Crew fans get late present as Marshall re-signs

COLUMBUS -- Columbus Crew management gave their fans a late Christmas present when it announced Friday that 2008 MLS Defender of the Year Chad Marshall had agreed to a new contract.

Marshall, 24, was out of contract and had been on a trial with Mainz of the German second division as negotiations continued.

"The base salary we offered was probably comparable to over there," Crew technical director Brian Bliss said. "I'm sure their bonuses were significantly higher, especially if the team is promoted, but he felt comfortable here with our offer and where he's at in this point of his career."

With the signing of Marshall, the Crew is assured of having 10 of 11 starters under contract from the 3-1 win over New York on Nov. 23 in MLS Cup 2008. The lone absentee is central midfielder Brad Evans, who was claimed by Seattle Sounders FC in the expansion draft.

"We as a club went out on a limb, committed significant resources, in order to get Chad done. It shows the level of commitment we have as a team to try and take another run at it," Bliss said. "We knew we were going to lose somebody but the goal was to retain, within the salary cap obviously, as many guys as we could. We were able to retain 10 of 11 and a few others that were vital parts."

The Crew also forged new deals in the offseason with league and MLS Cup MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto and defender Danny O'Rourke.

"Chad was an anchor of our defense. I am a believer, although we scored a lot of goals this year, that defense wins championship and we were very good defensively in large part due to Chad," Crew president and general manager Mark McCullers said. "It's great we're going to keep our backline together. We're going to keep the spine of our team together with the exception of Evans. I feel awfully good about it in terms of keeping this team together and giving us the best chance to repeat."

Of course, the other big transaction in the offseason was 2008 MLS Coach of the Year Sigi Schmid leaving the team for Seattle.

Marshall had a breakout year after missing the final two months of the 2007 season due to a series of concussions that put his career in jeopardy. Rather than risk further injury it was decided that he needed the extra rest if he were to have a chance to return to the Crew.

The time off did wonders, as did goading from Schmid to become a more vocal and active leader on the field. Marshall became a force in the middle of the defense despite having to break in a pair of partners in central defense -- rookie Andy Iro and O'Rourke, a converted midfielder.

Marshall played all but one regular season match and scored four goals, matching his total from the previous four seasons combined. All four scores came on headers off set pieces -- three from Schelotto and another off a service from Robbie Rogers. "Air" Marshall continued his dominance in the box with two critical goals in the playoffs to help the Crew to its first league championship.

His header via a free kick by Schelotto tied the Eastern Conference Championship against Chicago at 1-1 early in the second half and the Crew went onto a 2-1 victory.

In the title game, Marshall's run down the middle and header off Schelotto's corner kick in the 53rd minute proved to be the winner and nullified a score two minutes earlier by John Wolyniec that tied the match at 1-1.

With a new deal in hand, Marshall's next goal is getting back on the U.S. national team. He had a goal in his first career cap on March 9, 2005, vs. Colombia. He made three other appearances but the last was Oct. 12, 2005.

The Riverside, Calif., native played two seasons for Stanford before being the second overall pick (behind Freddy Adu) in the 2004 SuperDraft.

While McCullers is pleased to have Marshall back, he doesn't expect him to be in a Crew uniform down the road.

"He's expressed a desire to go to Europe and at the right time and right situation he will go," said McCullers. "Chad has the ability to continue to develop in this league and probably will have a better offer in a year or two years than he was offered right now."