Josh Wolff tore Mexico apart with a goal and an assist. Six weeks earlier, he needed follow-up surgery to correct problems emanating from a hernia operation he underwent two years ago.

Amid all the clamor in the last year for head coach Bruce Arena to give more time to his young attackers, Josh Wolff bided his time.

His time may have come.

By scoring twice in the past five months against Mexico, Wolff, 24, is fast proving he deserves to be considered when Arena fills out the lineup card.

And one of the key words is fast. Wolff’s speed and knack for getting in behind defenders adds another weapon to the U.S. attack, which at times looks staid and predictable.

“Josh is very good at running off the ball,” said Arena, “and I thought he was a factor as soon as he stepped on the field today.”

Indeed, it was Wolff’s speed that Arena used as his reasoning for going with Wolff instead of Ante Razov on the 18-man squad against Mexico.

GAMECOCK LINK. Wolff linked with Clint Mathis, his former teammate at the University of South Carolina, for a goal of sublime simplicity.

He lurked on the midfield line while Mathis collected a knock-down from Joe-Max Moore, and when Mathis lofted the ball over the Mexican defenders, Wolff took off and scored.

Wolff set up the clinching goal by scooping the ball through two opponents and walking it along the goal line before centering to Earnie Stewart.

And none of this might have happened if Brian McBride hadn’t been knocked out of the game.

The switch was fitting, for, like McBride, Wolff has a history of injuries. He was sidelined for six months with a knee injury in 1998-99. He needed surgery in January to repair a troublesome hernia.

One week after the surgery, Wolff was back in the U.S. camp. He played a week later against Colombia.

“This was a little bit of pain in the same area,” he said of his right groin. “Some pins got adjusted – maybe I tore some scar tissue – and maybe the pins were pinching tissue or a nerve, so [the surgeon] just took out a pin.”

OLYMPIC STANDOUT. Wolff, who was the best U.S. attacker in the Olympics, is still well short of full fitness – he struggled this year against Colombia and Brazil – and he faces a battle for playing time.

Moore and McBride are Arena’s two senior strikers.

Landon Donovan would probably have played against Mexico but for the first-half injuries to Claudio Reyna and Tony Sanneh. Razov, who started ahead of Wolff with the Chicago Fire, has been hot in Spain.

Last October, Wolff punched through the middle of the Mexican defense to finish off a sweet sequence of one-twos with Donovan in another 2-0 victory.

“Landon and I are pretty similar around the box,” he said. “We try and combine with other people. Clint’s another person I’ve been able to play with. He’s very aware when you’re around the box to look for one-twos and all that other stuff to free you up and get you in behind defenses. That’s one way to break down a defense.”

And it’s a winning way, too.

by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney