You would think Columbus Crew coach Sigi Schmid would have been most excited about finally breaking through on the scoreboard and putting a three-spot up against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday.
But, as with any coach, he knows defense wins championships. That's why he was ebullient about the Crew's decisive 3-0 victory against the Wizards, especially because young defenders Andy Iro and Ryan Junge each made their first MLS starts.
"The thing I'm happiest about is we got the shutout," Schmid of the team's and William Hesmer's fourth clean sheet of the season.
Iro partnered with Chad Marshall in the middle; Junge was at left back while Danny O'Rourke patrolled the right side in the makeshift lineup because Frankie Hejduk is away with the U.S. national team and Ezra Hendrickson, Stefani Miglioranzi and Gino Padula were injured.
"I thought Chad and Iro were a good combination. They played well in the middle. Ryan, a young player, handled the situation well," Schmid said.
Hesmer didn't face a shot for the first 35 minutes and just seven (two on goal) for the match. Hesmer's toughest save came in the 80th minute when he stretched to stop a strike by Ryan Pore.
"The guys played great in front of me," Hesmer said. "We had some new people in there but everyone stayed compact and focused. It was a really good effort all around."
The tall marking pair of Iro and Marshall helped neutralize the Wizards' crosses from the run of play and their usually dangerous set pieces.
"We really cut down on the amount of service out of the back by Jimmy Conrad," Schmid said. "He didn't have much space."
Marshall was not only dominant on the defensive end but his header off a corner kick by Guillermo Barros Schelotto in the third minute broke a 370-minute scoreless drought in league play.
"That was a relief. You try not to think about it but getting that goal early, being on the road, was big," said forward Alejandro Moreno, who scored the second and third goals and has a team-high six.
The runaway score enabled Schmid to leave midfielder Duncan Oughton on the field for 90 minutes in his first MLS appearance of the season. Forward Jason Garey played 11 minutes in his season debut after a lengthy stint on the disabled list, reserve forward Nicolas Hernandez also returned from being injured and rookie midfielder Cory Elenio made his pro debut.
"Jason Garey came on and did well," Schmid said. "It was good to get Nico back on the field, he's been out awhile and it was good get Cory into the match. He's a good player."
The luxury of going deep into the bench will likely be harder to come by Saturday at The Home Depot Center when the Crew (7-4-1) face Western Conference leader Los Angeles (6-4-2). Unlike Kansas City, the second-worst scoring team in the league, the Galaxy have a league-best 28 goals and have more in seven home games (18) than the Crew have in 12 matches overall (17).
"We know L.A.'s a great team and has put up some big numbers," Hesmer said. "We battled (K.C.) hard for 90 minutes and hopefully we gained a confidence boost from that because it's going to be another battle."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
