Peter Vermes = Technical Director: After 3 seasons in this position I feel Vermes has done a less than stellar job. Yes, the hires, drafts and the team depth are done with the coach, but truth be told he should have had the final say. His final say should have been “Nay” when it came to Colombano (who I personally liked), Trujillo, Marinelli, Thompson, and his failure to have a fully competitive team that not only had a stable heavy presence on the field but have a pool of trusted and established set of backup players that could step up and could be worked into the starting lineup.

Truth be told, although he did score some positive points with players like Claudio Lopez and to some extent Santiago Hirsig (Zoltan and Kamara look positive but it’s still too early), and I think KC has a nice pool of young players that at times have stepped up when given a real chance, Vermes as a Technical Director has done a sub-par job and I believe he does not deserve to keep his position. Three years on the job and KC seemed to have peaked in mediocre year one and gone down after that.

John Pascarella = Goalkeeping/Fitness Coach: Although at times it looked like the team was a bit out of gas, fitness was something that seemed to be a strong point for KC. Also, Kevin Hartman looked superb this year keeping the team in games that under normal circumstances should have been losses. He is a definite keep in my book.

Peter Vermes-Coach: I personally don’t like his style and at times it looked like he was slow to react, especially in those games where at the end of the season we needed a win but we still finished playing with 4 or 5 defenders and would either go play 3 defensive midfielders one game and then would play 4 offensive midfielders in another; interesting to say the least but I will acknowledge that it seemed that the team started to respond to his coaching style. I will also say that I believe he lost a great chance at the end of the year to give some younger players a chance to prove their worth and evaluate talent. I won’t buy the “we were still in it” excuse (yes we might have been mathematically alive but there was no way it was going to happen.

If the Front Office wants to give Vermes a shot at a whole season as a coach they need to go look for a capable and experienced Technical Director because very few (in any sport) have done a good job when performing the GM/Coach double duty. I’ll give Vermes the Coach a maybe with a short leash attached to his stint so that if the team does not show a significant turn around I would cut his coaching career short.

Kerry Zavagnin-Assistant Coach: Zavagnin is an interesting case and is someone that I can see as a possible future coach for the Wizards if they prepare him well. I think the first step to prepare him well is to get him out of KC; the FO needs to flex some diplomatic muscle and get Kerry a job as an assistant coach (paid by the Wizards) either in England, Scotland, or Holland for example, so that he can learn from other coaches and assistants and get a feel of how teams in better leagues do things. He knows the MLS, now he needs to know other leagues and systems.

Call it enrichment, call it internship, but the Wizards need to help get Zavagnin prepared if they want to see him as a successful future MLS coach for KC. Add to that the fact that there is a reason that institutions like the military move their Soldiers away to other units when they get promoted up the chain to a position of power; because the line of respect and camaraderie sometimes gets blurred when you are in charge of your ex-peers and as a coach you want that line to be there. If Zavagnin moves out for a few years on some kind of internship it will serve both for his preparation as it will allow for a roster turn over and help avoid any problems.

What’s your take on it? Who should stay, who should go?

The future of Peter Vermes the Technical Director(polls)

Kerry Zavagnin’s future(survey)

Should John Pascarella stay with KC ?(answers)

Peter Vermes as a Coach(answers)

Kansas City started with a different look using Kamara and Zoltan at the same time but kicking Kei off to the wing and leaving Zoltan up top with Josh Wolff; yes an improvement but not by much since Wolff did look slow on a couple of breakaways. The defense was also reworked because of injuries having Bessler, Hohlbein, Marquess and Jewsbury in the back.

The game was a bit entertaining at times but the Wizards again failed control the midfield which led at times to a lot of D.C. pressure. I guess that’s what happens when we play 2 offensive players in the middle of the field and have no holding/defensive midfielder to slow down the opponent advance; but hey, did anyone really expect Vermes to bench Arnaud?

Kamara opened up the scoring with a nice diving header off a free kick by Zusi. Although leading, United had most of the scoring chances in the 1st half but their forwards and the post kept KC in the lead. The 2nd half started off with DC United pressuring the Wizards back line that had to work hard containing not only the DC forwards, but also the midfielders that moved up due to the lack of KC ball control.

