Project-40 defender Tim Sahaydak has been assigned to the Columbus Crew as the club’s third Project-40 player. Sahaydak, who joined Project-40 in April, 1997 as one of pioneers, was not assigned to a team earlier due to his recovery from his second anterior cruciate ligament surgery. Sahaydak, a member of the U.S. youth national teams since 1995, opted to join Project-40 following his sophomore season with the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in 1996. Sahaydak tore his ACL for the first time in February 1996 while training with the U-20 national team in San Diego for the 1997 World Youth Championship in Malaysia. He is one of four U.S. players to start and play every minute during the 1996 CONCACAF U-20 qualifying tournament in Mexico. Sahaydak, who trained with Sunderland FC (English First Division) during the 1998 MLS offseason, tore his ACL for the second time while training with the Columbus Crew in the fall of 1997, just two weeks after being cleared to practice from the first surgery. He made his U.S. Pro-40 Select debut on August 8, 1998 against the New Orleans Storm and appeared in five games with the A-League team last summer. He has been training with Columbus and going through rehabilitation with the Crew’s trainer and medical staff.