Metro missed out on an opportunity to beat the current leader in the East, the Columbus Crew, in Ohio tonight.  Playing at a near unwatchable level, New York was easily dismantled and defeated 2-0, looking terrible in the process.

Although this probably seemed a bit worrying to new addition Thierry Henry, who attended the match, this result was a bit of an anomaly in that Metro played worse than usual.  Hopefully they can get back to their ordinarily solid form.

The line up was a fairly familiar one, although Luke Sassano (who doesn’t appear to have a long time left to impress with cuts on the way) did get his first start in months.  Coundoul started at keeper, with Borman, Mendes, Ream, and Sassano in front of him.  Miller, Stammler, Lindpere, and Ubiparipovic made up the midfield, while Angel and Richards played up top.

Miller, who has been seeing more and more time in the midfield, continues to struggle in the advanced position.  He appeared a bit lost, and often pinched in centrally from his wide left position, leaving his position open and clogging the middle.  Richards, who is usually a midfielder, had a poor game at striker.

Although these small positional gambles for Hans Backe didn’t pay off, they don’t fully excuse the loss.  Everyone on the squad played poorly, and disjointed is probably the best adjective to describe Metro’s play.  The backline struggled to link up with the midfield, and the midfield struggled to link with the front line.  Possession was rare and give-aways were typical.  Metro managed few chances, and most of the ones they did create didn’t truly threaten.

Columbus, on the other hand, looked the dominant team throughout the match.  Although the hosts didn’t totally dictate the game, they controlled possession and passed well, and took the chances they got.  Goals for the Crew came in the 20^th and 48^th minutes.  The first was scored by striker Emilio Renteria, who had an active match.  Angel was stripped of the ball near the midfield line (a product of Metro’s inept midfield forcing the striker to check back deeper and deeper on the pitch) and Guillermo Barros Schelotto fed an excellent ball to Renteria, who beat Coundoul with relative ease.  The second was a scorcher from midfielder Brian Carroll, who deftly volleyed a deflected clearance from a free kick into Metro’s goal in the 48^th minute.

New York didn’t look good during this match, but they have two friendlies (against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City) to work things out and integrate Thierry Henry into the squad.  Hopefully they will be ready for their July 31^st match against the Houston Dynamo.

Image courtesy of Fahmi/MassiveReport.com