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.

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:

Hope springs eternal and it was with hope that I went to the game on Saturday: hoping for a win, hoping for a goal, hoping at least not to lose…. Was it too much to ask? It appears so, because Peter Vermes and the group of players he started seemed to lack interest, effort and quality when confronted with a RSL team that still had something to play for but at the same time knew the quality of their opponent and decided to rest some starters. Not that KC was eliminated at that point but the odds were against us. Be that as it may I was hoping for a good showing that never happened.

KC started with some game control but quickly Kyle Beckerman took over and started pulling the strings of the game. In the 18th minute Pablo Campos slid through the defense, caught Jimmy Conrad out of position (and lost) and scored the only goal of the game. KC as always tried to react but to little avail; even when RLS went down to 10 men with the Ned Grabavoy ejection. Of course being a man up just spelled disaster for KC, that time and time again this year has failed to capitalize when their opponent goes a man down.

Not much else happened for the rest of the game. KC missed a few clear scoring opportunities, RSL hunkered down in the back and by the end of the game the Wizards were only 3 minutes away from setting a new KC record in scoring futility; according to the Hillcrestroad Blog they currently have not scored in 424 minutes of MLS play. We also caught a glimpse of the Peter Vermes attack tactics that can be summarized as playing 5 defenders on the field when losing 0-1 and a man down. I can only imagine that if RSL had all 11 players we would have seen a couple of more defenders in the mix so that they could hold that 0-1 score. Pathetic to say the least, and just one more reason for On Goal to help him pack his bags at the end of the season.

Player Ratings:

Everyone gets a 3 except Watson who gets a 5.

Commentary:

I know people say we should not play our Reserves or young players because they “suck” but here is my argument. Have we really seen them play regularly? It’s time to stop the Conrad, Arnaud, Hirsig, Wolff, Jewsbury, Lopez, Gomez love affair; these players (and the coaches) have the team where it is now. We need to know what we have in Reserve and see what we want to keep in the Reserves. The key to victory of teams like Houston is that they have those players that can step in when Ching, or Clark or DeRosario(last year) leave the team. Their pool of young talent goes hand in hand with their good coach. We lack that here in KC.

How do we know that our Reserves are good or bad when you see them for a few games or a few minutes here and there after not playing the whole year? We expect them to come in and take Arnaud, Conrad or Jewsbury’s spot without even flinching? That is utterly stupid. If a player needs to see the bench or worse after a few bad games, a lot of those “senior” players mentioned before should have been there long ago. Arnaud has been absent since week 3 or 4, Hirsig has given up 6 or 7 plays that have led to opponent goals, Jewsbury disappears for long stretches of the game, Lopez can’t cross a ball worth his life, Gomez has a track record of missing open shots, Wolff…, well enough said. If a few bad games mean the end of your MLS career, I’m sorry to say that these guys should call it quits. The only reason they are where they are is because someone gave them the chance to move through the ranks, take the hard knocks and learn from them. What better opportunity that now, with 9 games left to play at least half a team of youngsters and see if they need to be here next year taking up a roster spot; if they can live up to some of the hype and hope.

It might sound stupid but I believe we have some talent here and there have been players that when given regular starts have shown quality, but are quickly moved off to the side when they have a bad game. If this is the rule to be followed I don’t want to see Conrad on the pitch next Saturday since the last 2 goals we have given up have been on him.

I can only hope for a change. I for one can go watch a game where the players on my team are fighting for a roster spot next year, and a chance to something more, instead of watching a bunch of stiff showing up at the game thinking that whatever happens they’ll be penciled in every time. By the way, let’s not look back because the Red Bulls are closing in; at least if we play the “youngesters” we have an excuse if they catch up to us.

Here are the highlights of the game:

By the time the game kicked off the Wizards knew that a tie would get them into the next round since New England had beat Atlas. One would expect a more ball controlling, possession style game from KC so as to force Santos to open up and look for the goal; in other words, control the tempo, avoid the mistakes and take advantage of the openings Santos was leaving. Well, I can say without a doubt that it didn’t happen that way. A punchless KC could not hold the ball, just had a few REAL chances to score and if the soccer gods were fair, would have ended the game with 5 or 6 goals against them. A Hercules Gomez shot and a Jack Jewsbury header were the only real threat that the Santos goal faced, while poor Kevin Hartman was getting peppered with shots clanging off his goal posts (twice), multiple saves and close calls; all in all not a very inspiring half of football for the Wizards.

The backbreaker for KC was losing Jimmy Conrad to an injury right before the half and putting pressure on an inexperienced Rauwshan Mckenzie to try and hold back the Santos attack that Conrad himself struggled to do while in the game. As the half ended I was hoping that KC was going to strengthen the midfield so as to control the game a bit more, keeping in mind the score was tied and all KC needed was a tie. Regardless of what Coach Onalfo wanted to do, it was clear that his defense had weakened and the constant loss of possession was going to put the line under more pressure.

The change that took place was for a midfielder, but not someone that holds the midfield but for an attacking mid. Onalfo pulled out Lance Watson from the right back position, mover Jewsbury there and then plugged in Davy Arnaud as an attacking mid. That might have brought a bit more offense, but it left the middle of the field wide open for Santos to move the ball; and move it they did, missing at least 3 scoring opportunities. Neither Arnaud nor a lackluster Santiago Hirsig could control the onslaught and soon enough in the 61st minute Santos opened the scoring through the 4 lane wide gap that was the Wizards defense.

In response to that 3 minutes later Onalfo brought in Michael Harrington into the midfield for Aaron Hohlbein, KC’s most experienced defender on the field at that time (Jewsbury is a mid); the though of what was to come made me cringe since now KC was in a 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 (wherever you want to put Arnaud) against a team they could not stop with 4 defenders let alone 3. Add to that the fact that last week’s performance proves that Harrington is in a slump and needs a long time on the bench to either resort things in his head or wait for Lance Watson to give him back his spot at right back since he continues to struggle as a midfielder.

Santos’ answer to this change, another goal, this time from a counter after Roger Espinoza did not get a foul call where Santos brought the ball quickly and allowed Mares to cross a nice floater towards Matias Vuoso who just physically abused Matt Besler going over him and leaving Hartman with no chance; 2-0. Down by two KC now pulled Hercules Gomez and brought in Michael Kraus to try and salvage something, but little came of it, and it wasn’t until Arnaud was fouled on a run towards goal that Claudio Lopez to buried the free kick to bring KC closer.

The Wizards continued to pressure trying to find an equalizer but missed on 2 clear chances: first Espinoza was able to get a shot off that hit the post and then in stoppage time a nice cross by Harrington sprung Hirsig free but alone vs. the Santos keeper he got off a very weak shot. Off this last play Santos counterattacked again and scored their 3rd and final goal. A bad loss that sees the Wizards Superliga run come to an end.

Player Ratings: Kevin Hartman(6), Lance Watson (5), Jimmy Conrad (4), Aaron Hohlbein (5) , Matt Besler (4), Herculez Gomez (5) , Santiago Hirsig (3), Jack Jewsbury (5), Roger Espinoza (5), Josh Wolff (34), Claudio Lopez (6); Subs: Davy Arnaud (4), Rauwshan McKenzie (3), Michael Harrington (3) Michael Kraus (1)

Players of the Game: Claudio Lopez & Kevin Hartman: Most of KC’s attacks came from of through Lopez’s feet; he sometimes makes shooting/passing decisions that make me scratch my head but he’ll make up for it a play later with a nice pass or a good play. In Hartman’s case, the man saved KC from finishing the game 5 or 6 goals down; enough said.

Commentary: A few weeks ago I had commented that KC seemed to play the same system regardless of the situation or the team and although there have been arguments to the contrary, this game in my mind proved this. I understand the idea of trying to win a game, but when a tie is all you need I believe that more possession oriented game plan should be used in search of the win. Instead KC, when not able to cross midfield passing the ball then went ahead and started launching long passes which most of the time gave Santos back possession of the ball. I think that when the offense is suffering as it really did for these Superliga games (2 goals: 1 own goal and 1 free kick) possession becomes the key and KC did not possess the ball.

I also don’t understand the insistence in playing Michael Harrington at midfielder. First of all he’s a natural defender, and secondly he is in a horrible slump where he’ll make one good cross (the one Hirsig missed) out of 5 or will get flustered and give away the ball too easily (like he did a couple of times at the end of the game). The Michael Kraus sub also makes me scratch my head since he only provides effort to the attack but little physical presence (he’s done next to nothing after that goal in Colorado); I know Thompson is also in a slump but he does open spaces as a big body.

