COLUMBUS, Ohio – When Chad Marshall walks onto the field Saturday night at MAPFRE Stadium, it will be his first performance in front of the Columbus crowd since he was traded from Crew SC to the Seattle Sounders before the beginning of the 2014 season.
And while he's played against Columbus once since moving to Seattle, he hasn't been back to the city where he started his career. He admitted after Sounders training at the stadium on Friday that it will be a unique experience.
"My heart will always have some black and gold in it," Marshall said. "I kind of feel like I grew up in this city. I came here when I was 19, so I learned a lot about myself and the city was a big part of that. I'll always look fondly on my 10 years here."
Marshall, who returned to his peak form in 2014, was one of the casualties of the team's transition to new sporting director and head coach Gregg Berhalter's tenure. Berhalter has maintained since the day of the deal that part of the reason Marshall was moved was to give the veteran a change of pace.
"Analyzing it, we felt like both sides needed a change and to get him in a new environment would do him a lot of good and refresh him, and that's exactly what happened," Berhalter said. "He had a tremendous year last year, and that's great to see. You love when it works out for both sides."
Marshall said it's been "a good situation" to be reunited with former Crew SC boss Sigi Schmid in Seattle, and believed that the timing of his move was as good as it could be.
"Myself and [goalkeeper] Andy Gruenebaum were kind of the last two players from that era," he said. "Andy left, and I kind of felt like I was the old guy. They were coming in with a new ownership group, new coaching staff, so if there was ever the time to go, I guess that was it."
Marshall's return to Columbus is a reminder that the team has very few players remaining from before Berhalter’s arrival. And while Justin Meram said he loves the current locker room, the team's new longest-tenured player looked back on the swift transition.
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"When I came here as a rookie, you had Danny O'Rourke, Chad, Eddie Gaven, Will Hesmer," he said. "[I think about] how much I looked up to those guys, and here I am as the last guy from 2011. It's pretty crazy."
While there aren't as many of Marshall's former teammates left on the roster, he says he keeps in contact with many of them, and goalkeeper Matt Lampson, who has been in Columbus since 2012, heaped praise on the former Columbus icon.
"He was a great teammate. He was a great locker room presence. He was a fun guy to be around," Lampson said. "For everything that he did for our club, I'm ready to show him respect for coming back to where his career started and he did so many great things. ... It's an awesome thing to have him back, and I'm looking forward to seeing him."
Lampson and Meram both said they hope Marshall gets an ovation from Crew SC fans Saturday. The Sounders defender isn't sure what kind of reception he'll get but said he's excited to be back.
"I don't know if I'm going to get the old 'Columbus reject' chant or not," he said laughing. "But it will be cool to see [the fans] again and feel the energy."
And while his former teammates and fans miss him and will have to deal with his rejuvenated play, everyone seems to agree that the deal worked out for the best.
"He needed to get away and find himself and get back to being the best defender in the league, and he did that," Meram said.
