Columbus Crew Earn Road Draw Against the San Jose Earthquakes

A game that started rather slowly picked up as the match went on, as the Columbus Crew and the San Jose Earthquakes battled to a 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon.

The Crew remain undefeated on the road this season with the draw, while the Earthquakes took their first step towards rebuilding their home fortress after suffering their first loss in 21 games in all competition two weeks ago against the New England Revolution.

After a 10 minute feeling out process, the game began to open up and Columbus started to turn their possession into chances. Federico Higuain had a long range effort punched away by Jon Busch and just minutes later Bernardo Anor pounced on a poor clearance that forced another Busch save.

34 minutes in, San Jose created their best chance of the first half on a cross by Brandon Barklage. Shea Salinas got on the end of the ball and forced a goal line save from Crew goalkeeper Steve Clark.

Just 10 minutes later, Higuain opened the scoring with a one touch left-footed effort. After Hector Jimenez switched the play wide left to an overlapping Waylon Francis, the defender cut his low cross back and found the Black and Gold's number 10 on the penalty spot for his fourth goal of the season.

The Crew took the 1-0 into the halftime break, but San Jose came out like a house on fire to begin the second half.

Chris Wondolowski forced Clark into a big save after a cutback in the box took Francis out of the play and gave him space.

Four corner kicks later and the Earthquakes found the equalizer through their surest method. After a short corner resulted in the ball striking the post, Wondolowski did not miss when given space in the box to head home the Salinas set play.

Dominic Oduro had the best chance of the half for Columbus to steal another win on the road late. After Higuain brought the Crew on the attack, Anor played the ball to Jimenez with space out wide. The winger found Oduro at the top of the box, but his one-touch attempt was denied by the crossbar.

After suffering their first loss of the year. the Black and Gold responded well in a difficult place to play. Next week, the Crew return home to take on Eastern Conference rival D.C. United.