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)

The Galaxy, while soft at the back, have boasted a ferocious attack so far this season. They’ve scored 19 goals in eight games already, and they’ll be facing a KC backline that have performed well so far this season. Captain Jim has done his best to keep a young group defenders on their toes, and combining with some excellent play last week by Hartman, nearly had a clean sheet – which would have been their first since the Chicago game. A clean sheet this week will be no small task, especially with the possible return of Carlos Ruiz. Even Edson Buddle scored a hat trick last week, and if that happens again the Wizards will be in trouble.

While the Galaxy attack doesn’t worry me, the troubling thing has been scoring. Claudio Lopez has emerged as more of a set up man than a finisher, and this hasn’t worked out well so far, as Conrad is the leading scorer. Carlos Marinelli showed what he brings last week, and the Lopez/Marinelli combination should be able to break down a weak LA defense. The only question is, can they outscore LA?

In terms of injuries, the only player still out is Lance Watson. Jonathan Leathers remains over in France with the U-23 team, who lost to Ivory Coast 1-0 yesterday. Leathers didn’t play.

Thoughts and insights from the players below:

MLSnet preview here, Fox Soccer here.

Prediction: I see the Wizards grabbing a couple of goals, but the Galaxy will crack KC more than them. Los Angeles 3, Kansas City 2

White – Hartman, Myers, Hohlbein, Wahl, Harrington, Colombano, Jewsbury, Marinelli, Victorine, Lopez (Arnaud 46), Sealy

Orange – Kronberg (Pardo 46), Leathers, McKenzie, McMahen, Kraus (Miles 62), Souter (Pizarro 46), Zavagnin, Morsink, Espinoza, Pore, Trujillo (Souter 82)

Final score was a 2-2 draw with goals from Marinelli and Sealy for the White team and Morsink and Pore each grabbing one for the Orange. Of note, Jimmy Conrad was held out of the scrimmage for most likely precautionary reasons. Full recap can be read here.

The week off also gives a few Wizards the chance to recover for next week’s game against the Red Bull up in New York. Davy Arnaud, Carlos Marinelli, and Sasha Victorine are all still nursing injuries. Sitting even on points with Toronto and New England at this point in the season is a definite success, but the team is looking to rebound from back to back losses.

In other news, the US Open match may take place at College Boulevard Activities Center on June 4. The match will be between the Wizards and the winner of the Los Angeles-RSL qualifier. That news is from the bottom of this article from the KC Star, courtesy of Kansas City Soccer Review.

Another soft goal was conceded in the 34th minute, as Chance Myers and Kevin Hartman had a miscommunication just outside the box. Myers looked like he was trying to shield his man, Robbie Rogers off the ball so Hartman could grab it, but Hartman couldn’t get to it in time and Rogers poked it in. So the Wizards faced an uphill battle, compounded by a red mist moment by Roger Espinoza. He lashed out with his elbow at Frankie Hejduk and landed a shot to Hejduk’s face. The ref had an easy call giving Espinoza his marching orders.

The Wizards were the better team in the second half, although it wasn’t until Carlos Marinelli made a substitute appearance and helped spark the offense. In the 79th minute, Scott Sealy (another substitution) was pulled down in the box and Claudio Lopez calmly finished from the spot. Unfortunately, the Wizards couldn’t steal a point in the last 10 minutes.

The coach was proud of how his team responded to adversity. Disappointing to concede soft goals like that, but in the end, defense will continue to be key. It would also have been nice not to be down to 10 men, but what happens, happens.

Going forward, there were more than a few positives. The team had a positive reaction to the adversity of being down a man, and showed composure scoring. Lopez continues to play well, and despite not exactly lighting up the score sheet, his passing and skill automatically make the Wizards a better team.

Next Opponent:
The Wizards don’t play again until May 17, as they will next travel to face the New York Red Bull who drew 1-1 at Toronto. Time to step up and bring the losing streak to a halt.

Finally, the highlights:

The difference this week (aside from actually scoring) will lie in the midfield. Last week against Toronto, the Wizards did a poor job of holding onto the ball. Obviously, they were under intense pressure, but consistent mental mistakes made things easier for Toronto. With Carlos Marinelli scheduled to return to the starting line up, this could potentially solve the problem. However, with the depth available to Curt Onalfo, maybe a slightly different line up to keep players on their toes.

