BAY VILLAGE, Ohio – Robert Warzycha scored in the final moments of stoppage time to give the Crew Legends a 1-0 victory over the Premier Soccer Academies World Legends in a fundraiser for the academies.
The match, with an abbreviated length of 60 minutes, was held Friday at Bay High School, the alma mater of former Crew goalie and current Blackburn Rover Brad Friedel.
Friedel founded the academies in 2003 with the stated mission of providing “the highest quality soccer education, experience, training and enjoyment to talented soccer players without regard to economic or social condition.”
The academy is building a multimillion dollar, 20-acre facility in nearby Lorain, where it will operate on a year-round, scholarship-only basis, welcoming players from around the world to Ohio.
In the meantime, Friedel has hosted a series of week-long camps throughout the Greater Cleveland area.
Crew fans who made the two-and-a-half-hour journey from Columbus were treated to a trip down memory lane, with appearances by former players Thomas Dooley, Marcelo Carrera, Matt Napoleon and Jorge Salcedo.
Most current Crew players were unavailable due to Saturday’s MLS game at the MetroStars, however former Buckeye Peter Withers and current OSU players Reid Traeger, Kevin Nugent and Casey Latchem helped supplement the Crew Legends squad.
The PSA side included Friedel and other players from the English Premier League, such as Craig Short, Scott Sellars and Marc Hottiger. Recently retired striker Andy Cole took part in the camp but did not play.
Also on hand for PSA was Survivor winner Ethan Zohn, who enjoyed the opportunity to play outside of the goal.
“It’s every goalie’s dream to play on the inside and not in between the posts,” said Zohn. “To play with a lot of these guys was a dream come true for me. I grew up watching them play and to play on the same field is awesome.”
More importantly to Zohn, a pair of players from his program in Zambia were brought to the PSA camp free of charge.
In the first half, most of the action took place in front of Friedel’s goal, as he was forced to make dramatic saves on shots from former Wright State forward Ricky Strong.
Early in the second half, a shot from Jamal Sutton was deflected by Friedel and cleared off the line by defender Craig Short.
“It was close,” said Sutton. “It was a good effort by the defender.”
Soon afterward, Friedel removed himself from the game to avoid injury.
“We have to be careful because we’re going into a new season,” he said.
Friedel starts his sixth season in the English Premier League in August. He was replaced by fellow goalkeeper Peter Enckleman.
The best chance for PSA came in the 56th minute when Peter Scarborough’s shot hit the post behind Latchem.
Penalty kicks appeared to be on the horizon when a foul was called to the right of the PSA box in the game’s final seconds, but the referee froze the clock, allowing the Crew time to take a free kick. Marcelo Carrera’s shot hit the PSA wall, but Warzycha collected the rebound and blasted the game-winning shot to the right of Enckleman. The Finnish international had no chance of stopping it.
Crew General Manager Mark McCullers was at the match and joked about the possibility of bringing Warzycha, a former Crew midfielder and current assistant coach, out of retirement.
“If we get another penalty kick this year, we’ll get Robert to take it,” he said. “He’s still a step slow on defense, so we’d probably have to change the laws of the game and get an extra man allowed for the Columbus Crew to accommodate for Robert’s defensive inadequacy.”
Though the PSA team came up short on the night, the academy came away the real winner, raising thousands of dollars from the match and the $100-a-plate dinner that followed.
“We tried to give everyone a game and I think it turned out really well,” said Friedel. “We want people to know that we’re coming in, and what we’re trying to accomplish with the academy. I think so far we’ve reached our goal.”
