Crewsing in Kansas City.

The Columbus Crew jumped out to an early 1-0 lead and made it stand up, adding two more goals for the 3-0 drubbing of the Kansas City Wizards in KC. Chad Marshall got a goal off a corner (what a great idea!) in the 4th minute, and Alejandro Moreno added goals in the 20th and 67th to end the Crew's scoring drought in MLS matches, and put the Black and Gold back in the win column.

I don't have time to do an entire rundown (Father's Day, you know...), but here are a couple of quick thoughts:

- Man of the Match could be quite a few people, as the team overall played well last night. I'm giving it to Chad Marshall, as he scored the game winner, and provided outstanding defense once again in the back. As long as there are no more cobwebs, Chad should be getting some NT callups soon. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a coach's pick for the All-Star game.

- Alejandro Moreno had two very quality goals tonight. Of course, the first one came more because Kevin Hartman sucks, but the shot was still beautiful. Kudos to Danny O'Rourke for the nice pass on that goal. And the 2nd was pure class. If you watch the replay, Harmtan actually takes two looks to the near post to make sure he has it covered, and Moreno still beats him to that side.

- Emmanuel Ekpo showed more on defense than I expected, which is a good sign. He also did a very good job of linking up the field with our attackers, althought some of his passes in the offensive 3rd left something to be desired. And his footwork is something we haven't seen the likes of since Jeffro Cunningham.

- William Tecumseh Hesmer once again puts up the clean sheet, only this time, we score some goals for him. Good to see him on his game, and not having to save any PKs.


Scores from around the league:

- New England 2, Houston 0 (Thursday)

New England is on 26 points, so the Crew had to win tonight to keep pace.

- Toronto 3, Colorado 1
The Crew are still only two points ahead of the Canucks.

- DC 4, NYRB 1
Make no mistake, DC was never out of this race. It's a very long season, and they are only 10 points off the league lead.

- LA 3, SJ 0
Edson Buddle with a hat trick. Is there another blue moon out already?

- RSL 1, Chivas 0
Hooray mediocrity!


Today's big game:
Chicago at Dallas 3pm
Let's hope that the sister side of Dallas can do HSG a favor by kicking Chicago in the mouth, and keep the Crew firmly in 2nd place. A tie or loss for Chicago will leave Columbus in 2nd with a trip to LA next weekend.