What? Turning the ball over in midfield doesn’t help you win?

By: travis | April 28th, 2008

Not so surprising if you’ve watched the game, but the story here is how careless the Wizards were with the ball - that and a fantastic free kick by Amado Guevara. After watching the game from the weekend, here’s a few things stuck out to me:

The Wizards shot themselves in the foot a number of times with sloppy turnovers, especially in the first half.
The bungled clearing attempts cost them the first goal, as defense continues to be a bit inconsistent. Guevara’s goal was ugly and he may have been offside, but come on now. Terrible defense leads to goals
Toronto really came out of the gates in the first 15 minutes with a real attacking mindset. Good job by KC to weather the storm.
The fans in Toronto continue to impressive. The field may be astro turf, but with every game likely to sell out this year is great.
Ivan Trujillo loved hugging the back post whenever Lopez fed in crosses. Crash near post. Also, not a great finish after a nice set up by Claudio in the 70th minute.
Amado Guevara played like a monster. Great free kick in the 78th minute.

Hardly a disastrous loss, but more of a step back than anything else. Toronto played great and the Wizards were on their heels for a large part of the game. Onfalo tried to make the right moves, bringing on Scott Sealy and Carlos Marinelli, but they couldn’t crack the Toronto defense. It is still early, after all.

The progress of the defense will be important to monitor. This week saw a moment of blundering leading to the first goal. Conrad remains solid at the back, and Harrington’s speed kept runs from Wynne at bay. Chance Myers was a bit inconsistent, with some strong runs forward, although at times his final touch let him down. Bottom line is that the number of sloppy turnovers cost them.

Here are the highlights, courtesy of MLS.

Next Opponent:
Next stop is Columbus. Wizards look to get back against the Crew, who sit in first place with the best record in the MLS. They took down the Dynamo 1-0 last weekend.