All in all the Superliga was a super embarrassment. We tied a preseason Atlas team; tied an injury ravage New England team (with an own goal); and lost against a preseason Santos team in a game that if things in soccer were always fair would have ended 7-3. Now KC is going to US Cup play and back to MLS play with holes in the defense and midfield and in a position that if things go badly could see them fall out of contention very quickly.

I know I don’t make the lineup but I would love to see Jewsbury as a central defender on Saturday against Houston; yes we will miss the push forward, but he knows how to defend and can help organize a very young defense; that is if he isn’t too tired from playing every single Superliga game.

On the Referee: Typical CONCACAF mediocre refs. He hurt both teams, but the linesman on the bench side was horrible on his offside call. With a $ 1 million purse one would hope that at least for the international matched the could get better refs.

Here are the highlights:

Due to “scheduling conflicts” Kansas City traveled to Saint Louis to open their Superliga first round in a game against Mexican First Division squad Atlas. Although it was said that Atlas would field mostly youth players, according to the Telefutura announcers, they actually started with a mixture of youth and experienced players. KC on the other hand surprised everyone by playing the same starters they had in their last game, a 3-1 win vs. New England. On paper it seemed like KC would have the advantage because of the experience of their players and the fact that Atlas was basically playing a preseason game. Not true.

From the opening whistle Atlas held strong and complicated KC’s movement of the ball in midfield putting pressure on Santiago Hirsig and Jack Jewsbury, and limited Davy Arnaud’s movements forward. By doing this they forced KC into making mistakes and at points in the game forcing the defense into long clearances or into committing fouls near the Wizards box. It was in one of these fouls that the best scoring chance of the first half occurred when an Atlas free kick cleared the wall of defenders but was slapped out by Kevin Hartman at the far post he was covering. And with that the half ended, not without the Wizards losing Hercules Gomez due to what could be called a “heat injury” and having to be subbed out for Roger Espinoza.

In the second half KC seemed to take the initiative to attack and Espinoza started to make more runs on the left side which lead to a few dangerous plays. Shots from Jewsbury, Wolff and Espinoza came close but did not really threaten the Atlas keeper, while a shot from outside de box from Atlas that Hartman punched out was the only real threat from the Mexican side during the second half. Still, it was sub Abe Thompson who had the best chance who was played into the Atlas box by Espinoza and all alone against the keeper missed wide to the far post as two defenders closed in on him; that was a chance that should have gone in.

In the 91st minute KC’s Roger Espinoza tried to control a ball and take a shot from outside the box but let it go far; in an effort to regain control of the the ball he stomped on an Atlas player that was sliding in for it; result, straight red which means he will miss the next game vs. New England. Regardless of his intention it was a dangerous play, and if there is something we have learned from watching Confederations Cup soccer this past week, is that just because a slide or a play won’t earn you a red in the MLS, it doesn’t mean it won’t earn you one in international play.

All in all a pretty boring and disappointing game. KC went in strong to earn the 3 points but LaVolpe’s system and the heat handcuffed the team into a draw that really feels like a loss, especially considering New England beat Santos Laguna.

Player Ratings: (Everyone but Gomez gets an extra point because it was hot as hell). Starters: Hartman 6, Watson 6, Conrad 6, Hohlbein 6, Besler 6, Hirsig 6, Jewsbury 6, Arnaud 5, Gomez 3, Wolff 6, Lopez 6.
Subs: Espinoza 6, Harrington 5, Thompson 4, Leathers N/A

Man of the Match: Espinoza. Regardless of the red card, I liked how the team started to move better when Roger came in for Gomez and how he made the right side defender from Atlas have to stay back and defend instead of making runs down the flank like he was doing in the first half.

Ref Rating: Not consistent, especially when it came violent plays. There were at least a couple of fouls that were at the level of Espinoza’s tackle that did not even earn a card, plus the shove that the Atlas player gave Jack Jewsbury in the first half would easily be a red card in any league game. The assistant refs seemed to be a bit off when it came to coordinating with the man in the middle and whistles were constantly late on offside calls and a few fouls.

Things that KC should work on for the next game: CROSSES INTO THE BOX. Lopez 4, Jewsbury 2, Espinoza 2, Watson 1, Gomez 1. These were the number of crosses into the box that KC made that either went out, straight to the keeper, over shot the box, or into a box with no players (meaning they did not look up before making the cross).

