The results don't justify it, but the Columbus Crew's finish to the 2006 season seems much more optimistic looking ahead to next year than things did a year ago.
Although the seasons have some similarities -- after claiming the MLS Supporters' Shield with the league's best record in 2004, the Crew have failed to make the MLS Cup Playoffs in each of the last two years -- the emergence of the Crew's young offense down the stretch gives Sigi Schmid some consolation going into next season.
Entering the season, the Crew knew they needed strong defensive efforts to buy time until the offense clicked.
"Our defense certainly kept us in a lot of games," said Schmid. "That is something that we talked about since the offense was struggling."
After shaking off a rough two-match road swing to open the season, the Crew entered June with an admirable record (3-4-2). All of the wins were 1-0 with timely goals that stood to be winners through good defensive performances.
"We got off to a good start. We had a good moment in Dallas when we won 2-1 after coming off a pretty bad defeat in D.C." said Schmid. "It showed character being able to rebound."
After a midweek 5-1 defeat at D.C. United, the Crew outplayed Western Conference-leading FC Dallas. Leonard Bisaku cleaned up a shot by Jacob Thomas that hit the woodwork and Ritchie Kotschau scored on a superb solo effort to propel the Crew to a 2-1 win.
"It was just one of those things that defenders do sometimes," said Kotschau of his weaving run for goal past several Dallas defenders. "I was able to get up the field. Sometimes, good things happen."
However, the Crew failed to follow up the marquee performance with another victory for more than two months. In the 13-match winless streak which included six draws, the Crew scored just seven goals. In spite of the low offensive numbers, the Crew's defense kept in them in most games.
"I was happy with the fact that we were in every game," said Schmid. "I think there were only four games this season that we weren't in on: the first two, the one at D.C., and when we lost to Kansas City 4-0, although that was a misleading score. We were actually in that game."
After the loss to Kansas City on Aug. 12, the Crew had their most disappointing outing of the season. Leading Real Salt Lake at home with a quarter hour remaining, the visitors snuck in two late goals to leave the Crew in such a shocked state that Schmid considered resigning.
Schmid stuck with the Black-and-Gold and the winless streak ended just three days later. The 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls featured three remarkable events. In addition to ending the Crew's futility streak, Joseph Ngwenya's game winner was the Crew's Goal of the Year. Additionally, it marked the return of Duncan Oughton.
"Duncan Oughton just being able to come back and play was a huge improvement," said Schmid of the captain's return to MLS action from a serious knee injury for the first time since 2004.
Starting with that win, the Crew posted a .500 record down the stretch (4-4-1).
"I thought we played well at the end of the year. We probably should have gone undefeated in our last games," said Schmid. "We had a little bit of a tough refereeing call in New England. The fact that we were able to play with that sort of character was also a good sign for the future."
The offense meshed late in the season after the players had some time to get to know each other. The Crew were hit hard by injuries all season long, and it wasn't until the final two months that a large number of Crew players weren't on the team's injury list.
"It was just having those guys on the field together. When you have Joseph Ngwenya, Jacob Thomas, Ricardo Virtuoso, [Eddie] Gaven and [Jason] Garey and we have four of those five on the field all the time, then a pattern developed," said Schmid. "We saw some similarities in goals by seeing people get on the end of crosses at the right time by making the right runs."
Schmid believes even greater results will come after the group trains together more.
"It is really encouraging because Jacob is 29, Joseph is 25, Garey is 22, Gaven is 20 and Virtuoso is 21. So it is a young group of five and that group has not gone through a preseason together," said Schmid. "If we can get them a preseason together and get them more deeply engrained, it will be even better for the team."
Combining this group with defensive stalwarts such as Kotschau, Marcos Gonzalez, Rusty Pierce and Chad Marshall, who carried the Crew for much of the season, an even brighter 2007 season is expected.
"Defensively, we think we have a pretty strong nucleus with Frankie [Hejduk] returning next year. Hopefully, Rusty Pierce is healthier," said Schmid. "I think our defensive unit is pretty much intact. It is a solid foundation that we can build upon."
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
