COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Five games into the young MLS season, Columbus Crew SC's leading scorer in 2014 had yet to find the scoresheet. But ask anyone on the Crew SC team and they'll tell you that Ethan Finlay hasn't gone anywhere.
And in a 4-1 rout of the Philadelphia Union Saturday night, the winger burst back onto the scene with two goals and his fourth assist of the season as part of a scary Columbus attack that's firing on all cylinders.
"From the outside, the perception might have been that he's not at the top of his game," head coach Gregg Berhalter told reporters after the match. "But Ethan has been working so hard, and we've been happy with how he's been playing. We knew he had it in him. We talked to you guys about it, that he's ready for a breakout. He's been training really well and having impacts on games."
In last week's 3-0 win over Orlando City, Crew SC's front four of Finlay, Kei Kamara, Justin Meram and Federico Higuain all had at least a goal or an assist. In Saturday's win, all but Higuain -- who Berhalter said had one of his best matches of the year -- found a goal. And Kamara expects the rest of MLS to take notice of the group.
"For Ethan to get a goal -- not just one, but get a couple -- it really wakes up teams in this league to let them know that it's not just one player scoring goals in Columbus; it's a few of us," he said.
Even after a few missed chances and a short dry spell to begin the season, Finlay said he wasn't feeling any pressure to score. And after the match, he said the goals "felt great," but didn't expect anything less.
"Some might call it a relief, but I knew it was coming," he said. "It just feels good to get the first one and the second one out of the way. What's better is how we scored those goals tonight. The movement was fantastic...and the end product. We were spot-on tonight. We probably could have had a couple more."
And when he's at the top of his game with the rest of the attacking group, Finlay feels that the club are a force to be reckoned with.
"I think we're a team that no one wants to play when we're all clicking," he said. "The other part of that is when one guy isn't having a great game, you have three other guys that can make a huge impact and a huge difference."
It's easy to look back in wonder at Finlay's rise, having gone from sporadic utility player to key cog in an offensive juggernaut in less than two years. But the one person who isn't thinking about that rise is Finlay himself.
"Here's the first thing: I haven't looked back," he said. "I've continued to look forward and look at getting better and how I can improve my game and how I can adjust. So this is all part of the plan for me. I still have a lot to show and a lot to do. This is only the beginning."
Andrew King covers Columbus Crew SC for MLSsoccer.com.