Things that make you go Hmmm: Leather came in for Lopez in the 89th minute. Leather who is a defender came in for a forward when the score was still tied. I don’t really see the logic in that change when Onalfo could have brought in Morsink, a midfielder, who will take the occasional shot from outside the box and could help control the midfield for the last 5 minutes. Atlas wasn’t really pressuring KC, and KC’s shots from outside the box were pretty bad so that would have seemed the logical change. Hmmmm.

On a side note: to the MLS/Superliga website people a special and loud YOU SUCK. Although it was announced that the games were going to be streamed live on the site they were not (I stopped refreshing the page at the half). Like someone once told me, if you can’t deliver it don’t go ahead and say you can. Lucky for me the game was on Telefutura (and rojadirecta.com).

On a second side note: Atlas was delayed from landing in Chicago because of weather; their plane was diverted to Milwaukee where the players HAD TO STAY ON THE PLANE for quite sometime until the plane could fly to Chicago because Milwaukee’s main airport DOES NOT HAVE AN IMMIGRATION OFFICE. Come on Milwaukee, get with the program.

Here are the highlights (proof that it was a pretty boring game is the fact that the highlights last 1:21; when most MLS games run more than 3 minutes).

It was a pretty fast paced game from the beginning with the Wizards midfield pushing forward and giving the NE defense trouble. During a nice passing sequence, Davy Arnaud sprung Claudio Lopez towards the left side of the box and Lopez returned the ball across to Arnaud who closed the play and slotted the ball past Matt Reis. NE reacted, and in a combination that might have resulted from a natural letdown from scoring the goal and a Revolution push to tie, they began to control the midfield and put a bit of pressure on the KC defense. They finally succeeded in tying the game when, after a corner in which Kevin Hartman made a great save, Steve Ralston was able to cross a ball to Hartman’s back post, and Sharlie Joseph out jumped what seemed to be at least 2 defenders and headed the ball in to tie the score.

After the tie, the Revolution again let KC take the initiative and push forward. During one of the advances a ball was played towards the right side of the NE box, where Emmanuel Osei and Lopez were fighting for possession and Osei went down. What ensued was strange since it seemed that Lopez said something to Osei, who threw a kick towards Lopez, who answered by saying something again to Osei, who got up and pushed Lopez. The aftermath was a yellow for Lopez and a straight red for Osei. That red marked the end of the game for the Revolution who tried to move around their team to make up for missing one of their central defenders, but the changes definitely did not work.
With a weakened opponent KC took the offensive and on an attack from the left side of the field Lopez found Hercules Gomez who took a nice shot towards goal; Matt Reis made a good save, but the rebound itself went off Jeff Larentowicz and into the goal. A few minutes later and with the Wizards not stepping off the gas, a corner by Lopez was headed towards goal and Reiss again made a great stop, but his rebound short and it was headed towards the front of the goal by Jimmy Conrad where Aaron Hohlbein sneaked in between defenders to make it 3-1.

From that point on the game was not in question and KC ran up and down the field with little or no opposition. The Wizards probably missed at least 4 or 5 clear scoring chances in the second half while NE forced only one save from Hartman during the final 45 minutes.

Player Ratings - Hartman 5, Watson 5, Conrad 6, Hohlbein 6, Besler 6 Hirsig 6, Jewsbury 6, Arnaud 7, Gomez 7, Lopez 8, Wolff 5. Subs Harrington 5, Zusi 4, Morsink N/R

Man of the Match: Claudio Lopez. The man was a dynamo. He did not stop running. He set up the 1st goal; should have had an assist on the second one if Gomez had slotted the ball in, and fought Osei for the ball that led to the NE player’s ejection. He was everywhere and did a bit of everything. My only knock on him is on his corner kicks; I think he needs to mix them up a bit since most seem to fall short; still great game. Honorable mention to Matt Besler who, although a rookie and playing a position that is not his strongest, ran up and down the field and combined with Lopez and Gomez on overlapping runs quite a few times.

Commentary: A much needed win for KC who put pressure on NE once they were a man short and did not let up. I do worry about missing so many scoring opportunities, especially in the second half where the game could have been blown wide open, which would have allowed for earlier subs for players with 3 or 4 yellow cards like Jack Jewsbury or Davy Arnaud. Luckily Jack did not pick up his 5th card and because he played his 3rd straight game without a yellow he is back down to 3 yellows.

