster of players camped in front of the net, and Adam Moffat headed in from point blank range.

Another soft goal was conceded in the 34th minute, as Chance Myers and Kevin Hartman had a miscommunication just outside the box. Myers looked like he was trying to shield his man, Robbie Rogers off the ball so Hartman could grab it, but Hartman couldn’t get to it in time and Rogers poked it in. So the Wizards faced an uphill battle, compounded by a red mist moment by Roger Espinoza. He lashed out with his elbow at Frankie Hejduk and landed a shot to Hejduk’s face. The ref had an easy call giving Espinoza his marching orders.

The Wizards were the better team in the second half, although it wasn’t until Carlos Marinelli made a substitute appearance and helped spark the offense. In the 79th minute, Scott Sealy (another substitution) was pulled down in the box and Claudio Lopez calmly finished from the spot. Unfortunately, the Wizards couldn’t steal a point in the last 10 minutes.

The coach was proud of how his team responded to adversity. Disappointing to concede soft goals like that, but in the end, defense will continue to be key. It would also have been nice not to be down to 10 men, but what happens, happens.

Going forward, there were more than a few positives. The team had a positive reaction to the adversity of being down a man, and showed composure scoring. Lopez continues to play well, and despite not exactly lighting up the score sheet, his passing and skill automatically make the Wizards a better team.

Next Opponent:
The Wizards don’t play again until May 17, as they will next travel to face the New York Red Bull who drew 1-1 at Toronto. Time to step up and bring the losing streak to a halt.

Finally, the highlights: