0:1 MetroStars Columbus McBride 04.15.00 · League

With six minutes left Brian McBride scored his first goal of the season to give the Columbus Crew a 1-0 victory over the MetroStars in a hard fought match under the rain in Giants Stadium Saturday night.

The game seemed destined for overtime before Robert Warzycha launched Brian West down the right wing. West beat the offside trap and sent a cross in the box to McBride who poked the ball past Mike Ammann on the near post.

The two teams exchanged blows for the entire game with both sides having good scoring opportunities. Fine goalkeeping and defending on either side prevented the goals. McBride's strike came on one of the few defensive breakdowns by the MetroStars' defense.

A few minutes before McBride's game-winner, Lothar Matthaus was thwarted of what would have been a stunning goal in the 78th minute. His low blast on a 30 yard free kick that was heading towards the left post was parried into a corner by Mark Dougherty, who earned his first shutout of the season.

For the MetroStars Miles Joseph's diagonal shot in the 50th minute just missed the far post. In the 69th minute, a cutting Mark Chung had his close range shot saved by another superb effort by Dougherty.

In the first half, the best chances came in the early part of the game. After four minutes, a Mohammad Khakpour giveaway at the center of the Metro defense was taken by intercepted by the always-enterprising Colombian, John Wilmar Perez. His left-footed shot was saved by Ammann. Mike Petke cleared the loose ball from the mouth of the goal.

In the 10th minute, the Metros had their best opportunity with a shot by Chung from the left side of the box saved by Dougherty. The rebound went to an onrunning Miles Joseph and his shot was cleared off the line in a desperation move by Crew defender Mike Clark.

Both defenses then found the right measure for the rest of the half, however. Alex Comas and Adolfo Valencia on one end and the duo of McBride and Washington on the other, had a hard time penetrating the opposing back lines up until the late goal by McBride.

Lineup: Ammann, Perez, Khakpour, Petke, Villegas, Matthaus, Joseph, Chung, Shak, Comas, Valencia. Subs: Da Silva.