Hartman kept it scoreless with a couple of great saves, but finally a long Ben Olsen pass caught Marquess napping allowing Fred to steal the ball and in the jostle between the two the Brazilian fell to the ground. Penalty? Not in my book since he went down way to easily (I might be a bit partial after watching 2 Premier League games that morning and afternoon and knowing that it would have been considered a dive in those games), but Salazar gave it to him and Moreno barely got it past Hartman. A few minutes later another play off the Wizards’ left side gave D.C. a free kick on a dubious foul; the cross was headed backwards towards the goal by Jack Jewsbury and then parried up (instead of out) by Hartman, allowing James to head it in as it came back down. 2-1 United.

KC went all out in the final minutes making Steve Cronin work hard to keep DC on top. Shots from Lopez, Arnaud and then a free kick by Lopez were all stopped; this last one earning KC a final corner in the 90th minute. The cross came in and in the confusion a shot towards goal was stopped by Fred with his forearm, earning KC a penalty and Fred a red card for denying an imminent scoring opportunity. Lopez finished off KC’s goal tally for the year and tying the game.

Commentary: Not much to say about this one. I thought Marquess held his own until the 2nd half and made a rookie type mistake by losing the ball and fouling Fred. I can’t blame him on the 2nd goal since the ball should have been headed out instead or towards the goal, and Hartman had no pressure when he went up so he should have punched it over. All in all an OK game that meant little and where these mistakes are tolerable.

I like Zusi in midfield, but he Arnaud are similar players (although Zusi has a better touch) and give us little defensive support. At one point in the second half the D.C. midfield was just completely on top of the KC defense since Zusi, Arnaud, Lopez and even Kamara brought little defensive pressure and could not hold possession to make better distribution. On the pass that Olsen sent in to Fred that led to the penalty he ran with it for yard after yard with no pressure from any of our mids; now that was pretty bad.

My Oscar obviously goes to Fred who basically acted his part in getting the penalty and the later foul that led to the DC goals; simulated an injury at the end of the game to lose time just to try and come back on the field the moment he stepped off it, and even tried to dupe Salazar on his handball by going down to the ground after the ball hit his arm. All in all a busy night for Fred.

Season over and the transition begins. I’ll be writing in the next few days about what I think should happen with the team and the coaches and T.D.

Here are the highlights:

I’m glad Matt is getting that chance to prove what he can give to the team. I know there are naysayers who love the “status quo” and cannot live without their dose of Arnaud, Jewsbury and Josh Wolff, that will probably be teary eyed with the idea of playing Matt, but I to them I can only show the miserable season that we’ve had playing the “idols”, so I suggest you suck it up for a game. Not that I expect him to outshine others since he’s had only a few starts, which could lead to some newbie jitters, but I do hope he has a solid game. I’m sure any mistake he makes will be magnified by many but SO WHAT! our season sucked and giving a guy like that a shot, even when it’s a “forced change” that I’m sure Vermes hates doing, is, in my book, a good thing.

I would have also love to see a bit more of Kei Kamara to see what he can bring to KC, but his lack of playing time would suggest he probably won’t be here next year. Would it kill Vermes to play Kamara and Zoltan together? It appears so. I just hope our new coach and T.D. will have a chance to fix this mess he has helped create.

So the lineup will probably be the same with Marquess for Harrington being the only change. I expect DC to come in hard and fast and pressure the KC midfield that hasn’t been able to hold anything recently. I do believe if results in other games go unfavorably for DC (i.e. TOR, DAL or COL ) they might get desperate and push forward too much that could open up spaces for KC to possibly score.

I see a season ending tie 2-2 with KC, even with “inexperienced reserves” Zusi and Marquess on the field.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that I can only hope that the Front Office and the employees in charge of directing security near and around the Cauldron to show some more common sense for this game than what they had for the Seattle game. Giving fans streamers and then complaining about how and where they are thrown by having a new and unannounced zero-tolerance policy and kicking people out for throwing them seems stupid. It reminds me of the bank commercial where the kid gets a bike but can’t pedal it out of the small square. It makes no sense at all.

With higher hopes for next year, my suggestion to OnGoal on what to do with the team and the FO next year is:

Starting with the FO.

A boring first half where it seemed that Seattle had the run of things generating more chances and completely dominating our midfield. Lopez and Zusi helped KC move forward, but it just seemed that we were physically pushed around by a bigger, more compact Sounders team. During one of their advances they were able to produce a corner off Hartman’s right side; the cross came in low and no one was placed on the near post, allowing the rebound to be knocked in through the position normally occupied by the shortest guy on the field (from later corners it seemed to be Zusi). Whatever the reason for not having someone there it was either the specific player’s fault or Hartman’s for not physically placing someone there; Mistake #1. Still, at the end of the half the game was pretty balanced and KC was generating a few chances.

The second half started with KC on the attack using both Michael Harrington and sub Chance Myers (in for an ineffective Leathers) off the wings (Wow, did Myers seem comfortable back there or what? so much for playing him in the middle; it reminds me of another coach who playerd one of his back out of position for most of the season… I’m sure it will come to me).

The tie came off a pretty bad Harrington shot on goal that just crossed the box and was redirected in by a streaking Zoltan who came in from behind Leo Gonzalez. KC kept up the pressure and a few minutes later they took the lead when Davy Arnaud skipped a poor cross from the right side that no Sounders defender cleared (and at least one missed), which allowed Josh Wolff to knock the ball in past Cassey Keller.

Although leading, KC could not hold the midfield and the Sounders’ attack kept pressuring the backline. Another corner kick brought the tying goal when the cross came to the near post, Hartman missed the punch-out, leaving the goal open for Roger Levesque to knock it in easily (Mistake #2). A few minutes later came another KC mistake, this time by Matt Besler who got outsmarted and outmuscled by Freddie Ljungberg on a ball that should have been cleared (Mistake #3) near the KC box. Ljungberg stole the ball and fed Nate Jacqua for an easy goal.

The story of our season in a nutshell; 3 plays we gave away, 3 goals.

Commentary: I was impressed with rookie Graham Zusi who, with Zoltan, was one of the best Wizards on the field (interesting that the KC mls website has Besler on the POTG poll, even with his huge mistake, and did not Zusi; I guess I must have watched a different game; that and of course the fact that Zusi is not from the KC area). It seems that playing a few games as a starter has Zusi’s confidence. His understanding with Lopez seems to be growing, although with Arnaud and Jewsbury he did seem out of sync which may not be his fault after all. (I’m anticipating hate e-mails from people wearing their blue tinted glasses and for whom these 2 players can do no wrong ).

Too bad Zoltan didn’t get a start with Kamara. I guess Vermes will stay with his boy Wolff who again scored but overall has been doing pretty poorly in the last few games. It would be nice to see Kamara so he can show us what he has and if he’s worth the money he’ll be looking for next year. Oh well, I can only hope our new coach (and our new Technical Director? need to remember to include that on my Xmas list this year) will have some MLS coaching experience and have a better eye at evaluating talent than our current one.

By the way, I know Seattle won, but Freddie Montero was horrible; he missed 2 EASY sitters in the second half. I know he’s good (he’s shown it most of the year) but I wonder if trying to get some payback for “Punk-Gate” weighted a bit too heavy on his little frame. Also I would love to know what the deal is with Cassey Keller’s anger, the guy was really going at it with the ref, the linesman, and even Kei Kamara. He needs to chill and double up on the Metamusil before the game because anger like that MUST be derived from constipation and bowel irregularity. Still, you can’t deny the guy still has it as a keeper and a leader.

I have no highlights yet but they will be posted when available.

The game did have a horrible offside non-call on the first Chivas goal, but in all honesty should be blamed on the assistant and not the ref (Mike Kuhn has all the evidence, and the video is clear also).

Although we are not mathematically eliminated, only a complete debacle by the teams in front of us and a sudden resurgence of our team would get us through. (OK, not going to happen). This brings up the point of what we should do with these last 2 home games. Keep the mediocrity and try to bust the slump some of the players are in (hey, one more week might do the trick, right?), or use the friendly venue to give some others a shot.

I personally think Zusi did an OK job on Saturday, not any worse than Arnaud (OK, here come all the comments from the ones with the Arnaud blinders). I’d love to see Zoltan in for Wolff, who again got a bloody nose and who is in the scoring drought part of his up and down season. Will this happen? No, because the coach is also wearing his own blinders hoping that all these players he has been partly responsible for bringing in and giving to Curt Onalfo to use (and now having to use himself) will somehow magically show us all their talent. It just seems that it’s his last ditch effort to justify what he has done.

