Behind The Box Score

A cold night in New England didn’t stop the Crew from clinching the Eastern Conference. The Gino Padula goal in the 36th minute helped the Crew (13-5-10, 49 pts) take the lead, and hold on to defeat the Revolution in front of a crowd of 13,297 in Gillette Stadium. With the win, the Crew guaranteed themselves of winning the Eastern Conference, leading 2nd place Chicago by 8 points with only 2 games left for the Fire. “There’s still a lot of work to be done,” goalie William Hesmer said before the game. “We want first place in the East and the Supporters’ Shield. We want to be hitting all cylinders going into the playoffs.

The only goal was scored in the 36th minute, a long free kick that somehow found the back of the net, giving the Crew the lead. The Crew hung on despite not having some of their star players on the field such as Guillermo Barros Schelotto who was on the bench, and Frankie Hejduk, Robbie Rogers and Alejandro Moreno, who all had World Cup priorities. Also, in the 65th minute they were forced to play a man down when Emmanuel Ekpo was red carded for an elbow.

The loss for the Revolution (10-10-8, 38 pts) tonight stopped any ideas they had of putting ground between themselves and D.C. United, who started the night 2 points behind New England. Next saturday will be the true test for NE, when D.C. comes calling into Gillette Stadium. The playoff chances will certainly be hanging in the balance, only having a two point lead with two matches left to play. The other remaining match will be played against Columbus–two weeks from Sunday will meet up again, this time in Crew Stadium. “It’s never a good thing to face a team back-to-back. The scheduling part of it is a bit nonsensical to me, but we have to do it. The preparation doesn’t change at all. When they are away from home they’ll be defending more, and like most teams when they’re at home you expect them to be attacking more,” New England head coach Steve Nicol said before the game about the MLS having the Crew on the schedule two out of the next three weeks.