Around the Columbus Crew, they are falling and flopping like fish in the Olentangy River

The weekend’s best MLS match was easily the one in Ohio, where Seattle outlasted Columbus in a night that had it all.

There were terrific story lines (Seattle manager Sigi Schmid returning to Ohio to go upside the head on his old club, two of the league’s best attackers in Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Freddie Ljungberg, etc.), a desperate visitor in need of points in the playoff chase, good quality on both sides, not too much of the usual over aggressiveness and delay tactics that drag down too many MLS matches. In short, two sides doing things the right on the field, with a healthy intensity about the match.

The only thing that dented the contest quality was Alejandro Moreno’s and Schelotto’s falling and flopping in an effort to get calls. Even Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven got into the action, spinning at one point and falling inside the penalty area when it appeared that neither Seattle center back made contact.

Columbus does a lot of things right and is generally a good side to watch. But the players there can’t have it both ways. They can’t complain about Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s flop that got teammate Gino Padula wrongly ejected earlier this year and then pull the same crap on other teams. Referee Ricardo Salazar finally had enough and cautioned Moreno in the 55th minute for the Crew striker’s ridiculous flailing upon the most benign contact from Seattle defender Leo Gonzalez.

Players like Moreno make the referee’s job so much tougher. Moreno is maybe the league’s best at "working" referees. He’s quite cagey in knowing where the referee is positioned and then fouling and grabbing jerseys in places where it’s tough for the man in the middle to spot. Several times against Tyrone Marshall or Jhon Kennedy Hurtado on Saturday, Moreno was grabbing shirts like a randy school boy on a Saturday night. But he did so the shirt fronts, so as to obscure the offense from Salazar’s vision. Then, upon feeling the first contact by the defender, he falls down in a heap. Salazar sometimes saw it correctly, but sometimes he didn’t.

Columbus is a good side with good players. So how about this, guys: just cut it out. Worry about scoring goals, and not about drawing fouls and cards, and maybe you’ll score more than you did Saturday. For those who didn’t see, that would be "none."