That actually is kind of sad since when the season comes to a close and the cutting needs to start most of the players leaving will be those who never got that chance. Yes, Yes, some have said that those reserve games have shown us who is good and who isn’t. For me that’s a bunch of crap. Players play to the level around them and playing college teams might be good exercise but the only ones really getting the learning are the…(wait for it…) college teams. And judging some of those players on the one or two games they get to play in with no regularity is actually meaningless. Like someone mentioned in another post, the best goals I’ve seen from the Reserves came from players who aren’t starters and I’ve seen a couple of college players make a few of the starters look foolish. Should we go ahead and sign the kid that was able to dribble through Jimmy Conrad? Giving so much credit to these reserve games to judge quality is absurd; unless we actually play teams that are better than us; KC Brass, UMKC, etc, not the case. Two word: Ryan Pore, need I say more?

In my book you judge these players when they are asked to play at that higher level. If players aren’t given that chance at the higher level they don’t get the chance to succeed. Case and point Ricardo Clark for example who I’ve never seen as a great player IN HOUSTON, but when asked to step up with the USNT, at a different level, he has shown that quality that makes him a good mid with a foot in Europe at the end of the season. The same goes for other players who although have a normal or good level in the MLS but seem to step up when asked to do more. I’m not saying we have superstars on our bench, but I do think we have some serviceable ones who might be able to step up and do an OK job when they get on the field filling in for a starter if it’s not their first time in a meaningful game.

So we lose against that “punk” Montero (that one’s for Coach Onalfo), or against DC; so what? there’s nothing on the line. Pride? Really?

I’ll take losing with a new lineup now, than over losing again like we did against Santos, where Jimmy Conrad got hurt and the guy that came in had few or no minutes and got schooled by the Mexican forwards.

I believe in moral victories but beating Seattle and DC would not even be that (that is, if we actually were able to muster the offensive power to do so).

Oh well, I’m sure Peter Vermes has though about the good of the team next year and setting up the next guy for success instead of trying to justify his job and escape failure. The more he coaches the less the blame scale tips against Onalfo and his time coaching with the hand he was dealt. He’s not blameless but he’s sure as hell not the only one to blame.

Since we didn’t see any KC goals last weekend I leave you with a few of my favorite ones. Enjoy.

Here’s how we stand now:

KC 32 points with 3 games left; can reach 41 at most
New England 38 with 3 games left; can reach 47 at most
DC 36 points with 2 games left; can reach 42 at most
Toronto 35 points with 3 games left; can reach 44 at most

Playoff hopes:

KC must win all points AND:
NE must lose at least 6 out of 9 points (we have the tie breaker)
DC must lose at least 4 out of 6 points (tie breaker up in the air since we have 1 game left vs DC)
Toronto must lose at least 4 out of 9 points (they own the tie breaker)

If KC loses one game they are out of the playoffs. If they tie one game the rest of the teams would have to lose an extra 2 points.

Outlook: Dark, rainy with little chance of sunlight until 2010.

KC seemed to dominate a lot of the run of play on Sunday but it translated into absolutely nothing. A Kamara shot off the post (which isn’t considered a shot on goal) and Zoltan’s goal were the only dangerous plays that translated into something. Meanwhile, Brian Mullan and a 10 men Dynamo squad managed the game as they needed to, and actually took the lead when Mullan danced around Michael Harrington for what seemed to be hours before sending a cross from the right side that was missed by at least 3 KC defenders before Luis Angel Landin just tapped it in for the lead. Landin, who Jonathan Leathers forgot existed, scored his first MLS goal.

KC continued to move the ball but with little success against the 10 man Houston. We had little attacking power, where Josh Wolff looked his age, and Kamara looked alone up front. Add to that the fact that “The Coach” still has a man crush on Davy Arnaud and Jack Jewsbury who are in line to the “where are they now” award since their real selves have not been sighted since around week 8 of this season. They have had poor form, have contributed little, and at this point I see them as players taking a spot from youngsters that cannot do any worse. Maybe the time off will do them good and will lead to a better 2010.

Back to the game: In the 73rd minute a very nice cross from Lopez to Zoltan (who will not stop running while on the field) finally ended in the equalizer, which still “keeps us in the playoff hunt”, as some MLS writer I’m sure will make note of. The truth being that the slight glimmer of hope that was left from last week has now been extinguished, and we can now start looking towards 2010. Also, I don’t know about you guys, but the fact that we have “a 4 game unbeaten streak” as the KC Wizards website says, really does not make me feel any better about missing the playoffs; of course I could be suffering from the “glass half empty” syndrome but who could blame me at this point in the season.

