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:

To make a long story short (since I’m traveling for work) the Wizards again seemed to dominate the run of play but with little or no impact when moving forward. The only real chances came from KC, mainly on plays from Harrington and Lopez but were controlled by Matt Reiss who was able to keep his injury plagued team from allowing a goal.

Luckily New England never really threatened the Wizards goal, since one goal probably would have been enough to win the game the way KC’s offense is playing nowadays. Although much more solid in the back, the KC midfield did little to create scoring chances, and the few that were created were wasted.

At this point I would like to see a change in the midfield for the LA game since more than likely Arnaud and Espinoza won’t be back, but it seems Onalfo in enamored with Michael Harrington in midfield instead of his more natural position in the back. Still, whatever he decides to do we need more playmakers in the middle to feed our forwards so they can play a bit further ahead instead of having to come back for balls in the midfield.

Now KC has 2 weeks before the next game against LA. It would seem we’ll still be shorthanded and won’t have Watson in the back. Hopefully our attack will somehow improve and we can at least start scoring again.

Here are the highlights:

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:

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.

It was a scoreless first half that had me nodding off watching Preki tactically beat Curt Onalfo, Chivas having the bulk of the scarce scoring chances and Kevin Hartman earning his Man of the Match title once again. And then things started to pick up. KC took the offensive in the second half, with Roger Espinoza pushing forward, delivering better passes to Claudio Lopez, and Jack Jewsbury starting to take control of the midfield. It was during one of these attacks that Espinoza was taken down with a karate-like kick from a Chivas player (who got no card, by the way), and the subsequent free kick was buried beautifully by Lopez in the top left corner, leaving Thorton with no chance.

Just 8 minutes later a free kick by Chivas that was not cleared by the KC defense ended at the feet of the now always opportunistic Eduardo Lillingston who outmuscled Lance Watson and slotted the ball on the left side of Hartman (it seems to me that Watson has been involved in most opponents goals this year by being outplayed or outmuscled; hint, hint Mr. Onalfo). So I’m thinking, wow, 2 goals in 8 minutes, the game was heating up! Nope, whatever heat it was picking up was quickly smothered by Mr. Ass and his band of myopic moron linesmen.

Four minutes after the Chivas goal, a nice through pass was sent towards Josh Wolff who may or may not have been clipped by Chivas defender, Eduardo Trujillo (personally, I think Wolff needs to man up and not go down that easy at times, a la Landycakes, but that’s just me). Wolff took exception to that and after pleasantries were exchanged between players, Wolff “headbutted” Trujillo slightly, and Trujillo pushed him back. Now look, I’m all for ejecting players for violent behavior, but considering that Trujillo, an excellent showman (a la Mr. Blanco in Chicago), would have fallen, rolled on the ground and needed CPR to be revived had that “headbutt” been at all hard, and considering the fact that he proceeded to shove Wolff back, this was nothing that serious. It should have been a “yellow for both, next time I see you not playing nice you are done for the game” type of situation. But NO! Mr. Ass, with his band of Merry Morons assistants, after talking things over for what seemed forever, decided a red for Wolff and a yellow for Trujillo and one more to a KC player for “dissent”. Well, there went any chance of this game getting any better.

Let me be clear, up to that point in the game, Mr. Ass had shown 2 yellow cards, to Atiba Harris and Santiago Hirsig for not playing nice during a corner kick; because in Mr. Ass’ world, during corners, players are not allowed to jostle for position, and must hold hands and hug until the ball is in the air. Well, the game continued and it suddenly turned into a game where the free flowing of the ball back and forth was cut by the constant whistles of Mr. Ass, who now decided to be the enforcer instead of letting the boys play. Around the 83rd minute a nifty move by Sasha Victorine led to a trip by Santiago Hirsig and his ejection for a second yellow. I feel it could have been worth a yellow, but having seen the fouls up to that point that had not gotten cards, I’d have to say Mr. Ass screwed this one up also, especially considering that no one got a card for nearly decapitating Espinoza.

Well, at that point in the game, the Wizards were down to 9 players and in a purely defensive mode and Chivas was trying to take advantage of their numbers with no luck. And the end came with Mr. Ass leaving the field as some of us were singing his praises as he walked into the tunnel.

Player Rankings: Hartman 7, Watson 4, Conrad 5, Hohlbein 5, Besler 5, Arnaud 4, Hirsig 4, Jewsbury 5, Espinoza 5, Wolff 2, Lopez 6.
Subs Gomez 4, Harrington N/A, Kraus N/A

More Commentary:

On the Wizards: They got outcoached and were lucky to end the 1st half with a tie. It was not surprising that the same lineup that beat RSL last week was going to do little damage to a far superior Chivas team. It was not Wolff’s day, he missed 2 chances in the first half and should have been out of the game before his ejection and the ejection play, although harsh, was STUPID on his part. Josh, never give Mr. Ass a chance to show us his merciless power to change the game (and show us how much he sucks). Will the Davy Arnaud that started the season please come back, where are you? Chance Myers needs to get healthy now; Lance Watson has the heart but lacks the physical strength to handle MLS attackers and he has been involved (negatively) in half of the goals the team has given up since he has been starting; Michael Harrington anyone? Also, after all these games I finally saw Hirsig play a one-touch ball, it was with his head, but one-touch is one touch, right?

On the Ref: I don’t care how much the MLS grows game-wise, if the quality of refs keeps being inconsistent, the game will not advance. If you are a “quality player” whose last name isn’t Donovan or can act out the part like Mr. Blanco, you will get pounded week in and week out with little protection or calls. Yet MLS refs will have issues with players pushing and shoving in the area while doing nothing about serious tackles. Also if by any chance that day they do take care of that part of the game it will not be consistent or their level of rigorousness will be on and off at different times in the game, leaving players not knowing what ref will do. In other words their “strike zone” will be all over the place.

I like Don Garber, but to excuse HIS bad refs by saying that there are bad officiated games all over the world is STUPID. Let me tell you something Don, the “Blanco T-shirt Gate” that you have asked us to dismiss and forget would have probably cost an English or Spanish ref the rest of the season for the appearance of impropriety, but your “disciplinary” committee can’t do that because the ref involved sadly is near the top of a mediocre ref class; you bench him and we’ll be getting a lot more of Mr. Ass throughout the league; spreading joy and idiocy with his merry band of linesmen. I see how Laurie up in Seattle felt after the Tim Weyland debacle a few weeks back. Call me a bad loser (although we didn’t lose) but fans should get more from the refs; they are not part of the show, they should be there to help the show run smoother.

For the record I’d like to clarify that I know that Anno specifically describes a part of of the Ass. If you sound out the word itself you get the idea of what I’m talking about. Out of respect to the few who read this post I wanted to refrain from using the popular phrase but could not leave out my distaste for horrible officiating.

Here are the highlights:

From my visits to the practice facility I would assume that the starting 11 will be the following:

————-Hartman————-
Watson – Conrad – Hohlbein – Besler
—————Hirsig—————
Arnaud——————–Espinoza
————-Jewsbury————
——Wolff———–Lopez——–

I really don’t like this lineup, and with the exception of Lopez starting in place of Michael Harrington and moving Arnaud to the right side of the midfield it’s the same group that got beat in Columbus. I fear that the result this weekend will not be positive since the coach is failing to address the main problems for this team which I see as:

1. Up and down defense: Ex Wizard Yura Movsisyan will keep the KC defense on their toes and either Robbie Findley or Javier Morales coming in behind him will need to be kept out of the box. Still I think the biggest problems will come with the RSL wingers who love to run up the field, which means that Besler and Watson will have their hands full with the overlapping runs of Mathis and Co. I feel their weaknesses, especially Lance’s, will be exposed. Conrad is not having his best year and Hohlbein, Besler and Watson (out of position) cannot make up for it.

2. Mid-field needs to hold it when it needs to be held and play it fast when you need to give and go: I am not sold on Santiago Hirsig in the middle. I have yet to see him play a one touch ball. He will hold the ball forever and the MLS has figured this out and will collapse on him (he’s responsible for at least 1 goal because of this already); he also tends to be slow to react at times. Davy Arnaud needs to again move to the wing (and show up for the whole game) and Jack Jewsbury needs to man the other side of the field; his assists against DC and against C-Bus show how well he moves on the wing; I hope he is not the Attacking mid.

3. More punch up front. The Wolff and Lopez combo scares no one. If Wolff plays, he needs to do it up front; Lopez could also back up to the A-Mid or come in off the bench. Adam Cristman get healthy now.

4. The same subs over and over and over: I have been able to guess what the Wizards subs were going to be by half time of every game after the Colorado match. Onalfo surprises no one. Here’s my take on the sub situation: Harrington is in a slump and is lost when not in the back 4 (he is better than Watson); Kraus, with the exception of his goal in Colorado has given tons of effort but little when it comes to soccer and making the team better and has no weight in a featherweight attack; Espinoza has his moments but I feel he get confused at times and doesn’t play the smart ball; Gomez has been very unreliable both as a starter and a sub. I feel that bringing some change into the top with a physical Abe Thompson on a tired defense might make a difference and bringing another holding mid like Kurt Morsink might our transition to 3 defenders a bit easier on Jewsbury and give him more chances to move forward and help the attack.

So, now back to the game. RSL will attack and KC will be pushed hard. They are a stronger and more physical than KC and that is something KC has struggled with (see Connor Casey, Brian McBride and Danny Dicchio). KC is a slow starting team and we’ll be back on our heels for most of the game. We’ll be lucky to be tied at the end of the first half. The relentless pressure from RSL will eventually lead to a couple of goals, with KC waking up and scoring in the second half. Javier Morales should have a good game for RSL since Hirsig offers little pressure at D-Mid and Josh Wolff will score again off a cross from either Jewsbury or Lopez.

Final Score KC-1 (Wolff) RSL-2. (Movsisyan, Morales)

Here’s my sub guessing game: Coming in:Harrington, Gomez and Kraus. Out in no particular order: Holhbein/Besler, Espinoza, Watson

I really hope I’m wrong. Feel free to comment or participate in our online poll.

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

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.