Real Salt Lake put four goals past Will Hesmer and the Columbus Crew last night, thumping the defending Cup champions at a rainy Rio Tinto Stadium. Robbie Findley scored three of those goals, marking the second time in two days that a striker scored a hat trick on ESPN2.
And I'm not quite sure what to think.
Almost forgot about the whole "jump" thing. Comments and highlights to follow.
Columbus was a mess for the most part, and thought they attacked fairly well, RSL consistently took the game to them. Movsisyan, Findley, and the rest of the Salt Lake attackers abused Columbus' back line (save for Chad Marshall, maybe). The scoreline, though flattering to RSL thanks to a major gaff on the part of the usually steady Hesmer, nevertheless reflected the general flow of the match.
I'm not writing off Columbus, of course, as they are the defending champs. Besides, there are a litany of extenuating circustances that may have contributed to the poor performance.
Columbus was obviously missing stalwarts Hejduk and Moreno, and it appeared to be completely different team without them.
Schelotto got mugged all over the pitch; I thought stars and MVPs were supposed to get a few of those calls?
Hesmer played like doggie-doo-doo.
The weather was miserable, and it definitely effected the Crew more than it did RSL.
Still, I was impressed with RSL, and think that my prediction of a Cup run for them is looking like a reasonable one.
