KC Wizards vs. Toronto FC – The War of 1812 Avenged!

By: Michael | April 26th, 2007

Yes, folks, they may have burnt down our White House, but we beat back the Torontonian advance last night. Though the war is far from over (we’ll try to finish off a double this weekend in Toronto), the first battle belongs to KC. Much rejoicing is in store:

Gloating Pertaining to the Wizards:
While I have every desire to see Toronto FC get its feet under itself and give the fans north of the border something to be excited about, I must say I’m very proud of the way we played in our soggy our home opener. I almost refused to believe my own 3-1 prediction, but we actually did one better, shutting out TFC (still looking for its first goal) 3-0.

Gloating Pertaining to Myself:
I must point out that while my preview to the Chicago Fire game ended up being a little shaky, my preview of yesterday’s game was dead on. My starting lineup was exactly right and I was only a goal off on my prediction (which doesn’t hurt my status as a top 3 contender in the OMLSPL). Since I’m usually not one for such open self-pride, we’ll return to our regularly scheduled post-game report…

Actual Information Pertaining to the Game:
From MLSNet’s official report:

Scoring Summary:
KC — Eddie Johnson 2 (Sasha Victorine 1, Davy Arnaud 1) 5
KC — Kerry Zavagnin 1 (unassisted) 55
KC — Yura Movsisyan 1 (Michael Harrington 1) 70

Kansas City Wizards — Kevin Hartman, Jack Jewsbury, Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Jose Burciaga Jr., Sasha Victorine (Yura Movsisyan 54), Carlos Marinelli (Will John 73), Kerry Zavagnin, Michael Harrington (Ryan Raybould 80), Eddie Johnson, Davy Arnaud.

Substitutes Not Used: Aaron Hohlbein, Eric Kronberg, Kurt Morsink, Ryan Pore

The Three Stars of the Game:
1) Eddie Johnson: The early goal not only established our form early, but it capped a 2 goal/2 assist performance in the last 3 games – Johnson’s output was 2 goals/1 assist for the entire season in ‘06.

2) Kevin Hartman: Even when you face a franchise which has never scored a goal, the GK (and the backline) deserve kudos whenever a clean sheet is earned. It took a wee bit of luck (Edson Buddle looked to have an easy goal but managed only a week shot right to Kevin) and some flashes of brilliance (e.g. the save on Eskandarian late), but Hartman earned his 63rd career shutout.

3) Carlos Marinelli: After being a 46′ substitute against RSL and Chicago, Marinelli played 70+ minutes yesterday and showed how well he can lead our offense when he is allowed to carry it from the get-go. I felt as though Marinelli’s presence was a huge factor throughout the first half and the team wasn’t quite as sharp without him on the field. While Onlafo concedes “It will take some time” for Carlos to reach full match-fitness, I think everyone in Oz is willing to be patient if this is how he plays at less than 100%!

Three Other Feel-Good Stories from Wednesday:
1) Yura made sure to put in a rebuttal to my comments about his effectiveness as a goal-scorer. Hopefully the play will give Yura a swagger coming off the bench for the rest of the season – we need someone whose fresh legs can provide late equalizers…

2) Kerry Zavagnin scored his first goal since 2003! I love his comment about spending such a long time without a goal: “6340 minutes. You know I don’t try to think of it that way.”

3) Eddie Johnson was cautioned after his goal for “delaying a restart” after showing a VTech T-Shirt under his uniform. I think the sentiment was great and anything that shows an EJo maturing from his earlier (and some might contend selfish) years bodes very well for KC.

Man vs. Machine – Score update:
While I made a prediction of KC 3- TFC 1, the FIFA ‘03 prediction was KC 0 – 2 SJ. It is a clear victory on my part for the cause of mankind, and I am now out of the hole with a 1-1-1 record.

The Final Word:
Though a Wednesday night, pouring rain home opener in front of less than 8,000 isn’t ideal, the Wizards’ performance yesterday nearly was. There will be challenges playing this weekend: fatigue, playing in a foreign country, getting jeered by a sellout crowd of Canadians, and facing a team psyched about their franchise’ home debut all come to mind. With good vibrations rolling in Camp Onalfo, however, the Wizards should be up to the task!