A Really Late Commentary

By: Herschel | May 21st, 2009

I know it’s old news, but because of work I wasn’t able to comment on the Wizards game against Real Salt Lake. This was a great win that I honestly did not see coming. A well played tactical game that was aided by the RSL complete inability to score a goal.

This game reminded me of that great Baltimore Ravens team that ruled by defense and would bend but not break. They were not great coming from behind but if they got ahead early it was hard to catch up. I’m not saying the KC defense is something to write home about, but the team has the ability to make teams pay (see Chicago game for example) if they are given the chance and their opponent squanders the opportunity (like RSL and CHI). Of course, Kevin Hartman being in top form has saved the team time and time again, but hey, didn’t the Ravens have Ray Lewis and Ed Reed to bailout their less than stellar offense?

A break away goal from Josh Wolff after RSL was on top pressuring KC and then a second half goal that caught most of the RSL midfield pushing forward and gave Michael Harrington the right wing to cross the ball on to a streaking Wolff. After that, although RSL kept pushing to cut the lead, they just could not score. Now I understand Jason Kreis’ frustration with his team’s attack. They have scored 14 goals in 8 games, which is a pretty decent number, but it turns nasty when you realize that out of those 14 goals 10 came in 2 games, giving them 4 in 6 games; pretty pathetic.

I’m still not sold on Curt Onalfo’s player choices nor his system, but truth be told, it worked very well for THIS game. I think there will have to be some changes for Saturday’s game against Chivas, although hometown hero Preki has not done to well as a coach here in KC.

Here are my player ratings:

Kevin Hartman (8), Lance Watson (5) (Michael Harrington (7)), Jimmy Conrad (6), Aaron Hohlbein (6), Matt Besler (6), Davy Arnaud (5), Santiago Hirsig (5), Jack Jewsbury (7), Roger Espinoza (6) (Herculez Gomez (5)), Claudio Lopez (6)(Michael Kraus (NR)), Josh Wolff (9).

Man of the Match: Josh Wolff. That was easy.
Runner up: Kevin Hartman

Highlights in case you missed them: