Posted on September 30, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Costa Rican Jairo Arrieta recorded a brace for the Columbus Crew in its 3-2 over the Philaelphia Union, which was eliminated from Major League playoff contention on Saturday night.
Despite the victory, Columbus (14-11-6, 48) remained in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, one spot out of the playoff picture. The Union (30 points) fell to 8-15-6.
“I think he was very effective,” Crew coach csaid. “He scored two goals in the first half and had another chance in the second half. We debated whether or not to take him off. He was limping more and more and we had fresh guys on the bench, so we decided to put them on the field.”
Emilio Renteria replaced Arrieta in the 66th minute, but not before he gave the Crew a 2-0 first-half advantage.
Arrieta gave the hosts the lead in the 44th minute. Sebastian Miranda played a ball from the left flank to Arrieta, who slipped behind defender Amobi Okugo, chested the ball down and finished with a left-footed shot into the bottom left corner.
Five minutes into first-half stoppage time, Arrieta got on the end of a long ball from goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum, cut around Okugo and put the shot across the mouth of the goal into the right side for a 2-0 lead.
“It’s important for me to score goals because that’s my job, but it’s more important for the team to win,” Arrieta said. “It’s not worth it for me to score goals if the team loses. It’s important that I help the team reach the goals we have set for the season, and tonight I was able to do that.”
The Crew almost did not win.
The Union, however, rallied in the second half behind Danny Cruz (penalty kick in the 65th minute) and Jack McInerney (85th minute) to tie the game before Milovan Mirosevic scored the game-winner in the 86th minute.
“It was going to be a tough game,” Arrieta said. “We knew that coming in. We worked hard and went up 2-0, and after that we made some mistakes and [Philadelphia] tied the game. We kept working hard and we didn’t give up. We scored the winning goal and in the end we stuck by each other.”
Categories: Central America, Costa Rica
Tags: Andy Gruenebaum, Columbus Crew, Danny Cruz, Jack McInerney, Jairo Arrieta, Major League Soccer, Milan Mirosevic, Philadelphia Union, Robert Warzycha
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