Meet Alejandro Moreno, Steven Lenhart and Jason Garey. Playing as the lone target in front of MVP candidate Guillermo Barros Schelotto, the league's top assist man with 18, the trio has made life difficult for coach Sigi Schmid in a good way.
"It's good to have competition and everyone's producing for the team," said Lenhart.
Lenhart, a first-year player from Azusa Pacific, got the start Sept. 7 against New England when Moreno, the club leader in goals, was away with the Venezuelan national team. Although he did not score, Lenhart's run through the box in the 39th minute created enough chaos that Schelotto was able to move unmarked onto a loose ball to score the first goal in a 4-0 victory that cemented the Crew's position atop the Eastern Conference.
Garey replaced Lenhart in the 66th minute and used his frustration at not starting to score the Crew's final two goals.
"Obviously, I was disappointed I wasn't starting because I thought I had a good chance to but that was the coach's decision," Garey said. "When he puts you out there you have to do the best you can and give him a reason to play you the next time. I thought I did a pretty good job of that last week and we'll see what happens and go from there."
He has three goals despite playing only 85 minutes in six substitute appearances.
"Jason came in and had a big impact by scoring two goals," Schmid said.
Yet, that performance doesn't guarantee him more time when the Crew plays at Toronto FC on Saturday. Moreno has rejoined the team and most likely will make his 23rd start this season.
"We have all three options," Schmid said. "We'll see how training goes. We made our decision last week to go with Steven and, obviously, Jason made his case by scoring two goals."
Moreno is a tireless worker who knows how to get in the right position and is not afraid to mix it up with the defenders to get to the ball. Lenhart is of a similar nature but less refined. He keeps a frenetic pace but is still learning to control his emotions. After getting late equalizers at Los Angeles on June 21 and vs. Chicago on July 5, he had his third goal in his first start July 27 at Colorado but was ejected in the 42nd minute for throwing an elbow.
He received a two-game suspension and did not play again until last Saturday.
"I'm not going to tone anything down; keep my elbows down, maybe," he said. "One thing I do is work hard. I can't tone it down or I'm not the same player. I got to step in and fill a role and do my best for the team for that one game."
Schmid cited his reason for starting Lenhart instead of Garey against the Revolution.
"It was really close trying to decide between Jason and Steven. We knew both were going to play," he said. "We felt Steven is sometimes a little more physical in his approach to the game. He's a little stronger in the air and we know (Michael) Parkhurst doesn't like physical play against him so we figured that might be a good way to start."
He likes that the three forwards have different attributes. Garey is who Schmid wants for a one-on-one matchup because of his final touch.
"I like to think that's something I pride myself on," Garey said. "I work really hard on one-on-ones with the 'keeper. I practice finishing almost every day because that's what I bring to the team. I may not do some of the other stuff better but hopefully finishing I'm able to do."
While Lenhart and Moreno do more checking to the ball and flank work, Garey has a different approach.
"They're trying to get those through balls that Guillermo likes to play and other guy's like to play," he said. "They hang a little more on the last defender. I might not do as much work on the wing as Alejandro does because he gets out there a lot of times. I'm more in the middle and in the box trying to stay in front of the goal. I bring a very different element."
Schmid said Lenhart's strength besides getting up for headers is his quickness.
"Alejandro's the best one at holding up the ball," Schmid said. "Everybody brings something a little bit different. They're all improving. The competition is good for all of them."
Actually, the Crew go deeper than those three when attacking midfielders such as Robbie Rogers are taken into account.
"We usually play with the one target forward so we've got three, four, five guys that can play that position," Garey said. "The competition is definitely pretty stiff for it when you've got me coming in and Steve coming; Pat Noonan contributing. Manu (Emmanuel Ekpo) didn't start last game. We have all these options."
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