Gold Cup Means the Kansas City Star will have to Write about Someone Else

By: Michael | June 7th, 2007

If your name down not rhyme with “Freddy Lawnson” and you are a Kansas City Wizard, take heart: with Eddie Johnson going to the Gold Cup this month, you may read your name in the paper. The Kansas City Star – who lists the Wizards below the Kansas City T-Bones baseball team in its sports section – has increased the bulk of its stories on the Wizards to about one every other day, but has yet to find its stride in the whole “search for the deeper story” facet of sports writing. In its last 11 features on the team, 6 have had Johnson’s name in either the title or the first sentence. Two of the remaining four have given into Kansas City’s greatest sports pastime: overreacting to early downward trends. For those of you who are curious, the other three articles were featured a pregame report about Onalfo’s approach to the RBNY clash, a story on Wizards players ballroom dancing and finally a summary ofhow crappy it is to be a developmental signing in the MLS.

I’m not one to deny that Eddie Johnson has proven to be the most important contributor the Wizards have had of late, but there are ten other players on the pitch each week who deserve a little ink of their own… finally this month, they will be getting it, and it will be up to them what the stories will hold.

Most compelling to me about Eddie Johnson’s absence its coincidence with injured Scott Sealy featuring once again in Onalfo’s comments about lineups. From the MLS story about Johnson’s absence:

“Good teams adapt well with those types of those situations,” said Onalfo. “Now it’s going to be up to Scott Sealy, Ryan Pore, Yura [Movsisyan] — and Carlos Marinelli to some extent, if we decide to play him up top — to fill the void.”

That Onalfo listed Sealy first is no coincidence. His recovery has been slow, and with Eddie’s resurgence, there was no hurry for him to come back onto the field anytime soon. It’s now Sealy’s time to regain the helm of the Wizard’s attack.

Here’s a look at our attacking half with Johnson gone:

Victorine————————Harrington
—————–Marinelli—————–
——-Arnaud————Sealy———–

I digress. I have no quarrel with the Star as a member of the press and regularly read their online articles, but there is much to be desired in the way of MLS coverage. Thus I am willing to do my part; To the Kansas City Star, five storylines to keep your eye on now that your favorite subject is away:

1) Davy Arnaud is on a hot streak of his own. After beginning the season with only an assist in five games, Arnaud has scored two and added two assists in the last four. His play on the wing has been important, but if our midfield is healthy, it will be Arnaud who moves forward and takes Eddie’s spot. Reason to worry (since good Kansas City sportswriting must have one): Although Davy is second in shots with 25, he has put only 9 on goal, missing the net nearly two out of three times. EJo has put 24 of 35 shots on net (68.6% accuracy).

2) Michael Harrington will be more apt to shoot without Eddie as a target up front. Despite being a rookie, Curt Onalfo has put Harrington – who can play both midfield and defense – on the field for 800 minutes already, 4th behind Arnaud, Johnson, and Kerry Zavagnin. His ability to maneuver the ball down the flank will be critical without the straight-on speed EJo provides. Reason to worry: If our fullbacks are still banged up, Harrington may be called back to play defense.

3) Scott Sealy will most likely return to the field. As I mentioned earlier, Onalfo has allowed Sealy to get himself slowly back up to full health, and it sounds as though Scott may be gearing up for a return for our next game, a week from Saturday. Our leading scorer last year and the year before, Sealy’s role has been to cover for underachieving (2005’s Josh Wolff, 2006’s Eddie Johnson) stars with a consistent attack and reliable finishing. His injury guaranteed Sealy would be left off of Trinidad and Tobago’s national team roster; his recovery has enabled him to reinforce our front line just in time.

4) A week’s rest and then a challenging game against New York are ahead of the Wizards. This will be the second home-away double for the Wizards (the first was against Toronto FC), but what makes it unique is (1) the importance of these games to the Eastern Conference standings, (2) the brewing rivalry between our teams following last year’s heartbreaking final game, and (3) the fact that RBNY plays two games while we get to prepare to come out of New York with all three points. I don’t think there could have been a better off-week for our team – which makes up for Kansas City being the only team to not play during the entire first week of the season.

5) Idan Shriki, forward for Israel’s FC Ashdod, has been rumored to be coming to Kansas City on trial, but as of yet has not shown at a training session. Perhaps someone from your paper would be more likely to gain access to the official status of Shriki’s trial? Reason to Worry: Reports indicate Shriki is still stuck in Israel waiting for his visa to clear.

Oh, and PS, would you be willing to cut out the ridiculously pixelated player portraits?

As always, questions and comments can be sent, as always to KCOffsider [at] gmail [dot] com, or the new official address: KCOffsider [at] theoffside [dot] com