Outcoached, Outplayed & Outscored. Out of the Superliga

By: Herschel | June 29th, 2009

I was going to write this recap as soon as I got home last night after the game, but I decided to give myself a 12 hour “cool off” period so I wouldn’t be too overcritical of the team. That being said I feel about the same and things seem to have just gotten worse since I’ve been thinking about the horrible uninspired soccer that KC played, not only yesterday, but throughout the SuperLiga.

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: