Ancillary News from the Land of Oz

By: Michael | April 5th, 2007

Ancillary Wizards News Items:

- The Wizards closed out a strong March with a 0-0 draw against the Columbus Crew at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). Hartman recorded the shutout (huzzah!) and the rest of the lineup was as follows:

Kevin Hartman, Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. (Ryan Raybould 70), Nick Garcia, Aaron Hohlbein, Jack Jewsbury, Michael Harrington, Kerry Zavagnin, Will John, Davy Arnaud, Yura Movsisyan (Kurt Morsink 68), Scott Sealy (Willy Guadarrama 82)

From the looks of it, Onalfo is rightly finding answers to the remaining questions facing Kansas City coming into the season: Will Aaron Hohlbein be an able replacement for Jimmy Conrad when Conrad is away with the USMNT? Is Will John a contender for starting time in the midfield yet? And if EJo goes flat or Sealy is called up by Trinidad & Tobago, will it be Movsisyan, Morsink, or the speedy Guadarrama who fills in the spot up front?

What encourages me about the game most, however, is Hartman getting in a good game as the season approaches. A confident GK with a vendetta (against the Galaxy, namely) could help spark our back line to regain status of one of the elite in MLS… the talent is certainly there.

- If I’m heavy on the commentary today, it is because I am (long story) stuck in Canada due to weather issues and have quite literally nothing to do for a solid 12 hours. The plus side is that the friends I am staying with have TSN, and not only did I get to catch ManU vs. Roma, but I heard the Wizards mentioned on Canada’s “SportCentre”. While it was only in reference to Toronto FC’s first home game, it was still neat. I also noticed that it looked like the commentator was very carefully about reading “Kansas City Wizards” off of the teleprompter, as though he has not a clue about any other team in the MLS.

- MLSNet finally posted the official press release on the Atlas partnership.

- The Wizards are also part of the wave of PR events preceding this year’s MLS season.

- On Saturday, the Wizards will be playing a doubleheader against the Seattle Sounders of the USL and the University of Evansville Purple Aces, who are apparently gearing up for the test against our reserves and rookies.