Crew Close Down "New Look" Chivas in Season Opener.

Chivas USA tried their best to compete with Federico Higuain, to no avail. (TheCrew.com)

The folks behind Chivas USA have really been trying to convince everyone that they know what they're doing with their offseason, well, whatever strategy they had.  It really didn't look like it though Saturday night as they fell apart down the stretch to fall to an imposing Columbus Crew side at the Home Depot Center.

Much was made about Chelis, the Goats' new head man and his "eight second" philosophy.  If you missed that, basically Chelis wants his players to win the ball back within eight seconds of losing it.  That was nowhere to be found Saturday night, particularly in the first half.

Most of the joy in the first half went to the Black and Gold, with Dominic Oduro getting forward with his speed on 12 minutes, but the newest member of the Columbus strike force hit his shot well into the stands, it was not the last the Chivas defense would see of him though.  Josh Williams directed a header on frame in minute 16, forcing Dan Kennedy into his first action of the night as he saved the shot to keep the score level.

However it wasn't all Columbus as Chivas started to find their way a bit later in the first half.  Their best chance came on minute 27 when forward Julio Morales latched on to a turnover in the Crew defense and pushed toward goal.  However Andy Gruenebaum was up to the task, making a diving save to stone the Chivas man.  It's why I continue to believe that Gruenebaum is one of the best, and most underrated 'keepers in MLS.

Chelis made some attacking subs for Chivas to start the second half, bringing in the more familiar names of Miller Bolanos and Juan Agudelo.  The Goats attack was instantly better for it, probably since they brought in two guys who are actually, you know, used to playing in MLS.  Chances were still few and far between though as Gruenebaum wasn't seriously tested.

It was the Crew who drew first blood in the 51st minute.  Predictably, the first goal of the new Crew season came off the foot of Federico Higuain.  He collected a nice ball from Jairo Arrieta near the top of the area and blasted home his first of the year to make it 0-1.

After the opening goal Chivas pushed a bit and had what was probably their best stretch of the match.  Unfortunately for them, even on the rare occasion that they did get the ball on frame Gruenebaum was a wall in goal.  He parried an effort from Bolanos in the 59th minute that was the Goats' most significant chance of the second half.

In the end, the more Chivas pushed up, the more exposed their already weak back line became, and it all came crashing down in the final minutes.  In the 88th minute Williams volleyed home a beautiful goal off of a corner kick to make it 0-2.  It really was a finish worthy of a top class striker.  Finally in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Oduro got his first goal as a member of the Crew, taking the ball from his own half and charging all the way to the Chivas penalty area, where he promptly gave Kennedy the traffic cone treatment and deposited the ball into the empty net to make it 0-3 at the full time whistle.

The match went pretty much as expected, though the final scoreline might be a little unjust to the Goats.  Next week they host FC Dallas as the Crew travel north of the border to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps.