Major League Soccer

Buddle, Cunningham lead Crew to 2-0 win over Chicago.

By Ed Draper
SoccerTimes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Saturday, July 3, 2004) -- Late first-half-goals by strikers Edson Buddle and Jeff Cunningham, separated by less than 60 seconds, gave the Columbus Crew a 2-0 victory over a badly off-form Chicago Fire last night before 13,059 at Crew Stadium.

The Crew (5-5-3, 13 points) vaulted over Chicago into third place in Major League Soccer Eastern Conference with the Fire (4-5-5, 17) fell to fourth after going winless in its last four games (0-3-1).

"I don't know how many games Jeff and Edson have played together this year, but I think we can see the difference when those two guys are on the field," Crew coach Greg Andrulis said. "Edson wins something and really helps with possession and Jeff is incredibly dangerous going forward, and those guys both had good games for us."

Buddle struck in the 43rd minute, chipping the ball with his right foot over the prone figure of Fire keeper Henry Ring after midfielder Ross Paule had put him through. The Chicago defense, which had stepped up in unison in the build-up to the goal, appealed strongly for an offside decision, but the linesman's flag stayed down and Buddle had his third goal of the season.

"I just kept going," Buddle said. "For a split second I thought about it (possibly being offside), but Ring came out and I put the ball where I needed to."

Cunningham doubled the Crew's lead in the 44th minute with his sixth goal of the year. Cunningham's fierce right-footed drive cannoned off defender Kelly Gray and looped over the helpless Ring before dropping inside the left-hand post to put the hosts ahead 2-0.

"We talked about the best way to play against a team like Chicago that attacks so well and has a lot of good attacking weapons," Andrulis said. "(The answer is) to make them defend and we wanted to get after them and we wanted to attack with numbers."

The Crew could and should have won by a greater margin having dominated play and created numerous chances in front of goal. Ring took much of the credit for keeping the score respectable for his team, pulling off seven saves.

"Not a whole lot to say," said Dave Sarachan, Fire head coach. "We got out-competed and we got outplayed tonight."

Andrulis credited the Crew's domination to the work of his midfielders who seized control over the center of the field early in the first half and refused to surrender it. "I thought we won the midfield, especially in the first half when we won a lot of balls," he said. "I thought our (midfield) guys got after the game for 90 minutes."

Andrulis also gave special mention to rookie right back Chris Wingert who came into replace the injured Frankie Hejduk."He (Wingert) had an outstanding game, he worked so incredibly hard," the coach said.

Buddle and Cunningham were the tormentors in chief, however, on a harrowing night for the Fire defense. Both of the fleet-footed strikers had a couple of one-on-one opportunities and only a combination of fine goalkeeping from Ring and careless finishing on the part of the forwards kept them to a single tally apiece.

Cunningham signaled the Crew's attacking intent as early as the third minute. He raced on to a long through ball from Wingert, before hitting a fizzing left-foot shot that Ring did well to tip round his left post.

In the 21st minute, it was Buddle's turn to be profligate. He received the ball from Cunningham on the edge of the right box before driving toward goal. From around eight yards out, Buddle hit a firm right-footed drive that went straight at Ring and the busy keeper deflected it out for a corner kick.

A minute later, Fire forward Ante Razov tried to spark his subdued teammates into life with a fierce cross that rolled tantalizingly across the Crew defense before running out.

In the 28th minute, the Crew threatened once more to break the deadlock with a flowing four-man play. Wingert won the ball in the midfield before playing in to Cunningham who swiftly dispatched the ball to Paule, who had found his way out to the right side of the box. Paule produced a fine right-footed cross toward midfielder Kyle Martino at the far post, but the scrambling Fire defense managed to smuggle the ball for a corner before Martino could get control.

Ten minutes later, Wingert rattled the Fire crossbar with a sliced cross from the right flank.

On 41 minutes, in a carbon copy of their earlier link-up, Wingert played the ball over the Chicago defense to Cunningham who picked it up on the edge of the box with only Ring to beat. The striker failed to properly control the pass though and the ball trickled into the grateful arms of the keeper, who had advanced to the edge of his area.

At this point, it seemed the chance-spurning Crew might never score. Buddle's neat finish changed all that, of course, and Cunningham's deflected effort gave the team a deserved 2-0 halftime lead.

Sarachan moved DaMarcus Beasley off the left wing and into central midfield in the second half in an attempt to wrestle control from the home team. The tactical switch had no impact and the Crew remained the more dangerous team in the second half with Buddle and Cunningham again going close.

In the 61st minute, Buddle blasted the ball into Ring's chest after being put through with only the keeper to beat.

Cunningham turned on the style in the 80th minute, meanwhile, slipping the ball around a cumbersome Fire defender before picking it up 18 yards out and hitting a low right-footed effort toward the bottom left corner of the goal. Ring again came to his team's rescue, diving to his left to make a fine save.

The Fire defense turned to more cynical measures in an attempt to nullify Cunningham in the 85th minute, Evan Whitfield pulling down the forward as he prepared to race onto a through ball. Whitfield received a red card for his efforts, the referee judging him to be the last defender.

Referee: Baldomero Toledo. Referee's assistants: Greg Barkey, Bahij Salman. Attendance: 13,059 at Columbus (Ohio) Crew Stadium Time of game: 1:53. Weather: Cloudy, 81 degrees.

Ed Draper is a young British journalist, visiting the United States for two years to earn an advanced degree at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. E-mail Ed Draper.