COLUMBUS -- The Columbus Crew have unexpected production from the backline; a healthy contribution of goals from the midfield and a good number of scores from the forwards.
They have scored nearly a fourth of their goals off set pieces as well as converting four penalty kicks and were also the beneficiary of an own goal.
What the team hasn't received, at least in the eye of the beholder, is respect for having one of the best offenses in MLS.
While the attention has focused on the crowd-pleasing attack of the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Crew have quietly generated 46 goals to trail the league leader by only four -- if anyone noticed.
"I know our offense was a little hurt by that because people are talking about (LA's) explosive offense and it's like, 'Hey, we've almost scored as many goals,' " Crew coach Sigi Schmid said after Saturday's 1-0 win against the Galaxy.
He explained his remarks earlier this week.
"We don't have the glamour boys. Obviously, we don't have David Beckham, whose the most expensive player in the league and for sure the most recognizable name in this league. We don't have Landon Donovan, who on his day is the best American player, and Edson Buddle had gotten off to a very good start, though when you look at his goals the last 10, 12 games it hasn't been very good.
"The glamour guys," he said. "Aren't we the team with the hard hats, anyway? We're a little more hard hat."
Befitting the "America's hardest working team" motto that the Crew used to espouse, this year's squad is gritty when it needs to be but can also play with flair when all cylinders are clicking.
Besides, Los Angeles can keep all the fanfare -- the Crew will take their league-best 53 points -- ahead of the 29 by the last-place Galaxy.
"Part of it is due to in LA they have a lot of goals coming from certain key players," Crew defensive midfielder Brian Carroll said. "Here, they're coming from all over the place, which is a good thing. It shows everyone has contributed something to the success of the team and shows an overall team mentality."
The statistics don't lie. The Galaxy's 50 goals have been scored by 11 different players. Of those, four scorers have two or more goals. Fourteen players have contributed to the Crew's 46 goals, including 10 with at least two goals. D.C. United are third in scoring with 41 goals by 13 players; six have two or more.
Crew forwards have scored 22 times, led by the career-best nine from Alejandro Moreno. Guillermo Barros Schelotto has six, including 4-of-4 from the penalty spot. Jason Garey and Steven Lenhart have three apiece goals off the bench and Pat Noonan salvaged a tie at Toronto on Sept. 13 with his first goal since being acquired in August.
Robbie Rogers has six of the 17 goals from the midfielders, who also got the first goal since 2006 out of the Carroll. Central midfielder Brad Evans has four after replacing the injured Adam Moffat.
"We felt going into the year we needed to get more goals out of the midfield, also more goals out of the middle of the midfield and we have with Evans and Moffat, who had a couple early in the season," Schmid said. "We've definitely gotten more goals from the middle of the midfield and we've gotten a fair amount from the outside midfield. I've been happy with that. The front line's also thrown in their goals."
The backline has six tallies with Chad Marshall heading in four, to match his output of the previous four years.
"Set pieces are bonus goals. Most of our defenders who've gotten goals have usually come from those situations. It's not like they're coming from overlapping in the flow of the game," Schmid said.
One that did was an arcing shot -- at least that's what he said -- from Frankie Hejduk against New York on Sept. 18 for his first goal in more than three years.
Otherwise, the defenders have been stellar on corner kicks and set pieces because of the presence of the 6-4 Marshall and rookie Andy Iro (6-5), who has one goal.
"I've always tried, wherever I've coached, to have somebody who could score goals on those things. In LA it was somebody like Danny Califf. Danny Califf won an Open Cup for me by scoring off a corner kick," Schmid said. "When I was at UCLA I had guys like Carlos Bocanegra and Paul Caligiuri; (former Crew defender) Mike Lapper when he played for me. I always had a defender who would get somewhere between four and six goals a year coming forward on set pieces. Now we've got Chad here. That's definitely been a link we've been missing in the past few years."
The Crew have been lethal in deadball situations. Their 10 goals have come via five corners and five free kicks, one directly from a free kick strike. By contrast the Beckham-led Galaxy have scored only one from a corner and two from free kicks.
"Getting goals from set pieces are important because they can turn tight games," Schmid said. "It's like getting a goal every third game off one of those things and I think that's good for us. We believe we can be dangerous."
Columbus (15) and LA (13) are the only teams to score in double figures in the final 15 minutes of the first half and Colorado (11) and the Crew (10) are the most productive teams from minutes 61-75.
"Our offense has been fantastic in the sense when we did struggle a little bit defensively our offense was always there," goalkeeper Will Hesmer said. "Sometimes when you're down you push too hard. We don't do that. We relax and believe in ourselves that the goals will come."
Timely goals and the second-stingiest defense in the league have carried the Crew to a 16-6-5 record. That's why the Crew tops MLS with a 4-6-4 mark when allowing the first goal in addition to a 12-0 record when scoring first.
Yet, it doesn't take much to humble the players. They only need to remember that early this season they set a team record by not scoring for 371 minutes.
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