A Week of Wizards: One point from Two matches with Three starters on the bench…

By: Michael | May 21st, 2007

While on a personal note I would like to apologize for a week’s absence, I am certainly not sorry to have missed the last seven days of Wizards action. Things may be beginning to “even out” for the men in blue and white, and worse than sinking from first to third in the divisions the sinking feeling that all the pundits who refuse to consider Kansas City a reputable team are now getting their “proof”. Here are some of my thoughts about each match:

Kansas City 1 – FC Dallas 2:
- Who would have known 10 shots on goal would not be enough to win against Dario Sala and FC Dallas? I was extremely impressed by Sala’s poise and ability as he nearly shutout Kansas despite their 22 shots, especially since it was his first game back from a 6-game suspension.

- Jimmy Conrad (mandible), Carlos Marinelli (hamstring), and Scott Sealy (ankle) all missed the game… I can’t say as though I expect the Wizards to win all that many in this situation.

- When the official postgame summary uses the phrase “desperately swat at” to describe Kevin Hartman’s attempt to save the 19th minute header which put Dallas up 1-0, even those who did not see the game can imagine how ugly it looked (I still love you, Kev’). While the linked MLS writeup does seem to be fairly sided with Dallas, it was not a pretty sight. Goodbye, 300+ minutes of shutout football.

- Did anyone else notice the great Argentine presence in The Cauldron as of late? Now if they can just see their countryman Marinelli play!

- The game winning goal came off an odd, odd strike by Torja (Did he touch it with his hand? The world may never know…) just before halftime. Michael Harrington put in the lone Wizards goal just before the final whistle. Which brings us to…

Colorado 1 – 1 Kansas City:

- Our lone goal against came as the first half was ending… are we beginning to get wait-out-for-the-whistle-itis? I’ve heard it’s highly contagious and nasty, at that. Just like last season, finishing each half strong is a must for our team, as 1-goal games will decide the season.

- As the game rolled on, you could almost feel the weariness of the Wizards’ oxygen-deprived, extra-space-covering players (read Onalfo’s comments in the linked Kansas City Star article). As the Rapids build a better team, Colorado is going to be a very tough place to play.

- Arnaud really made up for his error in allowing the penalty. Without his strike the Wizards would have lost their second game in a row for the first time all season. Avoiding back-to-back losses is critical at this stage of the season. Let’s create a playoff cushion rather than a “points to make up so we can avoid another season in the basement” tally.

- I’m not so sure the game was the Rapids’ to take, no matter what the Rocky Mountain News’ blog would have one think. Regardless, we should probably be content with getting a point out of this away game.

- Jimmy Conrad started and was subbed out by Hohlbein, while Marinelli came on in the second half. Encouraging, but not the clean bill of health our starting XI desperately needed during the non-USMNT-absence portion of the season.

…as a concluding note, stop by the “Unofficial Wiz Updates” blog, now (by my count) the fourth Wizards blog to hit cyberspace. Not only does he have a nice writeup about the new Wizards’ youth development program, but he has included a link to kcwizards.theoffside.com – thanks, Nick!