These are the games that KC needs to win, and that’s why it’s been so painful to have let 5 points go by in the last couple of games where we were a man up. Had we won those other games (or at least tied v. C-bus and beat LA), we’d be on top of the Eastern Conference. Regardless, it was a very good win and hopefully this was a start of streak that goes through Superliga and US Cup.

The Ref: All in all Salazar did a good job. The Osei ejection was a stupid play and like Josh Wolff’s a few weeks ago, deserved. He did look a bit gun shy with Pat Phelan who got a yellow on the 13th minute for a reckless foul, and 5 minutes later committed an even worse foul that could have (should have) earned him a second yellow, but all in all pretty smooth. I have my doubts on the Lopez offside in the second half but that one is on the linesman and Salazar just acknowledged the flag.

Here are the highlights:

There are just a long list of decisions and statistics coming from Onalfo that lead me to believe that he is not the right coach for the Wizards. I’ve come up with a summarized, not all inclusive list, which details some of my gripes:

1. In his third year Onalfo still has not been able to come up with a “stable”, constant group of players. His lineup changes (at time drastic) are result driven and are very predictable. If he wins he will play the same team, again; same tactic again until he loses, regardless of if it’s at home or on the road. In other words Onalfo plays the result and forgets about the tactics that his team uses vs. a certain rival; or if the team actually looked good (i.e: the same team that “earned” a 1-0 win vs. a ten man Red Bulls team on a 2nd minute penalty where the team was horrible, got to start the next game against DC United in what was another bad game). On the flip side he will make 2 or more changes when he loses, regardless of how the team played and who or what lead the team to the loss. Granted, Onalfo isn’t Pep Guardiola, but I can’t remember Barcelona taking about a 1/3 of the team off after a loss. I’ve always believed in continuity and that is never achieved when players, especially young ones are afraid of losing their spot for making mistakes when taking risks. I would not be surprised that next Saturday rookie Matt Besler loses his job as left back for giving up a penalty. Similar situations occurred with Aaron Holhbein, Tyson Wahl and Kurt Morsink last year after “mistakes” lead to goals.

2. Too many “fan favorites” get a pass. In 2007 it was Eddie Johnson who could do no wrong. In 2008 and 2009 Davy Arnaud and Jack Jewsbury will not lose their starting spot for anything they do. All these players have been crowd favorites and front office money makers and are penciled in week in and week out. After a torrid start in 2007 Johnson cooled off significantly and showed what some thought to be a poor effort, too the point where some people thought he was a lazy player; regardless of that he played every game and Onalfo did not sit him on the bench. This year Davy Arnaud had a great start, but has been less than mediocre in the last 10 games; games where he started and completed where all he showed was effort but little quality. Jewsbury, like Arnaud had a good start but has steadily declined in productivity, to the point where he was responsible for the game tying goal for LA 2 weeks ago; he made a mistake that has cost other players their starting role. To his credit Onalfo did sit Claudio Lopez down last year for a few games, but I actually believe that it was done to rest him at the end of last year more than because he went through a spell of bad games.

3. The Wizards rely too much on their international players and will play them until they either are proven to be complete failures, or until the fans expect so little that even mediocre play from one of them now draws applause. Marinelli, Trujillo, Colombano, Lopez, Hirsig; of these 5 players in the Onalfo era only Lopez has proven that he belongs in the field over some of our other “local” talent. Hirsig has had his good games but he has not proven to be the superstar we were promised; he surprised the MLS in his first couple of games, but now MLS players and coaches have figured out that he rarely plays a one touch ball so they now collapse on him and close his passing lanes. Those great passes we saw in the first 2 games have been missing for a while and he has actually lost balls that have led to 2 opponent’s goals this year; add to that the fact that lately he will drop at the slightest touch from the opponent; this has him as one of the MLS leaders of fouls received, but at the same time refs are catching up and call a foul only about half the time (last Saturday he lost 5 balls where he hit the ground trying to draw the foul and the ref just let the game go on). Regardless of their individual play the Onalfo/Vermes camp seems to want to play these players as much as possible hoping that they either come out of their slump, produce something positive, or at least log enough minutes with them so that they can justify sending them home after an unsuccessful season where “they could not adapt to MLS style of football”, i.e. Marinelli, Colombano and Trujillo. I will mention that once these international players lose favor with Onalfo they will rarely see the field, regardless of how well they do with the Reserve team of how bad the guy in their position is (Trujillo).

