appropriately named by Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl -- quickly put their stamp on the league. In a year that would see the Fire get back to the MLS Cup title match, Razov scored 14 goals and earned a spot on the MLS Best XI.
Does he have that with the MetroStars? Probably not. Sergio Galvan Rey has shown some life this year, Abbe Ibrahim is going to be a very good player down the road and Mike Magee always shows promise when he gets opportunities to play. But there'll be no question as to who the team will look upon to score goals.
Even if Razov doesn't find the back of the net in his first few matches, it'll be interesting to see how this affects the way Amado Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff respond -- along with, when he returns from Holland with the U.S. U-20 national team, Eddie Gaven. Razov is the type of player who the opposing team's best center back will have to keep close to and forces the defense to remain a little more wary of spreading out rather than staying compact. If Bradley decides to use Djorkaeff running off of him, at times, it'll be intriguing to see how the skilled former French international is able to set up Razov around the box.
MetroStars fans won't have to wait long, that's for sure, as Razov is getting into New Jersey in the early evening on Tuesday night, and will be at training tomorrow. He'll be ready to play for his new side at Giants Stadium on Sunday against D.C. United, and look to help the team continue on its recent run of having lost only one match in the last six games.
The one thing that the MetroStars lose in this deal, though, is that undefined characteristic that Wolyniec brought to the side. Time and time again, the gritty striker saved the MetroStars from defeat over the past three years with countless goals during the last 10-15 minutes of play. His hard-running style, intensity and heart-on-his-sleeve style seemed to inspire the others around him, as well as make him a fan favorite. With the MetroStars, he was never given star status and hardly ever got a mention around the league as one of the top strikers in MLS. Yet, there was hardly a player that Bradley got as much out of as Wolyniec during his stay in East Rutherford.
His presence in that locker room will be missed, as the small of group of players that have been around since 2003, including Gaven, Magee, Mark Lisi and Tim Regan, have become much more of the team's core group of leaders over the past year.
Wolyniec will make a good partner for Edson Buddle in Columbus, but you have to feel that the Crew is getting the short end of the stick when you take into account that they gave up Tony Sanneh for Razov back in January. Even though insiders will tell you that Sanneh was an unwelcome presence in the Crew locker room and he messed up team chemistry when he arrived from Germany last summer, he was worth a lot to other teams around the league.
Even so, Razov was rotting in Columbus and the front office had no choice but to deal him while they could. To get someone like Wolyniec, who is as great of a team player as you will find in the league, will be refreshing for Andrulis and his staff.
"We are excited to add another quality person and player to our roster," said Andrulis. "John provides a proven goal-scorer mentality to our team. He also is the type of player who will work hard to do the little things and care more about the name on the front of the jersey than the name on the back."
Ouch. You don't need a black-and-yellow decoder ring to understand that comment.
You won't have to wait to see how Razov reacts against his old club, as Columbus visits the Meadowlands on June 18.
Should be fun.
Marc Connolly writes for ESPN.com and several other publications. Marc can be reached at marc@oakwoodsoccer.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
