Crew/Wizards running blog

The Crew are still near the top of their conference, while the Wizards are at the other end. Nothing is promised in MLS, though, so lets follow the bouncing ball.

Kickoff!
Wizards
* 1 - Kevin Hartman (GK)
* 2 - Michael Harrington
* 6 - Lance Watson
* 7 - Claudio Lopez
* 9 - Sasha Victorine
* 11 - Kurt Morsink
* 12 - Jimmy Conrad
* 14 - Jack Jewsbury
* 15 - Aaron Hohlbein
* 17 - Roger Espinoza
* 22 - Davy Arnaud

Crew
* 1 - William Hesmer (GK)
* 2 - Frankie Hejduk
* 5 - Danny O'Rourke
* 6 - Andy Iro
* 7 - Guillermo Barros Schelotto
* 10 - Alejandro Moreno
* 14 - Chad Marshall
* 15 - Stefani Miglioranzi
* 16 - Brian Carroll
* 17 - Emmanuel Ekpo
* 19 - Robbie Rogers
1 - Moreno offside almost immediately. Who will take a bet that he gets five of those this match?
3 - Wolff is on the bench - looks like old times for the boys in blue.
5 - Hejduk looks like a hyperactive lion with that hair. Somehow, it works for him.
6 - AleMo is appealing for a handball, but the replay is a poor angle and inconclusive.
8 - Yikes, what did Harrington do to his hair? He looks like Johnny Rotten. The punk platinum makes his eyes look buggy.
10 - Harkes is talking about his West Ham days. It's pretty boring, but so far, the game's not much better.
11 - Teams are testing each other out - Hejduk can't save a ball from rolling out of bounds.
12 - Schellotto gets caught by Holbein, who basically can't check his run after Schellotto bring the ball down.
13 - AleMo beats a defender, but bends an easy cross into Hartman's gloves.
14 - Lopez passes to space, but Watson leaves the space empty.
16 - Ekpo looks great when he has room, not so much when he runs into traffic.
17 - Rogers! He gets a flick pass from AleMo and races into the box, where a quick cutback shakes his defender and then he cracks a shot - wide, but not by a lot.
18 - Now both teams have settled down and are creating chances. Lopez is talking a lot on TV. I'm not sure to whom, though, since he's obviously speaking Spanish, but besides Espinoza, his teammates probably don't understand much.
20 - Harrington and Hejduk are having a hair battle - is the bleach bottle or the length superior? We shall see who will claim the victory.
21 - Arnaud is fouled by Ekpo near the corner of the box. Appetizing for Lopez here. Arnaud takes it, though, Crew clear.
22 - GOAL! Hejduk's lion locks have let him down. Morsink serves the Crew clearance right back into the box, where Sasha Victorine is well-positioned between two Crew defenders, Hejduk and O'Rourke, to fight for the header. Hejduk leaps for it, but sends it into his own net. 1-0 Wizards
24 - GOAL! Wizards score their own! Espinoza gets on to the end of a skipping Jewsbury cross, just beating Marshall to the ball. 2-0 Wizards.
26 - GOAL! Crew set up a FK and take it quickly. Schellotto loops it over the wall and into the sidenetting past Hartman's gloves. 2-1 Wizards still lead, but their two-goal advantage has vanished.
28 - Hejduk shows Samson-like strength on an outside shot that is way, way high.
32 - Rogers is down in the box and Abbe Okulaja lets it go. Of course. It's Abbe. Harkes disagrees with the non-call. Rogers as well, but more vehemently and probably with more profanity involved.
33 - GOAL! Rogers springs Schellotto behind the defense on the wing, who holds the ball into the box, then releases the ball for AleMo, who gets a little bit on the ball as his KC defender goes down on a tackle. But the ball blips to the right of Hartman, headed toward the net. Hartman scrambles and just gets a glove on the ball to shovel it away from goal, but right to the feet of AleMo, who had sprung back up. AleMo gets the easiest of finished for the tying goal 2-2.
35 - Hesmer saves an outside shot.
