Crew defender Julius James could have used some comfort food and well-earned couch time after he returned home from a 2-0 loss at Colorado last weekend.
Instead, he found a fridge full of disappointment.
“I came back and looked inside,” James said. “It was not good. There was one beer, a couple of eggs and some bread.”
The slim pickings were a sad symptom of the Crew’s schedule, which sent the team to play Western Conference opponents in five of the previous seven games.
“There was no point in buying groceries,” James said. “You come home, you train for a couple of days and you’re gone again. Things would spoil.”
Such road-dogging ends today when the Crew plays host to the New England Revolution. Four of Columbus’ next five will be played in Crew Stadium.
The Crew will play its final Western Conference road game at Seattle on Aug. 27.
“We are absolutely looking forward to playing some games at home,” James said. “Physically and mentally, it’s very good for us.”
The Crew (9-7-7) did an admirable job during its summer journey. It went 3-3-1, good enough to take over first place in the weaker Eastern Conference.
Second-place Philadelphia (8-5-9) trails the Crew by one point, though the Union has played one fewer game. Third-place New York (6-6-12) and Kansas City (7-7-9) are four points back, within striking distance.
A victory over struggling New England (4-10-9) could help the Crew put some distance between it and its pursuers, but a long list of injured players might temper expectations during this home-heavy stretch.
“If you have injuries it’s never good, but travel (compounds) things,” said Crew coach Robert Warzycha, who has grown weary of talking about the sprains, strains and pulls that have hindered his team this season.
“You only need one goal to win a game. With all the injuries we have, I don’t want to tell our guys that we have to score five times against New England to win the game, because that won’t happen. But I wish it would, for us and our fans and our confidence.”
Potential starters Eddie Gaven (right leg), Rich Balchan (groin), Jeff Cunningham (right knee), Tony Tchani (right knee) and Shaun Francis (groin) are not expected to play tonight.
Dilaver Duka (right ankle), Emilio Renteria (right quadriceps) and Danny O’Rourke (fitness) returned to practice this week but are likely to be nothing more than potential subs.
Robbie Rogers scored the tying goal for the United States in a 1-1 contest with Mexico on Wednesday and later suffered a calf strain, although he is expected to play tonight.
Warzycha will employ another patchwork lineup and hope it can take some pressure off a relatively stable defensive unit.
The Crew has scored 1.04 goals per game, better than only New England and Toronto, both at 0.96.
“Are we still on top of the East?” asked James, perhaps more concerned with getting to the grocery store than checking the standings.
“Can you imagine how many more games we could have won if we scored some more goals? But we still have all the confidence in our attack. We have good attacking players. Sometimes we score. Sometimes we don’t. But at some point, when the pressure is on and the defense really needs them, they’ll pull through.”