4. Onalfo the decision maker makes me scratch my head a lot during games and makes me wonder what he was thinking. Let me illustrate this with a few examples. Last year in the playoffs at home vs. the Crew the Wizards were up 1-0 and had Gomez ejected; with 15 minutes left and clinging to this slim lead that would be important to keep for the 2nd leg of the playoffs, Onalfo never flinched and never though about pulling a forward to reinforce a weekened midfield; the result C-bus tied, took a 1-1 game home for the 2nd leg and eliminated the Wizards. That second game brought on another Onalfo decision that made scratch my head; in a playoff game, down 1-0 Onalfo goes with Michael Kraus as a substitute for Abe Thompson; Kraus who had not played 1 MLS minute was thrown into a playoff game (vs. big man Ivan Trujillo); less than 20 minutes later he pulled Roger Espinoza out for Matt Marquess, a left back that started 4 games during the season. Things that make you go HMMM. Add to these last Saturday’s decision, when losing by one goal he pulled an attacking midfielder for a forward when he was a man up and the Crew only had Barros up top. Oh boy! Like these decisions there are many others that go against what one could consider as logical and that sadly have not really panned out.

5. Let me throw this stat out there. Onalfo predicates fast “exciting football” but the Wizards have only 1 win with a 3 goal difference over their opponent. Opening day vs. Toronto in 2007. Curt, nail biting and exciting are not the same in soccer.

(To be continued, yes there are more things I have to say)

The Game:
Columbus was missing 2 of their best players in Alejandro Moreno and Frankie Hejduk while KC was missing part time started Roger Espinoza. The lack of leadership mattered little to the Crew since Guillermo Barros picked up the slack for his missing teammates and ran a Crew attack that when moving forward caused serious pains for the KC defense. It was in one of these long kicks down the middle that Aaron Holhbein, Jimmy Conrad and Kevin Hartman converged. Although Hartman called for the ball it was too late and they all collided right in front of the penalty spot in a typical baseball follies play. This collision gave Mr. Barros, who was close by, an open shot on goal and an easy 1-0 lead.

KC tried to react but nothing came of it. Their midfield was uninspired (again!) and they did little to disturb the Crew’s keeper. With this really bad back and forth long passing the half came mercifully to an end (there was so little soccer that neither team had a corner kick in the first half). Yes, that bad.

I expected to see some changes in KC since they could do little to muster an attack but no subs came. KC continued to pressure the Crew defense, but Columbus just sat back and with the one goal lead just counterattacked the Wizards. And counter attack they did; Columbus put pressure on the KC defense and started getting corners and free kicks off these long runs on the wings, where both Matt Besler and Lance Watson were over matched. It was on one of these free kicks (on an Ekpo run) that Chad Marshall earned a straight red card for giving Holhbein a knee in the groin while jostling for position. It was the 51st minute, and KC again, for the second straight game, was a man up.

Down to 10 men the Crew now really bunkered down and just left Barros up top harassing the KC defenders, and of course the harassment paid off. The Crew got a throw in on the left side of the KC defense that was headed out to the edge of the box to Matt Besler who decided to chest it and then clear it but had the ball stolen from him and his late clearance kick missed the ball and took down a Crew player in the box. A penalty was called, which Barros calmly put in for a 2-0 advantage. After that KC just kept sending floaters into the box off crosses and corners which were easily cleared. They also tried long distance shots that were either off the mark or stopped by the ocean of Crew defenders stuck in the box. With the exception of a nice save by the C-bus keeper off a Jewsbury shot and a Wolff try from outside the box that hit the crossbar, the Wizards were timid and punchless.

The game thankfully came to and end since it was the Crew, during this time of pressure by KC, that could have padded the score even more had Hartman not saved the team again on a couple of breakaways.

Player Ratings:

Kevin Hartman (6), Lance Watson (4) (Michael Harrington (4)), Jimmy Conrad (5), Aaron Hohlbein (5) (Graham Zusi (3)), Matt Besler (3), Jack Jewsbury(5), Davy Arnaud (4) , Santiago Hirsig (4), Herculez Gomez (3)(Abe Thompson (5)), Josh Wolff (4), Claudio Lopez (4).

