Columbus And D.C. Fight To A 1-1 Draw

United midfielder Christian Gomez gave United the lead in the 33rd minute, but his goal was cancelled out by a goal from Alejandro Moreno in the 59th minute.

Both teams were missing several key players due to Gold Cup action, as Crew coach Robert Warzycha was forced to deal with the absence of both Robbie Rogers and Chad Marshall, who are both on duty with the United States. United coach Tom Soehn was also missing two main cogs in his team, with Santino Quaranta on duty with the US team, and defender Dejan Jakovic for Canada both being absent.

First Half

In the early stages of the first half, Columbus jumped out to the brighter start, and had several dangerous chances in the opening stanza of the match. In the 2nd minute, Guillermo Barros Schelotto passed a short corner to Emmanuel Ekpo, whose cross was nodded just wide by Eric Brunner. In the 10th minute, presented with another set piece, Schelotto's free kick beat the United defense, but the ball was just out of reach for Andy Iro, with just the United 'keeper Josh Wicks to beat.

Alejandro Moreno made his way into the box dangerously in the 12th minute, only to lose out to Greg Janicki in the box. Moreno went to ground looking for a favorable call, but instead, was presented with a yellow card for his efforts, as he was adjudged to have dove in the box.

United's first chance then came in the 18th minute, as striker Chirs Pontius won a free kick 40 yards out from goal. Defender Marc Burch took the honors, and whipped in a shot with pace that swerved around the two man wall, but also bent just wide of the post, failing to properly challenge keeper Will Hesmer.

D.C. began to dominate more of the possession, and create several dangerous moments, but failed to create any clear cut chances.

In the 27th minute, winger Thabiso Khumalo had an errant cross challenge Hesmer, but Hesmer was up to the challenge, and kept the cross out. Hesmer stepped off his line in anticipation of the cross, but the off target cross was heading in for a goal, before Hesmer responded, and punched the ball out before it crossed the line.

And then in the 33rd minute, United scored through a scrappy goal from Gomez. Striker Ange N'Silu sent a cross in towards the back post, which Pontius headed back towards the middle. Danny O'Rourke failed to deal with the ball properly, and the loose ball eventually fell to Gomez, who slipped it past Hesmer for the 1-0 lead.

The half then began to slow, as both teams were content with knocking the ball around, and neither side was able to create many chances for the last 15 minutes of the half.

United created the best of the chances though in the 44th minute, as Gomez played a lovely through ball for Pontius. Pontius was able to get onto the pass, and hold off Andy Iro, before firing a shot on target. Hesmer did well to block the shot however, and any chance of a follow up shot was immediately gone.

And thus the half ended, with United holding a slender 1-0 lead over Columbus.

Second Half

Columbus made the only change in the half, as they brought on Steven Lenhart for Iro, as they looked to push a target man in Lenhart up top, while sacrificing a defender, in a switch of formations.

However, United nearly made Columbus pay for the switch in formations, as they came close to adding to their lead several times early on.

In the 50th minute, Gomez sent in a corner that found Pontius wide open, but his header was well off, allowing Columbus to escape without any punishment.

Rodney Wallace then nearly twice added to United's lead, only to be denied twice by Hesmer. After a nice run from Pontius, he lost the ball, and it fell into the path of Wallace. Wallace had space to shoot, but his shot was straight at Hesmer.A minute later, in the 52nd minute, Wallace picked up a loose ball on the side of the box, and nutmegged Brunner to get clear into the box, but Hesmer again was up to the challenge, parrying the hard shot away.

United was then made to pay for their deficiencies in front of the goal, as Moreno equalized for Columbus in the 59th minute. Ekpo sent an early cross into the box, which found Lenhart. Lenhart flicked a header into the middle of the box, which found Moreno unmarked. Moreno then did well to control the ball, before slipping a shot past Wicks, for his third goal of the season.

The goal had been against the run of play, but there hardly seemed to be a switch in momentum, as both teams became content with just knocking the ball around the park. Both seemed content with the one point, or just seemed incapable of creating any decisive moments in the match.

United's best chance came from a free kick in the 75th minute. But Gomez's free kick was deflected, and crashed into the side netting.

Columbus' best chance to find a winning goal came in the 78th minute. Frankie Hedjuk, who had made countless runs down the right, creating crosses and chances throughout the game, found Lenhart with a cross on the ground. But Janicki was able to put just enough pressure on Lenhart to force the shot wide of the goal.

And after three minutes of stoppage time, the game ended, with the teams as they were at the beginning of the night.

Steven Streff, Goal.com