{"id":28995,"date":"2014-11-01T00:03:47","date_gmt":"2014-11-01T04:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=28995"},"modified":"2014-11-01T00:27:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-01T04:27:51","slug":"head-to-head-clbvne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=28995","title":{"rendered":"Head to Head: #CLBvNE"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo credit: Chris Aduama\/aduamaphotography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

There’s no doubt that the\u00a0marquee Eastern Conference Semi-Final match between the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew\u00a0will pit a\u00a0pair of\u00a0quality clubs against each other.\u00a0While each\u00a0team has their respective strengths and weaknesses,\u00a0the difference between success and failure\u00a0will likely show itself\u00a0in the midfield.<\/p>\n

During their three-game\u00a0regular season series, Columbus\u00a0triumphed in\u00a0the first two, while\u00a0New England won the finale. But both finished the season strong. Columbus is 5-1-0, while New England is 4-1-1 over their last six matches. The only loss for the Revs came against Columbus, who coincidentally dropped their lone match during that span to New England. Even\u00a0though Columbus led the season series, it is incredibly difficult to separate the two teams.<\/p>\n

With the clubs being so equal,\u00a0we decided to compare the two teams at each area of the pitch.<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers<\/em><\/p>\n

A really good match-up between two of the best goalkeepers during the second half of the season. While each has shown himself trustworthy to produce high-class saves,\u00a0they’ll both need to kick it up a notch during the postseason.<\/p>\n

Clark tallied eight shutouts, 111 saves and allowed 42 goals with a goals against average of 1.24. He also started and played every minute of all 34 matches for Columbus in 2014, giving the Crew stability between the sticks all season.<\/p>\n

Shuttleworth is an interesting case study. He struggled in the first half of 2014, but found his rhythm when it mattered the most. Brad Knighton stole a couple of starts, and only proved why he was the backup. Shuttleworth made 94 saves, allowing 40 goals and posting a 1.25 goals against average while\u00a0collecting eight shutouts.
\nAdvantage: Columbus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Defenders<\/em><\/p>\n

While both sides feature back fours that can shore up the rear when pressed, they\u00a0tend to\u00a0go about\u00a0it\u00a0in different ways. The Revolution often rely on physicality over finesse, which isn’t all that surprising given the center back duo of A.J. Soares and Jose Goncalves. Neither has shown himself shy on challenges, but it isn’t totally brawn over brains in the back, as Soares’ distribution rate has improved considerably this season.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Crew backline is anchored by the positionally sound and savvy Michael Parkhurst, who would rather play the angles before the threat appears. Close by, Waylon Francis has shown speed and inventiveness going forward, but as shown in his last meeting against New England, he can let his emotions get the best of him.
\nAdvantage: New England<\/strong><\/p>\n

Midfielders<\/em><\/p>\n

The battle of the midfield will be won and lost through the play of the central players. Columbus look to Wil\u00a0Trapp to run the offense like a sound point guard in basketball. Aiding Trapp in the midfield will be\u00a0Tony Tchani, Ethan Finlay and Justin Meram. Tchani brings a sharp eye and terrific passing abilities to the Crew\u2019s attack, while Meram and Finlay both have a knack for the big play. Crew midfielders combined for 23 assists in 2014, while New England mids dished out 25 assists.<\/p>\n

New England\u2019s attack flows through Nguyen and Jones. Coach Jay Heaps hopes Diego Fagundez and Kelyn Rowe also increase their play going into the post season. Teal Bunbury is listed on the roster as a forward, but slid to an outside midfield position early in the year. Nguyen’s\u00a0ability to exploit space and score\u00a0has made the Revolution a team to fear when they reach the final third.
\nAdvantage: New England<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forwards<\/em><\/p>\n

Unlike last year, New England hasn\u2019t\u00a0grabbed many goals\u00a0from their forwards in 2014. Charlie Davies\u00a0tallied three times, and added\u00a0four assists this season, but hasn’t scored since early-September. Rookie Patrick Mullins started off hot, scoring four goals,\u00a0only to see his\u00a0form fade\u00a0after the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Columbus received valuable contributions from Jairo Arrieta and Aaron Schoenfeld down the stretch. Schoenfeld is a classic target man, while Arrieta is a shifty poacher\u00a0who makes the most of his opportunities. It’ll be interesting to see which one gets the start on Saturday.
\nAdvantage: Columbus<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do the Revs and Crew matchup against each other across the pitch?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":29001,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Mullins-1.png?fit=479%2C257","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28995"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29013,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28995\/revisions\/29013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}