For the first time since 1999, the Columbus Crew are preparing to begin the MLS season on the road. Unlike that season when the club christened Crew Stadium, they are not coming off a second-place finish in the Eastern Conference. Instead, the Crew start the season with a largely revamped roster that one veteran likened to an first-year club.
"It is like an expansion team in a way," said defender Ritchie Kotschau. "We have experienced players and a whole lot of young players."
Kotschau thinks the timing of his arrival to the Crew is advantageous.
"It is good on my part with (new head coach) Sigi (Schmid) coming at the same time as me," said Kotschau. "Everybody is coming in with a clean sheet. Everybody has to make his mark to Sigi to get on the field."
While Kotschau compared the Crew to an expansion club in terms of new personnel, he has no beliefs that this team is forced to endure the stereotypical struggles of an expansion team because MLS rosters are frequently revamped.
"So many teams change so drastically that you could almost call every year a rebuilding year," said Kotschau. "We can't look at it that way."
Another veteran, goalkeeper Jon Busch, echoed similar thoughts.
"There are a lot of new faces, but it is definitely not a rebuilding year," said Busch. "We are not going to be happy with mediocrity. We need to start winning championships."
Busch added that the sense of accountability instilled by Schmid on all players keeps thoughts on this being a rebuilding year far from the players' minds.
The Crew will get the first chance to show their dramatic offseason changes against the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday in a battle of the two teams from the Eastern Conference not to make the playoffs.
"They made it a lot closer to making the playoffs than we did last year and they made a great addition in Eddie Johnson," said Schmid.
In addition to Johnson, the Wizards return Scott Sealy to form a duo that will certainly provide a stern test for the Crew's backline, though Kansas City will be without veteran Josh Wolff, who is out with a concussion. For the Crew to bring home points from their rivals, they will need to get a good performance in the back and perhaps overcome some anxiety of the young roster.
"We want to start out on a good note. For some of the young guys, it will be their first MLS game," said Busch. "We might play a little more defensive minded as we get adapted."
Even in anticipation of an attack that might take some time to develop into well-oiled machine, Busch feels no added pressure to keep opponents off the scoreboard.
"Regardless of whether we get one goal or four goals, our job is to get a shutout," said Busch.
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