My Tally: (+3)
Starting lineup: Got it to a “T”
Score: I said 2-1 KC; it was 2-0 Crew
Subs: I said (Harrington, Thompson, Zusi); Got them all
Hartman: I said he’d have a busy game; Got that one right

Man of the Match: Hartman. Regadless of the mistake with his defenders he still kept the game close. Plus no one else deserves it.

The Ref:

Toledo was good. Some calls could have gone either way but nothing noticeable. The red: kudos to Toledo, it took me watching the replay twice to see the Marshall dirty knee. The penalty, although I’ve seen it called both ways, was by the book; there was contact by Besler; anyway, KC was not going to score anyway on Saturday, plus Besler should have cleared right away. The ref did his job.

My thoughts:

There needs to be some urgent changes in the KC lineup (and higher?). I’ll take some time during the week to give my overall opinion on Onalfo and the players, but right know, and since the win at Salt Lake, the team has looked flat, uninspired and leaderless. Yes, Jimmy Conrad is the Captain, but there are no leaders after that. Fan favorites Arnaud and Jewsbury are not at their best (especially Arnaud) and the team is in a winless streak that it needs to pull up from before it’s too late.

Here are some of the highlights, judge for yourselves.

The big story this weekend, as the Crew try to sweep the season series, is if the Crew will be able to overcome the international absences of Alejandro Moreno (Venezuela), Duncan Oughton (New Zealand) and Frankie Hejduk (USNT) for this game at Community America Ballpark. KC on the other hand is only missing Roger Espinoza (Honduras) who came in at the end of the LA game and provided an assist in KC’s only goal.

I anticipate a tough match for KC, that gets Josh Wolff and Santiago Hirsig back after their suspensions last week. Keving Souter and Michel Harrington will again be on the bench after a pretty bad game vs. LA (to Harrington’s credit although his game was very bad and his passing was horrendous, but he at least tried to get involved in the game instead of hiding on the left side of the fields and being a non factor like Souter was).

Jack Jewsbury will move back to A-Mid where he has done fairly well the last few weeks (except for the LA game where he was D-Mid) and Arnaud and Gomez will be on the wings rotating sides and moving up at times letting Lopez fall back to the the left wing for periods of the game.

I am a bit worried about the Crew’s speed and the fact that Emmanuel Ekpo will give Lance Watson a lot of trouble. Also, forwards Steven Lenhart (if he starts for Moreno) and Pat Noonan could be problematic for the KC defense due to their physical play. On the upside for KC, Will Hesmer is still out which means that the unreliable Andy Gruenebaum will be manning the goal for the Crew. Although the Crew are missing 3 players, I think that Hejduk’s leadership is going to be sorely missed by C-bus and will also be a factor in a scrappy game like this one.

Since KC didn’t lose (very important fact when talking about Curt Onalfo teams) and with the return of Wolff and Hirsig, Curt Onalfo, true to form, will most likely use a lineup similar to the one against Chivas USA 2 weeks ago (except for Espinoza)

Hartman
Watson-Holhbein-Conrad-Besler
Gomez-Jewsbury-Hirsig-Arnaud
Wolff-Lopez

If that is the lineup my guess for subs will be Harrington, Zusi, and Thompson; probably in that order. I also anticipate that Crew goal will come through the right side of the KC defense. (I’m going to start keeping tally of my score predictions as well as the subs and the side of the defense that gives up the goal.)

I see a very physical game where there will be a quite a few yellows but where KC will manage to score twice and edge the Crew. By the way, another great game for Keving Hartman.

