Columbus Crew defender Frankie Hejduk spends most games careening up and down the right flank with reckless abandon. If Hejduk isn't defending in his own end, he streams up the sideline to overlap Eddie Gaven and fire in cross after cross.
In order to win his first MLS Cup, he had to alter his style.
Dutch winger Dave van den Bergh provides much of the offensive thrust for the New York attack and Crew head coach Sigi Schmid wanted Hejduk to tame his offensive ways heading into the title tilt against the Red Bulls.
"One of the goals we had heading into the game was to shut down the service of van den Bergh a little bit," Schmid said. "Frankie was going to have to be a little bit more defensively inclined for us that way."
Scaling back his attacking mindset isn't Hejduk's first instinct, but the World Cup veteran and one of 11 remaining active players who played in the original MLS season used all of his acquired knowledge to change his game.
"If you ask me, Frankie was perfect today," Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer said. "He picked his spots. He normally just loves to go, go, go. He recognized that he had to sit himself in a little bit, open them up and let the space create itself. Then he could take advantage of it."
Hejduk spent most of the first half pinned back in his own end as van den Bergh pushed up the field and flighted cross after cross into the box. Runs forward were few and far between.
"I thought his timing coming forward was very good," Hesmer said. "It showed his experience. It showed that he was able to do what was needed to win the game."
After the break, things changed. Van den Bergh faded out of the game and Hejduk had a little bit more space to roam. Frankie was Frankie again, albeit in a more muted fashion.
"In the second half, I think he got forward a lot more than he did in the first," Schmid said. "He got two or three crosses in that were very dangerous. That culminated in the goal."
That goal came from another of those trademark Hejduk runs. As the Red Bulls pushed more and more men forward in search of the tying goal, Hejduk exploited space down the right hand side of the field. On one such occasion, he fed the ball to Guillermo Barros Schelotto and he eventually flicked the ball through to Hejduk as he surged into the penalty area.
"It's unbelievable," Hejduk said. "He has eyes on the back of his head. He's been doing that all year to different players on the team all year. When I give him the ball, I just take off because I know that if there's anyone that can find me, it's him."
Hejduk directed the delicate flick toward goal with a looping header and watched it nestle in the far side netting. The cruical third goal went to the Crew captain and hysteria broke out amongst the Nordecke with the club's first MLS Cup all but sealed.
"I didn't even know what I was doing up there," Hejduk said. "I didn't even know I scored. I was looking at Robbie and Robbie was looking at me. He said 'Dude, what are you doing.' I said, 'Dude, I don't know. Did I score?" I was thinking it was maybe offside."
Surfer Dude didn't make an appearance after the goal. He hadn't really made an appearance all afternoon as Hejduk stuck to his task. Lifting his first MLS Cup, 13 years after making his MLS debut with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, provided his reward.
"It was a little bit surreal and a little bit crazy," Hejduk said.
Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
