It's hard not to think of it when considering the Crew's prospects this weekend: in need of a three-goal road win on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, the last time the Black & Gold achieved that result was in this season's opener at RFK Stadium. In retrospect, that's a win that looks mighty impressive on the Crew's resume, given D.C.'s stellar season. It's a reminder that the seemingly impossible is within reach this weekend.
Let's take a look back at that opening match and the three road goals that the Crew scored.
One of the keys for the Black & Gold in Gillette Stadium might be getting off to a fast start. Scoring multiple goals in bunches late could be difficult to do if New England starts to pack it in in the waning moments of the match. In D.C., the Crew got on the board in the 19th minute through this Jairo Arrieta finish. The ball movement is really something to behold. Hector Jimenez and Josh Williams each one-touch their passes to get the ball up the field quickly. The team is perfectly in sync on this tally.
But the Black & Gold weren't done. More pressure led to a set piece, and Michael Parkhurst drew a penalty after Perry Kitchen dragged him down in the box:
Federico Higuain then fired in the spot kick for his first tally of a team Budweiser Golden Boot-winning 11 on the season:
Two goals in the first 27 minutes -- further illustrating why a fast start could be important in Gillette Stadium. There is one caveat, of course, and that's that New England would be perfectly satisfied to lose 2-0 if it came to it on Sunday. It's not likely that the Revs would open up immensely facing a small deficit, but against D.C., the Crew took advantage of that in stoppage time to add a third:
This is more really impressive ball movement by the Black & Gold. Another one-touch cross as well, this time by Justin Meram, and Federico Higuain is wide open in front to get the Crew's third and get 2014 out to a sensational start. Now, the challenge is to repeat the effort to make sure the season doesn't end on Sunday.
