Wizards vs. Crew Pregame; the Battle to end futility (AKA the teams who could not beat 10 man opponents last week)

By: Herschel | June 5th, 2009

Columbus and KC battle it out this weekend at the CAB. KC is coming from giving up a tie vs. a 10 man Galaxy team while the Crew tied its away game vs. a 10 man Seattle team.

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