For the second week in a row, a midseason acquisition notched his first goal for the Columbus Crew. However, neither one was enough to earn a road point for the squad as the Black-and-Gold remain winless away from Crew Stadium.
Following Chris Henderson's first Crew tally in a 2-1 loss at San Jose, John Wolyniec scored his first goal for the Crew in a 2-1 defeat by the MetroStars at Giants Stadium last Sunday.
"It was definitely exciting. There is always a little bit of pressure to go in front of your old crowd against your old team," said the former MetroStars striker. "It was just disappointing that it couldn't be in a winning effort."
The result of both matches is all too familiar to the Crew this season. While 12 different players have scored for the Crew, only Edson Buddle -- who has not yet played under interim coach Robert Warzycha -- has scored more than two goals this season. To put that in perspective, the league-leading New England Revolution have scored over twice as many goals, but have two fewer goal scorers.
Warzycha downplayed the notion that the Crew need one go-to marksman.
"I think it is better if more players score the goals," said Warzycha. "If there were only one, then only the guy that scores the goals gets marked closely. They wouldn't worry about the other guys."
He elaborated that the Crew would benefit from several players adding to their goal totals.
"I would love someone to score two or three goals. We are searching for that player," said Warzycha. "It could be John Wolyniec or Knox [Cameron]. He scored two goals against Kansas City. We are looking for more from him."
The only goals of the season for Cameron came in that July 23 match, a 2-0 Crew victory. One of the other two players to have two goals on the season, Frankie Hejduk, also scored both of his goals in the same match (May 21 vs. Real Salt Lake). On the other hand, one of the Crew's key offensive forces, Kyle Martino, has yet to score a goal on the campaign.
"Kyle has four assists in the last (five) games. To me, that is pretty good," said Warzycha. "Obviously if he gets a chance, I would like him to score, but his role is more to be the service guy."
Before Warzycha took the helm, Martino only had one assist on the season. He has assisted four of the Crew's six goals in the five matches since Warzycha took over for Greg Andrulis. He also scored the Crew's lone goal in their U.S. Open Cup loss to FC Dallas.
Since the coaching change, Martino has played as an attacking midfielder from a wide position instead of the central midfield role.
"We are working with him to beat defenders and deliver the ball," said Warzycha. "I wouldn't mind if he scored 10 goals, but you have to me realistic. Because of his physical presence, it is better for us if Knox or Wolyniec is in the box."
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