It’s noteworthy to mention that Vermes again brought Chance Myers into the game for a brief appearance that reminded me why I think “Ryan Leaf” when I see him, since it appears that he has also lost the power to make semi-decent crosses (passes?), which in my book was all Vermes was asking for when he started using him a few weeks back. We also saw a glimpse of Roger Espinoza on the bench, which quashed the rumors of him running away from KC, while we still have no news on why, steady starter Hercules Gomez did not make the trip to Houston. Three defenders, 2 midfielders, and one forward on our bench; good to see we were going all out to win this game.

Here’s a suggestion, since it’s over, why don’t we play Kamara and Zoltan up front and use a couple of youngsters in the middle and give that a try. Will we really miss Arnaud, Jewsbury and Wolff that much? Wolff hasn’t scored in 2 games so probably his hot streak has come to an end again and it will take him about 6 or 7 games to get on another one so just for fun let’s see a change.

All in all we tied a game we should have won leaving 3 games in this disaster of a season. All I can hope from On Goal is that they actually shed some dead weight from the team and maybe start by getting someone in the front office that can make some good player-personnel decisions, because, honestly Peter Vermes is not the man. I know he’s well liked here in KC, I know he won a title here in KC, but that means nothing when it comes for finding talent and running a team, and his 3 years here and the players he has brought in prove that. Hey, if those were the only creditials to get a front office job imagine all the players the Yankees would have working with GM Brian Cashman.

While 2007 was a year to remember, 2009 is a year to forget. But lets face it, this is KC, where Chief’s GM Carl Peterson was finally fired after stinking up the place for years, and the Royals are the Royals; do I really expect that On Goal, a business with few soccer people at the head, will fire their top soccer man after this season? The answer is no. Too bad though, since the mess that we are in is mostly Vermes’ fault because his stint as a coach has proven that Curt Onalfo really didn’t have that much to work with.

No highlight available. Sorry.

So the Wizards, in their typical “must win” situation, playing a team on their 3rd game this week, which was missing at least 4 starters, finished the game with 4 defenders and a holding mid and not getting a goal. This tie basically means the same as if we had lost; it’s sealed our fate out of the playoffs.

Although I can try and explain why I hate the way we finished the game, with an ineffective (since game 8 or so this season) Davy Arnaud who should not have even started and with few offensive options off the bench, I will let good old ex-Chief coach Herm Edwards explain to Peter Vermes how we should have played this game.

Granted KC dominated and had most of the chances, we lacked the punch that shows up only once in a while this year but that has honestly eluded us most of the season. Colorado came in looking tired and trying to slow the pace of the game and held us at bay. Hirsig managed the midfield but with little options moving forward; Jewsbury and Arnaud seem to linger in the stupor that has not left them for the last 15 or so games; Conrad and the defense did their job; Kamara brought some excitement but that was about it. Zoltan did a nice job off the bench, but missed a great opportunity at the end of the game. It all added up to a nice effort and that was it.

All in all, another typical Wizards game where we just couldn’t get it done and now the playoffs are most likely done for 2009. I’m not saying that we cannot win out, but we have 4 very tough games left and can only reach 43 points. Miracles do happen, but too many things have to fall into place for the Wizards to advance.

I’d have to agree with Jim Mora on this one (you knew it was coming):

Here are the game highlights:

In this era where the MLS struggles to grow its fan base; where we can stay home and watch superb soccer on 4 different channels; and where the only way that soccer as a sports league will survive in this country is with the passion of its fans, teams need to be very careful on how they treat those who visit their stadiums. I understand that soccer is a business like the NFL, like MLB, but truth be told they are starting as a business and cannot alienate neither the 35%-45% loyal fans that are season ticket holders, nor the rest of either pure soccer lovers or casual family who knows a bit about the sport and are looking for a nice family outing. As far as I know MLS teams do not have a list of thousands of people waiting on season tickets (maybe Seattle but not to that extent).

The story that I am adding below happened last Saturday to a Wizards Season Ticket Holder (STH) for General Admissions (GA). I believe STHs, regardless of where the buy their tickets should be treated equally, since most of the time their choice of seats is a reflection of what they can afford in relation to the amount of family members that will take part in the activity. To discriminate or mistreat people because they have tickets of a lower category is shameless and petty. That being said and to give you and idea of where they sit, the GA tickets at the CAB are either at the Berm or might end up behind home plate since few people sit there because of the location and the baseball net. Berm tickets are great for families with kids who usually get an itch after being in their seat more than 25 minutes and they have some space to run and move around.

