When the San Jose Earthquakes and league newcomer Orlando City SC open their new soccer-specific stadiums in 2015, MLS will boast 15 of these facilities whose existence have been essential, both from a revenue and fan experience standpoint. All of them evoke their own uniqueness, but there’s only one that can stake its claim as to being the original. That place has a mailing address of One Black and Gold Boulevard and is located just off of Interstate 71 a few miles north of downtown Columbus, OH.
Saturday night will undoubtedly go down as a milestone moment in the history of Crew Stadium, now celebrating its 15th season of MLS action. Landon Donovan, perhaps the most celebrated, talented and important player in the history of American soccer, makes his final appearance in Columbus, having made public his intentions to retire from professional competition after the 2014 season. Though having never played for the Crew, many of his career successes at varying levels of the United States men’s national team, took place at this storied venue.
The first match at Crew Stadium took place on May 15, 1999 in front of a sold out crowd of 24,741 who watched a 2-0 Columbus victory over the New England Revolution. Exactly one week later, a much smaller gathering convened there for a game that, unbeknownst to the attendees at the time, would lay the groundwork for the meteoric rise of US Soccer and its favorite son over the next decade and a half. It would come to be the first of many international matches hosted by Ohio’s capital city that would etch itself into the lore of the sport in this country.
A then teenaged Donovan and his compatriots on the United States under-17 team would take on El Salvador in a home-and-home playoff series for a spot in the 1999 World Cup for that age group to take place in New Zealand. Having already gone on the road and dominated the Salvadorans 6-1, qualification was all but assured. Nevertheless, a group that included now household names amongst US soccer fans such as DaMarcus Beasley, Oguchi Onyewu, Bobby Convey and Kyle Beckerman cruised to a 4-0 rout that included an icing-on-the-cake 87th minute goal from Donovan.
In November of that year, the squad would travel to New Zealand, win their group, and come within a penalty shootout loss away from reaching the championship game. Donovan would receive the Golden Ball award as tournament MVP for a masterful performance that included three goals. They eliminated Mexico 3-2 en route to the semifinals. Little did anyone know then, how fundamentally intertwined Donovan, the United States, Mexico and the city of Columbus would become over the next four World Cup qualification cycles.
It all began on the last day of February 2001 when the two archrivals would open the final round of 2002 World Cup qualifying against one another. Weather, especially that of the cold variety, was a huge factor in the selection of Crew Stadium as the venue for this showdown. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint that night with the temperature at kickoff below freezing, leading Mexican media pundits to describe the game as “La Guerra Fría” (The Cold War). Though Donovan didn’t play, this inaugural 2-0 victory with goals from Josh Wolff (now a Crew assistant coach) and Earnie Stewart would set the stage for an American love affair with this facility and the score line they initially triumphed by. A little over a year later, they would send Mexico crashing out of the World Cup with another 2-0 win where Donovan netted the insurance goal.
On September 3, 2005 the two would tangle in Columbus yet again during the final round of World Cup qualifying, and sure enough the Yanks would prevail with a two-goal shutout. Not only did this win seal Team USA’s qualification for the 2006 World Cup, it marked the first time since 1934 that they were the first team from CONCACAF to qualify. Donovan started and was substituted in the 74th minute.
Four years later, same place, same two teams, same final score. Similar to 2001, both teams opened up the last round of CONCACAF qualifying in February, although the kickoff temperature in the 50s was balmy compared to the game eight years earlier. Donovan would assist on Michael Bradley’s second goal of the game in second half stoppage time to preserve the trend of tandem goals against El Tri.
It would all come full circle for Donovan on September 10 of last year. Fourteen years after scoring that fourth and final goal against El Salvador in Columbus to clinch qualification for the US under-17s, his 78th minute tally against Mexico on the same field would do the same for the full men’s national team in his 153rd appearance. The significance of that goal was manifold, but perhaps most symbolic was its capping of a twelve-year period that can accurately be summarized by one term: “Dos A Cero.”
Even though he comes to Crew Stadium for the final time as an opponent with the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy, fans of the Black and Gold should applaud Donovan for his priceless contributions to the prestige and history of MLS’ original soccer-specific stadium. Perhaps no other venue in the country has provided such a distinct advantage for the red, white and blue while functioning as a veritable house of horrors for our southern rivals. Landon Timothy Donovan was a mainstay in the glorious era of “Dos A Cero” among countless other accomplishments over the course of his eminent career. For that, he deserves an immense amount of appreciation and gratitude from those who had the privilege of watching him play.
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