38 - GOAL! Crew corner - Schellotto serves the ball in and Marshall beats Conrad to the ball, diving to finish it into the roof of the goal. Columbus leads. 3-2.
40 - Rogers yellow carded for a tackle from behind.
42 - Harkes mentions Harrington's hair. He also thinks that it might be "psyching him out" instead of helping. Well, it seemed to help at 2-0. Not so much at 2-3. Hejduk's lion locks have struck back.
43 - Ekpo and Conrad down after a collision.
45 - As Jimmy rises, JP mentions that Jimmy writes for espn.com. Hey, that's almost a shout-out to me. Sorta. I write for espn.com, too.
45 + FK for the Crew who are keeping the pressure on the Wizards. Schellotto is tricky by sending the ball square for Carroll, whose shot is blocked back.
Halftime!
Kansas City came out racing, but then the momentum shifted drastically. Now the Wizards look stunned. The Crew deserve their lead, but they got a bit lucky with the bounce on the second goal. No matter. They also refused to let the early deficit discourage them and roared back with three unanswered goals.
48 - Wolff is in for the second half for the Wizards.
49 - Schellotto with a shot, but Hartman stops it and the offside flag was up anyway.
53 - Wolff is already back to his old form - getting into good positions, but not getting a shot off.
54 - AleMo misses on a diving header. He protests that he was held.
55 - Hejduk on the break, getting a pass from Ekpo, Frankie is alone on goal but Hartman snuff the shot.
58 - KC with a corner chance. Lopez has to deal with a few streamers, but nothing like the showers of before. Crew clear.
59 - Another corner. This one looks like it has a chance, but the Crew clear again and then Ekpo is cleared by a Morsink tackle. Yellow.
69 - Hartman! Save. He's keeping KC in the game. He has 70 saves this season.
72 - Schellotto takes down Jewsbury and sees yellow. Harkes goes on an Etcheverry soliloquy. He manages to bring DC into games even when they aren't playing. Also, as Harkes goes on about how much better Etch is than Guille, I recall the final days of Marco in MLS. They weren't pretty much of the time.
76 - GOAL! Hartman's saves were not in vain! Morsink with a great field crossing pass to Jewsbury, who remains calm as O'Rourke leaps and misses the ball. Jewsbury brings it down, moves into the box and slides the ball in front of goal perfectly, leaving Wolff with a tap in. 3-3 Even.
79 - Lopez in the box! He gets a shot off at a tough angle, but it doesn't quite go in.
80 - Ryan Pore comes in for Roger Espinoza.
81 - Who called Crew/Wizards to be the game that lights up ESPN Thursdays? Victorine shoots from outside, bangs the boards.
84 - The shift now is for Kansas City, and it's the Crew who look a bit shaky now.
85 - So the Crew turn to their lucky charm - Steve Lenhard, and he replaces Miglioranzi. Lenhart has the knack for late-game goals, but he can't catch up to a long pass from Schellotto.
86 - The Wizards turn to that blue-eyed midfield maestro, Kerry Zavagnin.
87 - Conrad's head gets pulled by Lenhart as he latches on to a ball, gets his goal called back for the foul.
88 - Shoving breaks out in front of Abbe as the Crew set up for a FK. The Wizards clear, Zavagnin finding Wolff on the outlet run.
90 - Carroll down in the box, trying to meet a Schellotto pass. Abbe waves off the contact.
90+ Again the tides of fortune have shifted - the Crew have the late attacks. The Wizards complicate a clearance and Rogers gets fouled. A FK for the Crew. It leads to a corner. Iro goes up for it, but Iro doesn't get good direction on it, popping it over the goal.
Final whistle!
A draw is probably a fair result, but it also means that KC still doesn't really advance very far up the table, though they continue their unbeaten streak.
I guess the hairdos of Harrington and Hejduk cancelled each other out - neither claimed supremacy.