After consistently struggling with injuries in recent years, the Columbus Crew must have thought they turned the corner as they avoided any significant injuries through the first two months of the 2013 season. The only first team player to miss time was Eddie Gaven, who was out two games with a leg injury early in the season, but that streak of good fortune is now certainly over.
After dodging the injury bug, the Crew have lost key players Chad Marshall, Agustin Viana, Danny O'Rourke, Ben Speas, and now Gaven for multiple games this month. That is four players who opened the season on the field against Chivas USA and a player in Speas who already has six starts on the year.
It has caused significant changes in the lineup and a loss of continuity while also allowing some players who hadn’t gotten chances this year to get some minutes and allow them to prove they deserve to be in the lineup.
The defense has been particularly hard hit. Marshall has been the rock of the 2013 Crew back line. He has looked much like the player he was in 2008 and 2009 when he won back to back MLS Defender of the Year Awards. Marshall has missed the last two games and will likely miss a couple more as recovers from a hamstring strain.
Eric Gehrig has stepped up to perform admirably for the injured Marshall, winning the Man of the Match honors for the team's win in Toronto and leading the defense in the May 26 tie with New York, but the depth drops off behind Gehrig.
With Glauber suspended for the last match, head coach Robert Warzycha had to shuffle the lineup, eventually deputizing midfielder Kevan George to play on defense. George struggled against the veteran Red Bull lineup.
The loss of Viana and O'Rourke has forced a wholesale reshuffling of the midfield. The pair started the first seven games of the season in central midfield until Viana was switched to left back and then injured in the eighth game of the year.
Since then, the Crew have gone with a rotating pairing to Tony Tchani with O’Rourke and then Tchani with Matias Sanchez when O’Rourke suffered an ankle sprain. Sanchez seized his opportunity and has put in several good performances in defensive midfield while also providing improved passing on the offensive side of the ball.
The most devastating injury news was the latest as jack-of-all-trades midfielder Eddie Gaven tore his ACL during the Open Cup game against the Dayton Dutch Lions on Wednesday. He will miss the rest of the 2013 season as the injury heals, and the veteran of 276 games – including league, playoff, cup, and international contests – will be missed. He's scored 39 goals and had 36 assists, the type of production and experience that is irreplaceable.
Gaven will likely be put on the Season Ending Injury List. That will open up a roster spot to bring in a replacement, but the team still is on the hook for Gaven’s salary of nearly $200,000 this year. That number still counts against the league’s salary cap so the Crew won’t be able to shop for a comparable replacement, if one is even available. The team will have to work with what is on the roster.
Gaven's prospective replacements have yet to make their mark in MLS. Ethan Finlay, Justin Meram, Bernardo Anor and Speas have combined for just over 100 games played, six goals and six assists. Now they will be expected to come up big if the Crew are going to stay in the playoff chase.
Warzycha’s first option has some experience replacing Gaven. Speas replaced the veteran in the lineup for two games in March when Gaven was out injured, but he lost his starting spot during the team’s April swoon. Speas returned from a hamstring strain to make his eighth appearance of the season last week. The home grown signing has started six games on the left wing already this year and has a goal and assist. He’s shown flashes of being an impact player and will have plenty of chances to step up.
Meram has started the last two league games at left wing with mixed results. He notably scuffed two good chances on goal before scoring a goal in the Open Cup game. He has the most experience under his belt, but will face stiff competition from Finlay and a recovering Anor, both of whom are natural wingers, unlike Meram. Finlay has six sub appearances on the year while Anor has yet to play this season as he recovers from an ACL tear.
The Crew have enjoyed great performances from a couple understudies. Sanchez and Gehrig are certainly showing they can hold down a spot, and it’s likely that Sanchez is finally becoming the player the team expected when they signed him to a $230,000 deal. It’s now time for someone to step up and replace Gaven. Behind Higuain, he may be the most irreplaceable player on the team, but now Finlay, Meram, and Speas will likely get a chance to show they can.