Final Score KC 2 – Crew 1

That was in the 59th minute. Prior to that it was all LA with the exception of a Davy Arnaud shot that was stopped by Donovan Ricketts’ chin/chest. The Galaxy took the game to KC, that was missing regular starters Santiago Hirsig and Josh Wolff. Curt Onalfo countered by making a mess of his starting lineup moving Jack Jewsbury from the A-Mid position, where he was doing a good job in the past few games, back to the D-mid position; bringing in Kevin Souter on the left for Roger Espinoza, Michael Harrington moved to right of the midfield and Hercules Gomez was in for suspended Josh Wolff up front

From the beginning it was clear that KC was being outmatched in all lines and had Alan Gordon not done his best impression of Toronto’s Chad Barrett, missing chance after chance, LA would have finished the first half with a comfortable lead. The LA midfield suffocated a KC line that had not punch moving forward, since Jewsbury had been moved back, Arnaud was being collapsed on by the Galaxy midfielders when he tried to run with the ball, Souter, although penciled in the lineup was absent, and Michael Harrington proved once and for all that he is in a serious slump, rarely being able to make a pass to someone on the KC team. Thanks again to man of the match Kevin Hartman, the crossbar and Alan Gordon, the game was still tied at half time. KC was outplayed at all lines, and again both the right and left side defenders were abused by the LA attack; clear example of this was the shot on the post where a long ball from the midfield caught Lance Watson in with the central defenders, allowing Eddie Lewis a clean unobstructed cross to Gordon who missed a sitter. Coach Onalfo, Watson is not a defender so please keep him off the field.

The Second half started as the first had ended. With KC on the ropes while LA ran up and down the field but with little to show for it. But again, poor Bruce Arena, when his team was playing at its best Mr. Berhalter was slow to react and was forced to pull Lopez by his shorts and/or shirt to stop him from going in against Ricketts. Red card and gone. LA had to play the last half an hour with 10 men.

Right after the ejection Onalfo saw an opportunity to move forward and try to win the game so he brought in Espinoza and rookie Graham Zusi to bolster the offense for the Harrington and Souter (yes he was playing). First of all, Zusi? Really? I understand the Espinoza change but Zusi has shown very little and true to form brought nothing to the game. Instead of bringing in a midfielder like Kurt Morsink that can pass the ball and allow Jewsbury to move forward and be effective and moving either Arnaud or Gomez to the right, Onalfo brought in a rookie who had not played since week 2. Still, his other sub, Roger Espinoza was able to track down a long pass on the left side of the LA box and get a nice cross to Hercules Gomez who made a mess of his header towards goal that ended up as a wide shot and was redirected by a trailing Davy Arnaud to open the scoring.

Before that Kevin Hartman, Alan Gordon and the post continued to keep the game scoreless, even with one less player. The goal in the 84th minute looked to give KC a nice, yet undeserved, away win to make up for the 9 player Chivas game the week before, but that was not the case. A silly Jewsbury turnover on the KC side of midfield let Landon Donovan place a nice cross for sub Edson Buddle (who came in for Gordon), who unmarked, due to Watson’s absence on the right side, slid the ball past Hartman from the right side of the KC box. A tie and the end of the game.

Player Ratings - Hartman 7, Watson 3, Conrad 5, Hohlbein 5, Besler 5, Arnaud 6, Jewsbury 4, Harrington 2, Souter 3, Gomez 4, Lopez 5. Subs Espinoza 6, Zusi 4, Thompson N/A

Man of the Match: Kevin Hartman again. The save he made off a Chris Klein shot in the second half has to be one of the best saves this year. Thanks to him and the inability of LA to score let KC leave LA with one point.

Commentary: I still fail to understand the “tactical” planning and way of thinking that Curt Onalfo uses for some of his games. So you lose a forward and a holding mid. I believe you have a forward, and a physical one at that, on the bench (Abe Thompson) and you have an experienced holding midfielder (Kurt Morsink) that can take Hirsig’s spot without sacrificing your best midfielder (Jewsbury) to a position where is less effective. Did Espinoza play that badly against Chivas that he deserved to be benched for a player who has not seen the field all year and has not been that impressive since coming to KC anyway? I don’t think so.

I am still trying to figure out what our system is week by week but whatever it may be the constant experiments need to end. Also, am I the only one starting to worry about how bad Michael Harrington is playing (granted he’s not starting, lost his spot due to injury and is slotted into different places in the midfield each game); it seems to me that his shine coming out of college is starting to show the wear and tear of the Onalfo system of player development.

KC was lucky to leave with one point; we deserved none but should have done better a man up and gotten 3.

By the way, I am quick to criticize refs when they screw up, I will give kudos to Terry Vaughn (Terriblon for those in Costa Rica) who had a good game and was quick to keep the game under control when it got a bit chippy.

Next up: Columbus.

Here are the highlights of the game. You have to love the Hartman save on the Klein shot.