Unlike the other two Shields in Crew SC history, the 2008 Crew did not get off to a slow start. Quite the opposite, in fact. They stormed out of the gate with six wins in their first seven matches. Then came a four-game goalless stretch that produced a 0-3-1 mark, capped by a 2-0 home loss to the expansion side San Jose Earthquakes. Then came a 2-1-3 stretch where they regained their footing. Then came dominance. They went 9-2-2 down the stretch to finish six points ahead of Houston for the Shield.
Part of winning the Shield is grabbing points that others don’t get. For example, in 2008, the Black & Gold went 4-7-5 when allowing the first goal. That’s 17 points in 16 games, for 1.07 points per game. At the time, they became only the eighth team in MLS history to average over a point per game when allowing the first goal. (Which is kind of important when you allow the first goal in more than half of your games.) Another stunning fact is that in the first 12 years of Crew SC history, the Black & Gold came back to earn points three times when trailing 2-0. In 2008, they did it three times in the span of 26 days!
“We don’t panic,” Danny O’Rourke said that September. “We feel like we can come back from anything.”
“We’ve got strong character,” added William Hesmer. “We’ve proven time and time again that we’re a resilient group.”
Sometimes resilience isn’t necessary. Another part of winning the Shield is not losing games you should have won. Columbus went a perfect 13-0-0 when scoring the first goal. Incredible.
And oh by the way, almost unanimously amongst the punditry, Crew SC was picked to battle Toronto FC for last place in 2008. Here’s what Hesmer had to say when I reminded him of that fact in the locker room after the season-ending 1-0 win over D.C. United:
“It feels good when you’re lying in bed, and in the back of your head you can think, ‘Screw you guys! We knew we were better than you all thought.’ But at the same time, we still have a lot of work to do.”
Unlike 2004 and 2009, that extra work got done in a big way in 2008.
