Unfortunate Gaffe by Padula Leaves Crew with a 1-1 Draw

Crew has only 2 points after 2 games

COLUMBUS, OH - March 28, 2010 - The Crew were engaged in an epic battle once again with rival Toronto FC. The teams appeared to be evenly matched throughout the game. However , two mistakes provided the only goals of the match. In the 30th minute, forward Guillermo Barros Schelotto showed why he is one of the league's best, converting a penalty kick. This excitement would later turn to disappointment when a shot by midfielder Dwayne De Rosario became an own goal by the Crew's Gino Padula. Sometimes you have the best of intentions, but things go awry. Padula was simply doing his job, clearing the ball away and defending his goal. However, the ball went badly off course and past an unsuspecting Will Hesmer.

Toronto's "bend but don't break" philosophy seemed to work well again as they now have 4 points going into their game with the Seattle Sounders. The defense of Toronto FC seemed to improve exponentially with the entrance of Greg Sutton after halftime. The veteran Sutton, who replaced Stefan Frei, proved to be a steadying force for Toronto. Sutton yielded no goals on 3 shots by Columbus. De Rosario also played well, providing 4 of Toronto's 11 shots. He appears to be a solid addition to Toronto FC after being acquired from the Houston Dynamo.

Some may question the decision to pull Schelotto in the 76th minute. It seemed like a good idea as the Crew appeared to have the game in hand. You surely cannot blame the coach for trying to avoid injury to the team's star. Critics would want to vilify Warzycha if Schelotto would have been injured late in the game. Clearly all is not lost for the Crew. It is only the second game of the year and several players are operating at an extremely high level. Schelotto, midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo, and defender Chad Marshall all put in solid performances and look to build off of last year's success. The Crew now head to Utah to face Real Salt Lake on Thursday, a match televised nationally by ESPN2.

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