A look back on Sunday and Tuesday, plus a comment

By: Herschel | July 9th, 2009

I want to apologize for not writing anything on the Sunday loss to Houston or on the Tuesday loss to Seattle until now but I’m battling a nasty “non swine flu” flu virus that knocked me out off work Tuesday afternoon and all of Wednesday.

Well, Sunday KC outshot Houston 15 to 9 but only had 3 of those shots on goal while Houston actually got one goal out of its 5 shots on goal. I’ll admit that the Wizards did create opportunities and probably outplayed the Dynamo, but the difference between a seasoned team like the Dynamo and a mid-level team like the Wizards is that the Dynamo stole a goal and knew how to defend it while could not buy a ball in the net. KC did have a few close calls to tie with a header off the bar and a Claudio Lopez free kick in stoppage, but Houston managed to take the 3 points back home.

This was KC’s 3 loss this year at home and it would seem that we are really lacking an attacking punch and that makes us the predictable team that we are today. Yes we are waiting for Adam Cristman to “spruce up” our offense, but I cannot believe that the Technical Staff and coaches have the attack of this team dependant on a single player that has yet to see the field this year. We did create the opportunities against Houston, but we did not have the offensive weight to make them count.

On Tuesday in the US Cup KC started a very “starter heavy” team against the Sounders in Tukwila, Washington, and yet again the came up short with a pitiful offensive performance. I base my comment on both what I heard from the “homers” on the Seattle radio broadcast and the stats/write ups I’ve seen in different reports. The fact that KC had 6 total shots and only 1 of those on goal seems to prove that the team is in horrible offensive slump that has gone on for almost a month with little relief in sight (it would actually seem that we are getting worse). I understand the frustration that many have with the fact that we lost on a penalty, and although it was a call that in real speed could have gone either way in my book, by ref Abiodun Okulaja (who is not my favorite ref anyway), the truth is that there is no reason for us to be in these situations every single game. Had KC gone out and played an offensively surprising game and scored a few goals it would not matter what Okulaja did at the end of the game. We need to stop depending on that one missed call or on the Lopez free kick that goes just wide.

In the end we are out of the Superliga and again out of the US Cup and now, the fact that Onalfo used a lot of his starters for this game to show how serious he was about the match, has put him in the position of not being able to excuse yet another failure. For all the talking that was done on how the depth of this team was to be tested and how the reserves were to play a “vital role” in the Superliga and US Cup matches, truth be told Onalfo used a starter heavy team for each match (except for the Minnesota game) with nothing to show for it, with the added negative impact of now dealing with a group of tired players.

Hindsight being 20/20 I would have preferred to send in our Reserves for the Superliga; they get the experience and our starters get the break. With 3 players missing due to Gold Cup call ups and a few more due to injuries our depth (or lack of) will be tested for a few more weeks (not as many times now that we are out of US Cup and Superliga).

I understand that when Coach Onalfo started off he had one of the worst teams in the MLS and has now taken the team to 2 straight playoffs since he’s been here, but the fact that the Wizards swoon in the middle of the table throughout the year and end up having to make runs at the end to qualify at the bottom of the Conference shows that we are far from reaching the elite status of the league. Add to that the fact that this year more than ever we seem to be stuck with a predictable offense, a spotty midfield and defense and depending on our keeper time and time again. Yes, Coach Onalfo got us out of the deep rut, but I don’t know if he’s the one that will make us take the next step to the elite rung of the MLS that teams like Houston sit on.

At this point I wonder if a team like KC should look for one or two players in other MLS teams to revitalize the offense and try and bring the team closer to an elite status, specially due to the fact that players like Lopez, Conrad, Hirsig, Wolff and Hartman are not getting any younger and it would seem to me that we should be looking to put together a team to win now. I could venture and say that we do have a lot of young players that ride the bench with little or no chance of playing and that could be used as trade bait if packaged correctly.

I don’t know right now where are the Wizards headed, and it’s frustrating. At the beginning of last year, before Lopez was brought in I thought we were going with an all youth team but ended up getting Lopez and then adding veterans like Gomez, Wolff, and Thompson. This year we have a more veteran team and add Hirsig but we are achieving little (if not less). So what gives. As a fan (short for fannatic) I could have lived with the youth movement but if you scrap the youth movement for a win now attitude I believe you better win now.

Whatever Onalfo and the Technical Staff decide to do it needs to be done fast; we are at midseason and we are are under .500. I think Onalfo’s and Vermes’ seats are getting a bit warmer.

Here at the highlights of the Houston game and the penalty in the Sounders game. Also Hillcrest Road has some highlights and the play in which the penalty was called. (http://www.hillcrestroadblog.com/2009/07/wizards-sounders-highlights.html) :