Look for Chance Myers to continue his solid play on the right hand side. The few times that I’ve been able to see him, he adds a counter attacking option whenever running forward from his right back position. I think it also may be only a matter of time before Claudio Lopez gets another goal. After scoring in the first game, I thought he could start out in fine form. But he deserves time to adjust and let his teammates adjust to his style of play as well. In the end, I don’t think the Wizards will be able to get anything off this game.

Columbus 3-1 KC

• 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.

A second win in a row will no doubt be important if the Wizards hope to be in a similar spot on the table come July. They’ll benefit from the return of Carlos Marinelli who has missed a couple of weeks with a groin strain. Hard to see how this game will end up, but the offense from the Wizards should be enough to snatch a goal or two, and the recent play of Kevin Hartman and Jimmy Conrad will continue their shut out streak.

Prediction: Kansas City to win 2-0

A few interesting tidbits to follow coming into this weekend’s match:

• Claudio Lopez has played in all but one minute of every game this season. So much for him being old. Although as the season progresses, will he wear himself down?
• Two months away from the CAB will be a challenge. How will the team respond?

Carlos Marinelli will probably miss today’s game, with Kurt Morsink replacing him as the attacking midfielder. Not sure if the Wizards will have the legs for this one, but I think they can steal a point.

Chicago 1-1 Kansas City

Part Two: Midfield

Kerry Zavagnin: One of the rocks of the midfield, has played his entire MLS career with the Wizards. Usually taking on the defensive midfield role, he is usually called upon to help shut down the opposing team’s best player. Also chips in a few goals here and there, as he had three last season.

Kurt Morsink: A second year player out of James Madison (my alma mater), Morsink played regularly last season after joining the squad. He even cracked the starting lineup 10 times. I remember watching him in college and recognizing that while he was the best player out there, I had no idea he was MLS material. Shows what I know, right?

Ryan Pore: Another one of those versatile players. Saw time in the preseason at attacking midfield and forward, the positions where he sees the most playing time. Looking to build on last season where he started four games and played in 17.

Michael Harrington: A potential starter on the left side who can also fill in at defense. Brings in a great deal experience from last season where he saw action in 29 games. One of three players to start every preseason game up to this point, so expect to see him a lot this season, most likely on the left side of midfield.

Carlos Marinelli: Attacking midfielder in his second year. Has failed to live up to the great hype he saw as a child, as he once was labeled the ‘next Maradona’. Bounced around different clubs, going from Boca Juniors, to Middlesborough, Torino, and Racing Club just to name a few. Hopefully he has found a home here in KC and will continue to lead the attack out of midfield.

Roger Espinoza: The second pick in the 2008 draft out of Ohio State, Espinoza was injured during preseason and missed the team’s trip down to Argentina. He broke a metatarsel in his foot and was diagnosed to miss 3-4 weeks. That was made a few weeks ago, so he should be back and in playing shape as the season starts.

Lance Watson: A developmental player trying to increase his role with the team. Injured his foot during preseason and will miss 6 weeks, maybe more with a broken foot.

Ryan McMahen: Holding midfielder still trying to break through with the team. Yet to feature for the first team and only saw limited action in the preseason. Will end up getting most of his time with the reserves.

Sasha Victorine: Established veteran that sticks in the midfield. Played in 29 games the previous season and looks to make an impact upon return. Has yet to play in a preseason match due to injury and the birth of his child. His future is kind of up in the air right now, but I’d expect him to come back soon.

Davy Arnaud: Attacking midfielder who also spends time at forward. Appeared in 28 games last season, netting four goals. Is currently injured and will miss the beginning of the 2008 season. A key player who will be missed during the beginning of the season, but the new signings will ease the pain of his early loss. Expect him back by the end of April.

Amir Lowery: 24 year-old from Washington, DC trying to carve out a career in pro soccer. Has bounced around a bit, but is listed on the roster, and has appeared 10 times during the preseason. Chalk him up to the reserve squad, I would have to say. Also can fall back into a defensive role.

Bottom Line: The midfield features a blend of youth and experience. The foundation for the forwards will be found right here, as the likes of Marinelli and Zavagnin will work to create space and play the right passes to open things up in the front of the pitch. This is one outfit that has been hit by injuries already, as Espinoza, Watson, and Arnaud already face time out with injury. But there is no question that the midfield is deep enough to handle these setbacks.