Stout defending, productive passes, crosses and shots -- none resulted in a goal, but the game of keep-away eventually wore down the Islanders, of the United Soccer Leagues first division, and gave the Crew a 2-0 win.

"I thought it was a matter of time before we scored," Crew midfielder Robbie Rogers said. "I told everyone at halftime that we were going to get one, and once we get one then the game is over."

The Crew struck in the 58th minute. The sequence started with a 30-yard free kick by Guillermo Barros Schelotto after a hard foul on Alejandro Moreno. Schelotto sent the ball to the far post toward his favorite target, Chad Marshall, who headed the ball into a scrum in the middle of the Puerto Rico penalty area.

Brian Carroll, Robbie Rogers and Eric Brunner touched the ball before it bounded back to Marshall. He shot the ball across the goalmouth to halftime sub Steven Lenhart, who finally poked it in.

"I saw it go wide to Chad and I knew he was going to play the cross," Lenhart said. "You just have to run in and hope it lands at your feet."

Another second-half sub, Eddie Gaven, made a run through two Islanders defenders before making a cross that Rogers put away for a 2-0 lead in the 79th minute.

The Crew made the Champions League as defending champion of Major League Soccer. The tournament is for professional clubs in the CONCACAF region: North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Puerto Rico seemed more interested in physical play than scoring in the opening minutes. The Islanders later loosened up, but they were content to play a packed-in defense, indicating that they would have been happy with a scoreless tie and a point on the road.

"We knew going in how this game was going to go," Crew coach Robert Warzycha said. "They play a 4-5-1, bunker in and see what happens."

The Islanders had seven fouls to the Crew's one in the first 20 minutes. Puerto Rico's goalkeeper, former Crew player Bill Gaudette, received a caution for stalling in the 29th minute.

The Islanders took their only shot of the first half in the 35th minute. The Crew took eight shots in the half.

"If a team is going to give me time like that, I'll take it," Rogers said. "I don't think it's very smart for a team to do that to us. In the end, we punished them."

Gaudette made leaping back-to-back saves in the 36th and 37th minutes on sharply struck shots by Emmanuel Ekpo and Moreno.

The Crew appeared to earn a penalty kick when defender Cristian Arrieta yanked Schelotto down in front of the Islanders' net in the 45th minute, but referee Roberto Moreno made no call, earning the ire of a small but enthusiastic crowd of 6,161.

Carroll returned from a yellow-card suspension and replaced Adam Moffat in the midfield. Schelotto made his first start since July 11, sending Lenhart to the bench. Lenhart entered the game when Warzycha decided to pull defender Jed Zayner for a third striker.

Schelotto was replaced in the 60th minute by Moffat.

The game was the first meaningful international match the Crew had played since 2003, when it lost in a quarterfinal of the Champions Cup, the forerunner of the Champions League.

smitchell@dispatch.com