The Black & Gold dropped a 3-1 result on the road Saturday against the New York Red Bulls, here are three things to take from the match:
1. EARLY ADVANTAGE
Milovan Mirosevic gave the Crew an early lead with his goal in the third minute of Saturday's match. Sometimes, scoring so early can alter a team's mentalityfor the rest of the match.
"It’s a good start but you have 87 minutes left so it’s a long way," Mirosevic explained. "We were defending a lot and when we had the ball we were trying to be as deep as we can. Of course, we found at 1-1 from that moment on the game was more tight. We were waiting and trying to attack."
The Crew and battle Red Bulls battled until Dax McCarty's header past Andy Gruenebaum in the 79th minute gave New York the lead. Thierry Henry put the nail in the coffin in stoppage time, pinging a corner kick off the far post and into the net to propel the Red Bulls to a 3-1 result.
2. SHORT-TERM MEMORY
With Wednesday's home fixture against Chivas USA looming, the Crew will have to move on from the loss and focus on the three points for the taking on Wednesday night. The Black & Gold will need a victory against the Goats if the team hopes to stay in playoff contention.
"We have to forget and we have to move on," Dilly Duka said after the match. "You have to think about that home game, it’s a crucial game and it’s a good game to get three points. We’re looking at the playoffs so we have to forget and move on."
Milovan Mirosevic put it simply, "We have to forget this game, try to take a good lesson about it, and that's it."
3. PRESSURE MOUNTING
Following D.C. United's victory against the New England Revolution on Saturday, the Crew slipped to sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Pressure is mounting on the Black & Gold with six matches left in the season.
"Of course, we have more pressure," Mirosevic said after the loss. "We have six games instead of seven and we have to start winning some points."
On other hand, Duka has put his blinders on to avoid looking at other teams' results while focusing on the Crew's task at hand to resist feeling any pressure.
"To be honest I’m not a guy who looks at the internet and the media, so I don’t feel any pressure," Duka explained. "We go to practice, we go to games and we just want to win as a team and we’re only thinking about what’s going on in the locker room."
