Tale of two seasons for Crew's Marshall

COLUMBUS -- Chad Marshall spent his 24th birthday Friday in a much better place than where he was exactly one year ago.

This year's birthday present for the Columbus Crew defender was being on the training field preparing for Saturday's home match against Real Salt Lake. In contrast, 12 months ago, he was about to be placed on the season-ending injured reserve list after suffering the latest of four concussions over a period of a year.

It was a sobering time for him as he contemplated the possibility of life without soccer.

"It was scary not being able to play. I was just sitting there hoping the headache goes away. I definitely was thinking about what I could do other than soccer," he said of playing only 12 matches in 2007.

The severity of having so many concussions was not lost on him. As a rookie in 2004 he saw teammate Ross Paule suffer a series of concussions and resort to wearing headgear for the final dozen matches in hopes of protecting his skull. Post-concussion syndrome eventually forced Paule to retire the following season without playing another match.

"He still has those headaches to this day," Marshall said.

That's why Marshall went against the athlete's instinct to compete through pain and heeded the advice of trainer Jason Mathews and fitness coach Steve Tashjian to shut it down for a long while.

"It gave me enough time in between that if I were to get another one, what happened to Ross hopefully wouldn't happen to me. All credit to them," said Marshall.

After an offseason of rest it has been so far, so good for Marshall. He has started all 20 matches and played 1,675 out of 1,800 minutes.

Still, the possibility of another concussion is all the more prevalent for the 6-4 Marshall because the heading game is his strong suit. Not only does he command the box defensively with his height and jumping ability but he has also scored both of his goals on headers.

"He's having a very good season," coach Sigi Schmid said. "His one-on-one defending has been good. Obviously, he's still very dominant in the air."

Marshall now has six goals and six assists in 116 career appearances (113 starts) after being the second overall pick in the 2004 SuperDraft following two seasons at Stanford. The No. 1 selection that year? A 14-year-old named Freddy Adu. Others chosen behind Marshall in the first round included Clint Dempsey and new Crew teammate Pat Noonan.

The two knocks on Marshall that have prevented him from gaining more than four caps with the U.S. national team (he scored his lone goal in his debut on March 9, 2005, vs. Colombia) is that he hasn't shown enough confidence on the ball and isn't vocal enough as a central defender.

Schmid thinks Marshall has addressed those issues and should get another look from U.S. coach Bob Bradley.

"What I'm happy about is he's a lot more willing to have the ball, to take the ball and have more responsibility for the ball in the back. He's got good feet for a big man," Schmid said. "People don't know that because Chad shied away from sometimes wanting the ball. He can get himself out of trouble and do things with the ball."

Defensive midfielder Brian Carroll has no problem with Marshall's verbal skills.

"Our communication is improving. He cleans up a lot of balls in the air and wins possession pretty good so he tries to keep me in front of him; tells me when to stay, tells me when to go," he said.

As for Marshall, well, he's not really one to say much off the field -- to reporters at least. He'd rather go one-on-one with Landon Donovan than have to answer questions. He's not being rude; it's just not his nature to talk to the media.

"I think I'm pretty vocal guy. I just don't like doing interviews," he said.

Marshall doesn't seek publicity and it rarely comes to him unless he makes a mistake.

"That's what stinks about being a defender," Marshall said. "If you do a good job then no one notices. I guess I do not want to be noticed because that means my guy is scoring or I'm messing up."

Sometimes, though, Marshall does draw attention for doing his job. Such was the case after the Crew defeated FC Dallas last week.

"The second half our team started moving the ball a little too direct, going too much to the strikers and (Chad) Marshall did a good job intercepting balls to feet and that caused (Kenny) Cooper some problems," Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said.

A game like that is a reason many on his team felt he should have been selected to the MLS All-Star team last month.

"He has been a little bit overlooked. He's a great defender and a big reason we've had success this year," said Carroll.

If the team continues to do well then accolades might follow for Marshall, now third in longevity with the Crew behind defender Frankie Hejduk and midfielder Duncan Oughton.

"It's been a fast five years. It's crazy," Marshall said. "I came into this league as a teenager. Now I'm 24. I think I was the third-longest here after my second year. They really cleaned house. It's been that way for a while."

He suffered through losing seasons as the team missed the playoffs from 2005-07, but he is excited -- if it's possible for the laid-back Californian -- about this year's squad.

"We've finally found that right blend of players who know what their responsibilities are and don't try to play outside of that," he said. "People know what they're good at and stick to that and let the creative people create and guys like me head the ball and kick it really far."

The team reminds him in some ways of his first year when the 2004 club ran off a league-record 18-game unbeaten streak and captured the Supporters' Shield.

"It's similar. We have really good players and guys who are putting in goals. The most important thing is that we're scoring goals," said Marshall. "I feel like the middle three years we really didn't score goals. That's what the good teams in this league do and that's what we're doing. That's why we're getting wins."