Another draw for Real

By: Ian Rose | April 14th, 2007

Well, the 2007 Columbus Crew are certainly making a bid for the most boring team to watch in the MLS. In their two matches, they have scored no goals, and conceded no goals. They can create chances, they can control possession, but they can’t buy a goal, even against the troubled RSL defense.

I really expected to see more from Real’s front line, but I have to give some credit to the Crew defense. There’s a reason for those two straight clean sheets - they can stop the ball very well. However, with the number of chances that Real had, especially in the second half, when there was a Real free kick or corner kick about every two seconds, we should have put one in. Mehdi Ballouchy looked especially disappointing on the set pieces.

To be fair, if anyone deserved a goal, it was probably the Crew. It was only a brilliant Nick Rimando dive that saved a great goal attempt by Marcos Gonzalez in the 70th minute, and Kei Kamara missed a header that should have put Real away in the final minutes. Finishing is going to be a big problem for this team for the foreseeable future.

Speaking of foreseeing, my powers of prediction are now in serious, serious doubt. After predicting two Real wins and getting two Real draws, I have decided to distract attention away from my terrible prognostication and give the wider Offsider community a chance to get in on the fun. I’ve spoken to Bob about this, and once a week, on Wednesdays, here on the RSL blog, everyone will get a chance to make their predictions for the week’s MLS matches, and I’ll keep score week-to-week. The specific rules will be announced on Wednesday.

Back to Real … Draws are still an improvement over last year’s start (1 point in first six matches in 2006), but not as much of one as we all expect. These fans have been told all off-season about a more explosive, more exciting offense, and they expect results, especially in this home stand to start the season. Two of the next three are still at home, and we really need one of them to be a win. On the positive, Nick Rimando played better overall in goal than in the first match, though he did make one bad mistake that could have cost a goal against a better offense than the Crew. He still looks a little shaky, and that’s worrying.