Sebastian Rozental, one the marquee additions to the Columbus Crew during the winter, was faced with a difficult situation following the Crew's opening match at Kansas City.
After going 72 minutes in the loss, the veteran midfielder knew his fitness level was limiting his performance. In the process of recovering from a knee injury, Rozental was unable to train at a high rate during the preseason to get his fitness level ready for the season.
So Rozental and the Crew decided that after the loss to the Wizards that the Chilean player would leave the team to do fitness training in California.
"It was hard," said Rozental. "I was running for 8 days. I needed it."
Crew head coach Sigi Schmid was pleased with Rozental's play in a 1-1 draw against the Chicago Fire on Saturday at Crew Stadium because of the nature of the extended fitness training.
"I thought it (play against the Fire) was okay, especially considering he had been gone for a period of time and the one thing he didn't have was contact with the ball," said Schmid. "I expect a lot more from him next week in L.A."
The decision to let Rozental miss a match was partially influenced by the fact that the second match of the season was in Colorado, a place where his lack of fitness might be further noticed due to the high altitude.
Rozental returned to the Crew for the draw with the Fire and scored the leveling goal on a penalty kick. While he again didn't go the distance, Rozental felt much better in this match than against the Wizards two weeks earlier.
"I felt great," he said. "I wasn't tired."
Still, Rozental wants to further improve his fitness level and returned to the same conditioning consultant following Saturday's match. With the Crew playing at the Los Angeles Galaxy this Saturday, Rozental headed there early to resume the training and will rejoin the squad when they arrive on Thursday. Even with the improvements, Rozental is unsure when he'll be ready for an entire match.
"Games will tell [when the fitness level has returned]. I hope it is soon," said Rozental. "I like to play 90 minutes all of the time."
Although Rozental only played about half of a very exciting second half against the Fire, his successful penalty kick conversion secured a share of the points for the Crew. In doing so, he noticed something about Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton that MLS attackers have known for years.
"He's huge," said Rozental on Thornton's 6-foot-3 frame leaving little goal to shoot at. "[The shot] went in so I was happy."
Added Rozental: "It was an important and difficult moment for us. I don't think we deserved to be losing the game."
John Kuhn is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
