It could be the suburban practice facility in Obetz, Crew Stadium on a Sunday afternoon or an uneven patch of sod in the middle of nowhere.
What matters to Jason Garey is scoring goals anytime he is on the field.
Tuesday, the often-injured and seldom-used Crew forward scored what proved to be the winning goal in a 2-1 victory against Independiente of Argentina in a friendly at Crew Stadium to improve the club to 10-2-2 in international matches.
Robbie Rogers, another of the Crew's young scorers who has struggled lately, had the first goal in the 63rd minute and Garey followed four minutes later off a pass by rookie Ricardo Pierre-Louis before Pablo Vitti tallied in the 83rd minute for the visitors.
"Some guys had good moments. It was good for Jason Garey to get a goal; good for Ricardo to be involved in that goal. Robbie getting a goal again was good," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said. "There were some positive things out there."
Garey had struggled with injuries in the early portion of the season and has not been able to crack into the full team for more than 12 minutes in two appearances. He does, however, have three goals and one assist in six reserve matches.
"I'm going to try to score whenever (Schmid) puts me in any game and see what happens," Garey said.
With Alejandro Moreno leading the team with six goals and Guillermo Barros Schelotto the top assist man in MLS, getting on the field has been tough for Garey. The Crew have scored 10 times in its current 2-0-2 stretch in league play.
In two of those matches, rookie forward Steven Lenhart was summoned late off the bench and scored the tying goal against Los Angeles and Chicago. In the latter match, assistant coach Robert Warzycha, subbing for Schmid while he attended his daughter's wedding, opted for Lenhart over Garey when the Crew was down a goal.
That's why Garey needed a match like Tuesday's to showcase his ability.
"It's huge to score in the games they put me in," Garey said. "We've been scoring goals up top and we've been doing a good run in MLS games so I can't complain. Steve's come in and scored some big goals."
Rogers gave the Crew a 1-0 advantage off a drop pass from Garey that went across the penalty area and was uncontested by the Independiente defense. Rogers has also been struggling. Even though he is second on the team with five goals, he has not scored in eight league games.
Garey added the second goal via a give-and-go with Pierre-Louis, who signed with the Crew June 16 after finishing school at Lee University. He has two reserve matches to his credit.
"It really feels good. We had to come out and move the ball and play well," Pierre-Louis said. "Especially for me, it was important because I haven't played much since college. My last game was in November. Right now it's important for me to get back and get a win in my first game."
Independiente cut the margin on a side-volley from Vitti in the 83rd minute and Vitti and Enzo Bruno were denied by third-string goalkeeper Kenny Schoeni less than a minute later to preserve the lead. Schoeni entered at the start of the second half and kept the match scoreless with two point-blank stops of Victor Sosa in the 55th minute.
"He did well," Schmid said of Schoeni. "His distribution could have been better. At times his kicking was off but he's a very courageous goalkeeper and he showed that at key moments. It's very important to have him sharp because you never know what happens."
The same could be said of the midfield with Rogers and Eddie Gaven possibilities for the U.S. Olympic team and Emmanuel Ekpo likely to play for Nigeria. Schmid started rookie Cory Elenio out of Evansville University and was pleased with what he saw.
"It's good to get Cory Elenio out there," he said. "He's got some things, you can tell. Sometimes there's a little naiveness at key some moments."
Pierre-Louis said the match was what he and others needed.
"It's different. The fans are there and they are screaming. It feels better than a reserve game. It feels more like a game in the league," he said. "When fans are there you have pressure to play well."
Schmid was happy, too, to go deep into the bench. The Crew fielded an opening lineup with only three of the usual starters. Danny O'Rourke, a converted midfielder, was at center back alongside rookie Andy Iro and Ekpo was on the right flank for 23 minutes until being replaced by Andrew Peterson.
Andy Gruenebaum has not seen a minute of MLS play this season but got the nod in goal over Will Hesmer, who was among seven starters who did not dress. In addition to Schelotto and Moreno, other usual MLS starters who were onlookers included defenders Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk and midfielders Brian Carroll and Brad Evans.
"We got out of it what we needed to get," Schmid said. "Guys who needed 45 minutes got it; guys who needed more minutes as well. We rested guys and got a positive result. As I've always said, winning begets winning."
Even in strange ways.
"To me, soccer is a funny game," said Schmid. "There's an Egyptian coach I knew who coached the Egyptian Olympic team in 1984 and one of the things he said to me was, 'Soccer is a beautiful game when you have no responsibilities.'
"What he meant by that is it's great for the fans because you can be the biggest underdog and win the game. You can be playing terrible soccer and score some goals or you can be outstanding and don't score any goals and you end up losing and that can be really frustrating. Tonight I thought there were times we played very well and got nothing and then in a 15-minute phase they end up dominating the game and we end up scoring two goals."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
