With Guillermo Barros Schelotto nursing a strained hamstring, Columbus needs its second-choice strikers to come up big if the Crew want to keep their playoff hopes alive. They got off to a great start on Saturday at BMO Field, as Schelotto's replacement and a substitute forward led the Crew to a 2-1 win against Toronto FC.
Down 1-0 after 45 minutes, Columbus put five shots on target to Toronto's one in the second half. The tying goal came in the 61st minute from the foot of Jason Garey, who converted an Eddie Gaven pass to draw the Crew even.
It was the first goal of the season for Garey, and it couldn't have come at a better time for the young forward to try and salvage a disappointing sophomore season. Garey tied for the team lead with five goals as a rookie in 2006 for the Black-and-Gold, but has played in just nine games in 2007. Garey has had to battle a groin injury, and the additions of Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno has made playing time scarce up front.
Schelotto injured his hamstring on Sept. 8 in the Crew's 1-0 loss to Chicago, and missed last week's game with Kansas City due to a suspension for yellow-card accumulation. Garey started in his place and played 84 minutes --- or eight minutes more than he had played in total since April 14.
"I've had a tough year with injuries and stuff like that," Garey said. "I finally got in the lineup last week and then I thought I played well last week. Now to get a goal, it's great."
Should Garey recapture his 2006 form over the Black-and-Gold's last four games, it will give Columbus a large and diverse strike force to choose from when Schelotto returns. It might even mean that Schelotto spends time at his other position in the midfield.
"Guillermo has played great, he changes the way we play a lot," Garey said. "If he comes back as well that's really going to give us lots of options. We can play with him up top, I come in off the paint, whatever, but you've got to be ready to play whenever the opportunity presents itself."
Opportunity has knocked over the last four games for Jacob Thomas, as the attacking talent is happy to finally be able to see the field. Thomas has been hampered by a left calf injury virtually all season, and finally made his 2007 debut on Sept. 2 against Colorado. Thomas started the Crew's last two games, and came on as a substitute for Andy Herron in the 58th minute on Saturday.
In the 83rd minute, Thomas delivered one of the best individual efforts of any Crew scorer this season. He carried the ball nearly from midfield down the right, evading TFC defender Andrew Boyens along the way and then sent a hard angled strike into the left side of the Toronto net.
Thomas was excited to score, given that he said he is still regaining his fitness after months of downtime.
"I've had a pretty hard season," Thomas said. "I've had a lot of injuries and stuff. I'm just trying to get back in shape now and it was a boost mentally for me as I'm getting back into shape to have something like that happen. It motivates a person when you get a goal."
The win snapped the Crew's seven-game winless drought, and was also a boost after the club's demoralizing loss last Saturday in Kansas City, when the Black-and-Gold allowed two goals in injury time to lose 3-2.
"We think we've been unlucky in our last couple of games," said coach Sigi Schmid. "We've played all right and not gotten a result and we really mismanaged some games in the end."
One downside for the Crew is that they now hold the dubious distinction of being the club that finally allowed a goal to Toronto FC. Miguel Canizalez's second-minute strike ended the Reds' MLS-record goal drought at 824 consecutive minutes.
"We had talked about maybe giving Toronto a goal so maybe that monkey's off their back and we sort of did that really, really early," joked Schmid. "I told [the players] they could do that after we were up 3- or 4-nothing, but they did it the other way around. But obviously I'm really proud of our team today."
Columbus ended Saturday tied with Chicago with 31 points, through the Fire hold the tiebreaker by virtue of their two head-to-head wins in three meetings with the Crew this season (the Fire also have a game ahead on Sunday afternoon). The Crew's four remaining games include matches against league powers D.C. United and New England, as well as playoff contenders FC Dallas, but they next play on Sept. 30 against the last-place Los Angeles Galaxy.
Thomas said the Crew aren't looking ahead on the schedule or past any opponents, nor are they guessing how many points will net them that last playoff position.
"We're going to go day-by-day," Thomas said. "We're not going to go and try to figure out how many points we need. We're just going game-by-game. Nothing is given in the future, you know."
Not even which strikers will end up being heroes.
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