I am posting this story because I believe the Wizards mishandled this situation horribly. If they were to give a corporation tickets they should have been for a certain section or with certain seat numbers and be done with it, not cordon off a large part of the berm (which is where most GA fans go to anyway), that actually remained almost empty (embarrassing in my opinion), and denied other ticket holders access to it. Come on. we know that the President of the Corporation wasn’t going to GA anyway, and he’s the big money man, so why not allow the few corporation fans that did come, to experience the game next to the Wizards faithful.

Sorry Wizards, I have to say you screwed this one up. Here’s the story.

I brought my three week old daughter, wife, my brother in law and his four year old son along to the Wizard’s game this weekend. My little girl aside it was my brother in laws first time at the Wizards and as somebody who was excited about the plan to build a stadium at Legends was happy to hear I could trade in unused season ticket to get him and his son into the game.

A family of five, and after talking about how great the Wizards are to their fans and how we enjoy our cheap seats on the Berm we arrived and within a minute I was infuriated. The remaining two thirds had been securely fenced off for a Swiss Re (http://www.swissre.com/) staff members and us regular season ticket holders were no longer permitted into the area we had become accustomed to.

Only one third of the Berm was available and the fans that normally populate the Berm were forced to crush themselves into it or retreat to the worst seats in the house – those behind home plate … and a net! There was literally one place for us to sit down, we managed to only because we had a three week old infant with us and people made room the best they could. Meanwhile the Swiss Re people had what I can only describe as an embarrassing abundance of space.

The Wizards took a big fat crap on their fans and season ticket holders this weekend. The message? We don’t give a ******** about the folk in the cheap seats – we don’t care about the families that bring children to the games and have chosen the Berm because it has space. They took what was supposed to be a General Admission area and made it private, changing the terms of our ticketing in the process and filled it with such an embarrassingly small number of people that they eventually took down the fencing and relieved the stewards at half time.

So there I was explaining to my brother in law that normally there is enough room to not sit cross legged and that the Wizards have just done something stupid when I just about exploded at the sight of a others I know from the Berm being turned away. I figured they might be feeling a bit more charitable but after talking to them I realize they were just as angry as I was.

• The Wizards resold space that is generally a General Admission area. I don’t really care if they underestimated the number of people that were planning on attending the game or not – the point was people who bought a ticket to sit on the Berm probably arrived to find they did not have a spot. Sitting behind home plate is only good when its raining … if you sold season tickets for that area exclusively they would not sell any.
• General Admission is first come first served. Not the Wizards selling 65% of the space and everybody else fighting over the scraps from Swiss Re’s table.
• The Swiss Re people barely turned out (surprise surprise) and ultimately the Wizards did open their mostly unused areas just before half time. This wasn’t out of concern for the regular fans – if the Swiss Re people loaded the areas with people we would have been out of luck and out of space.
• If they had done this to the guys on the Cauldron there would have been an absolute din made but I think they thought the Berm people would go down more quietly. This is the only reason that we can assume they did this to the folk on the Berm …
• The Swiss Re people were not held to the same standards as the regular Berm fans – people were allowed to stand on the Berm during play. Presumably because they had room to run around and actually play with … throwing hoops and the like … I sh** you not …
• The security people turning away the regulars were really really rude!!

I really want to know why this happened? I appreciate the Wizards need to sell to groups – that its a business but damn, don’t sh** on your season ticket holders to do it. Don’t crap all over groups that bring kids with them. I also think we deserve to be told if this is going to happen again – seriously, people are going to be unceremoniously dumped out of the areas they bought tickets to I think we should know up front so we can stop the pretense they we are valued consumers and accept that at the cheapest ticket tier we just don’t count.

My wife was already mad about the a security staff run in earlier in the year and was already making noises about not wanting to come anymore. This killed it – she is flat out angry, which means when work is done and the weekend roles around and I have to choose between spending time with my daughter and wife or the Wizards then I just might not bother with a ticket either.

Bottom line is it seasons Swiss Re and whatever they paid trumped loyalty to the fans. A lot of kids collect autographs on the Berm and they were just excluded for some freaking corporation … lame.

Do you want to see how full the Swiss Re area was? Here’s a picture of the overflow of company fans.

By the way, Sam Pierron, who actually works with the Wizards answered the complaint by stating that the STH have advantages that regular fans don’t have, and to that I say “bravo”, but Sam, you don’t start your defense by saying:

The truth is, we net less on a GA season ticket holder than we do someone who walks up and buys 4 stadium seats for a single game (depending on your accounting, you could say 3, but I’ll be a bit narrower).

BOOOO Mr. Pierron, it’s a business, and if you weren’t making money, the props and scarves and the advantages to bring more STH to the team would be non existent. STHs are an important stat that help get advertising, investments and net the team more money. Why would companies want to advertise their products in a half empty stadium?

You might make more money from the family of 3 that shows up to the game, but how many really do? Unless Chivas USA and the Chicago Fire with their Mexican stars show up, what is announced as a sellout seems to have a lot of empty seats, compared to the Santos Laguna Superliga game.

More respect for the Season Ticket Holder who pays in advance to watch the team he loves, and gets no money back when the team goes 3 months without a home win and 7 or 8 games scoring one goal.

The night started with the Wizards trying to win their first game at home since June 12th (yes, a 3 month drought, including Superliga). They came on to the field playing 4 in the back, 2 in the holding midfield, 2 in the attacking mid at the wings and 2 up top. By the 10th minute KC seemed to be controlling the game and was already up with a Santiago Hirsig goal off a Lopez corner. Dallas quickly figured out that their attacks through the middle would run into the double team of Hirsig and Morsink, so they decided to go after KC’s more vulnerable wings, where Lopez and Gomez, although primed for the attack, bring little if any, defensive help.

Still, as the half came to a close, the game had gotten pretty even, with KC giving up some of its attacking control by relying too much on the Hartman and Conrad long ball. In the 44th minute Jimmy Conrad decided that it was the right time to play one of his first passes up the middle to Santiago Hirsig, but left his try short, giving Dax McCarthy a running start to come in unmarked and shoot from outside the box, beating Hartman and ending the half with a tie.

The second half brought Kei Kamara to the field for Gomez and dropped a very ineffective Arnaud to his midfield position. On the 54th minute, as KC started to put more pressure on Dallas, a long ball that should have been cleared turned into an adventure for Conrad again as he tried to dribble it out and got dispossessed by David Ferreira who ran into the box and set up an easy finish for Jeff Cunningham’s fifth goal against KC this year.

Peter Vermes at that point decided to sacrifice defense for attack by bringing in Graham Zusi for Kurt Morsink and a few minutes later Zoltan for Arnaud. Zoltan paid dividends right away as he volleyed a Lopez corner back on goal, where Josh Wolff back healed it in for the tie. With the score tied it seemed that both teams gave up marking and defense for attacking soccer. During this back and forth across the field, a Claudio Lopez low cross was re-directed by George John onto his own goal forcing a great save by Dario Sala to keep the ball out, but leaving it close enough for Jimmy Conrad to dive in and put KC ahead.

The last 10 minutes where a bit stressful for the KC faithful since the very offensive team on the field now had to hold off the brunt of the Dallas attack, with players like Lopez and Zusi, great for the offense, became little help when it came to stopping the Dallas attack. At the end, the KC defense and a couple of nice stops by Kevin Hartman kept the score 3-2 and gave the KC faithful another weekend where they can waive the “We Believe” banner out in the stands.

Player of the Game: Lopez. He was involved in every goal; granted 50% of his passes it seems are made with his eyes closed, the other 50% are on the money.

Ratings:

Kansas City Wizards — Kevin Hartman (7) Jonathan Leathers (6), Matt Besler (6), Jimmy Conrad (5), Michael Harrington (5), Herculez Gomez (5) (Kei Kamara (6)), Santiago Hirsig (7), Kurt Morsink (6) (Graham Zusi (6)), Claudio Lopez (7), Davy Arnaud (4), (Zoltan Hercegfalvi (6)), Josh Wolff (6).

On the ref: Nice work by the second year man for this game. I will say that the McCarthy yellow for lifting his shirt was a bit harsh since he really didn’t take it off, but oh well.

Next Up: The Rapids. I would like to see a similar lineup for the next game but with Kamara up top with Wolff and someone else taking Arnaud’s spot. He is not himself and hasn’t been at all good for the last 3 months. He either needs some time off or a stint on the bench. I know that Vermes (and Onalfo during his stint) rarely pull out the fan favorites Jewsbury and Arnaud, but they have not been playing their best soccer, and maybe a Zoltan sighting on the right wing could be a nice change.

Here are the highlights: