subject: Columbus Crew Playoff Tickets - Columbus 1, New England 0 [print this page] Gino Padula registered a first half-goal, and the Columbus Crew clinched first place in the Eastern Conference with a 1-0 victory over the New England Revolution. Get Columbus Crew Playoff tickets and see Padula score a goal.
The win gave the reigning MLS Cup champion Crew (13-5-10) 49 points. The victory gave Columbus the best record in the league and an eight-point lead over second-place Chicago with two games left of the season. Padula scored in the 36th minute after he drilled a 35-yard free kick. The ball went through a couple of players before it found the back of the net. Columbus' Chad Marshall was out of the lineup due to injury, while superstars Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers and Alejandro Moreno all had World Cup Qualifier commitment.
The Revolution (10-10-8) remained in the eighth and final playoff spot with 38 points and also has two matches left of the season. New England is just two points ahead of D.C. United, FC Dallas, and Toronto FC for eighth place.
Revolution manager Steve Nicol admitted that his club had "no quality tonight." The manager continued to say whatever New England tried, there was no quality in it. The Revolution challenged the Crew early in the match with two golden scoring opportunities. Columbus goalkeeper Will Hemser mishandled the ball on both occasions, but his defenders quickly cleared the ball out of danger. After that, the Crew controlled the tempo of the game and outplayed the Revolution for the remainder of the match. Columbus did not need their star athlete and league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who was on the bench.
New England captain Shalrie Joseph said the Revolution did not get the ball and did not create chances. The midfielder acknowledged that his players "were just lackluster all around." After New England goalkeeper Matt Reis prevented a goal from Steve Lenhart in the 24th minute, he was helpless to stop Padula's long strike 12 minutes later. Nicol stated that his team's performance was horrible. He did not know how to put it, but horrible was the first word that popped in his mind. The manager said nobody was taking charge and there was no communication during the game. Columbus played the final 25 minutes with 10 men after Emmanuel Ekpo received a red card for elbowing Kevin Alston on a 50-50 ball near midfield.
After that play, Hemser made his best save of the match in the 68th minute when he grabbed a difficult shot from the right flank by Sainey Nyassi. Nicol was disappointed since his team had a man advantage but couldn't capitalize off it. He stated that the Revolution needed to pass the ball around and break them down. Nicol proclaimed, "But the bottom line is we didn't do anything with quality, so our passing wasn't good enough to do that." New England plays their final two games against the top two teams in the East. Joseph expressed his frustration when he said that the Revolution did not rise to the challenge. He told the press his club did not do what they were supposed to do to get points.
