Columbus.- They were in route to demolish the Eastern Conference leaders. The passing was finally making sense. The tempo was high. Kamara found the net (twice), as well as Higuaín. They had a three-goal lead and then… disappeared.
The men in Black and Gold thought they were safe and sound with thirty-three minutes left to play on the clock. Sixty minutes later Montreal Impact forward Dominic Oduro reminded them that this beautiful game has ninety minutes for a reason.
How do you blow a three goal lead at home?
“I categorize it as an immature performance. We are better than that and we didn’t show it, after the 4-1. [It was] way to easy to concede, particularly in the second and third goal. After that we got back, we got stable but it was obviously the one goal margin that hurt us in the end.” Gregg Berhalter responded during the post-game press conference.
The turning point of the game was the discussion between Higuaín and Kamara on who should take the penalty kick. It looked like Kei was begging to Pipa to let him take it, but the Argentine stood still and executed it. While most of his teammates were congratulating the number 10 for giving them a three goal lead (4-1) number 23 was walking far away towards his goalie. Five minutes later Montreal scored twice and changed the landscape of the match for good.
Crew SC had plenty of opportunities to extend the lead, but Kamara either slowed down their attack or rushed it. He was not the same for the remaining thirty minutes of the game.
This is the second incident that involved Kamara this week. Last Tuesday during practice the striker had a verbal altercation with goalie Brad Stuver. It is unclear why the Sierra Leone native is having these issues, but it appears that a pattern is emerging.
When they lost the final to Portland he stayed on the field watching the celebration and he said he wanted to experience their joy by laying there, impotent with nothing he could do to change their fate. He has five goals in nine games, but he is trying to do too much. When he releases that self-imposed pressure he will be free and will produce more for the team.
With almost one-third of the season gone, the defending Eastern Conference Champions have a long way to go if they want to reach that stage this year. There is no balance. Either they have games where they can’t find a way to score, or they scored and they don’t know how to maintain the lead, like tonight.
Defending set pieces continue to be a struggle. They managed to contained Drogba in a way, but they didn’t have an answer for Piatti, they never do. Every time The Argentine faces Columbus always hurt them and tonight wasn’t different. He just brakes them apart and they don’t know how to stop him.
If there is a positive outcome from tonight it is that Crew SC they finally speed up the tempo. They passed the ball quicker and reached the final third with fewer touches. They were more vertical and that was reflected on the scoreboard.
The soul of this team is not broken, but there is a crack somewhere. Will they be able to patch it for good? Or there are more coming? With the hottest team in the league in the Rapids coming to town next week we will have to see.
Columbus Crew
Montreal Impact
