No one would suggest the Columbus Crew are a better team without Guillermo Barros Schelotto, but the team has been able to overcome his absence over the past two seasons.
Last season's league MVP will miss his second consecutive match Saturday vs. Toronto FC while he recovers from a left hamstring strain -- the same type of injury that sidelined him for three games in September.
In those four games without him the Crew are 3-0-1 and outscored opponents 8-4. Schelotto also did not start this year at Seattle but played the final 21 minutes of a 1-1 draw.
Columbus is coming off an emphatic 3-1 home win against Real Salt Lake that showed the bench is a strength and not a liability as it was during a 0-2-5 stretch to open the season.
Forwards Jason Garey and Steven Lenhart started together for the first time and combined for three goals and an assist.
"Sometimes it's tough playing every 10 games but once you get a rhythm going I thought me and Steve played really well off each other," Garey said. "We split up the running and pressuring and we combined well together. He does so well holding people off and causing problems. That opens up space for me underneath a little bit. It worked out well."
Midfielder Duncan Oughton was in the starting 11 for the first time in more than 13 months and contributed an assist.
"It's tough for anyone not playing," Garey said. "Me and Steve and Duncan haven't played a whole lot so it was great to get out there. Together we did a pretty good job of controlling parts of the game and being dangerous."
Second-year defender Andy Iro has quietly proven his worth at center back over the past three matches in the absence of U.S. defender Chad Marshall. Iro missed three months with a left quadriceps but has smoothly teamed with Eric Brunner, in his first MLS season, to continue the Crew's twin tower presence while Marshall is at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. All three are in the 6-foot-4 range.
The trio represent a formidable force on set pieces (Marshall has two goals; Brunner and Iro one each).
"Every time we get a corner teams fear that. You can see the crowd gets into it. They know it's a good opportunity to score," Iro said. "That's also one of our strengths as champions whether we link through Guillermo or send Robbie (Rogers) or Eddie Gaven through; have a deep line midfield scorer or score off set pieces. That's all part of being champion. No champion has just one dimension."
Teams are also forced to alter their attack because of the air dominance in most cases by the Crew.
"Defensively it really helps us as well whether it be Chad, me or Eric to have two big guys out there," Iro said.
A drawback to the shuffled lineup vs. Real Salt Lake was a slow start that fortunately for the Crew did not result in a deficit.
"The first 15 minutes we had to get organized. After that it worked out quite well," Oughton said. "It was good for us to show some depth on the squad. It was a good win. When you get called on you have to contribute whenever you can."
Defender Gino Padula said the practices this week were more competitive than usual because some of the reserves got a taste of success and know they could be starting again with the roster still short of full strength.
"It's important that everyone be happy," he said. "It's very frustrating when you don't play every week but as you see today everyone was happy because we played very well last game and the guys who didn't play much this year deserved that because they train very hard every day and they get a chance.
"We know everyone can play in the first 11. We miss important players but the guys who played did very well. I'm very proud of those guys."
In addition to Schelotto not playing, starting forward Alejandro Moreno (groin) is still questionable and the status of Marshall and Rogers is unclear. If the U.S. beats Honduras in the Gold Cup semifinal Thursday they will not be available. Even if the USA lose, they might be reserves at best for the Crew on Saturday.
Warzycha said midfielder Adam Moffat (hamstring) will be ready for the first time since April 25 and the Crew should be at the maximum 18-man game day roster after having 16 healthy players last week.
However, the overall roster is two short of the 24 and Warzycha is concerned that it's not good enough heading into a busy schedule in August with the start of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament.
"We need to bring in some players. We have two roster spots open," he said. "We have to fill them with players able to compete for a starting spot. Obviously, I'm happy with the performances we've had but competition in practice is what makes us good."
Warzycha's big decision for Saturday is whether to continue with Oughton on the right flank, a position he hadn't played in six years prior to the last match, or return Emmanuel Ekpo to the spot after serving a one-game suspension.
Ekpo and Rogers on the other side provided speed and breakaway capabilities but aren't as experienced or defensively savvy as Oughton and Gaven.
"Of course, Robbie and Manu are very good players but last game we moved the ball well," Padula said. "Maybe some of the games this year we gave the ball away too much. Last Saturday we tried to pass the ball 2-5 yards and move it quicker. We had more patience to score the goals. Some games we try to score in two or three passes and it's not possible."
Craig Merz is a contributor to MLSnet.com
