More on Why the Pre-Season Doesn’t Matter.

By: Michael | February 19th, 2007

So while the Galaxy, Toronto FC, and RBNY all talk about undefeated seasons, the Kansas City Wizards have decided to keep everything in perspective. That’s right, the pre-season doesn’t matter. Which is why I am not at all upset to see we have dropped another scrimmage. This time it was a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Columbus Crew. The one goal was a 50th minute penalty kick scored against Seton Hall graduate Boris Pardo. The game was Conrad, Johnson, and Scott Sealy’s first Wizards play all year.

Five Good Things:

1) Number of goals scored against the Wizards in 2007 with Jimmy Conrad is on the field: 0.

2) Hartman has apparently looked pretty sharp thus far this post-season. By my tally he has a 0.50 goals against average right now.

3) I’m liking the look of our starting XI this year, especially if Onalfo keeps the 4-4-2 he has been playing. Yesterday the first half was played by: Hartman; Jewsbury, Garcia, Conrad, Burciaga, Jr.; Elcock, McMahen, Morsink, Victorine; Johnson, Sealy. Up front and in back we are extremely solid, and I think the midfield (led by Victorine) will solidify as the pre-season goes one. Look for Ryan Pore to make a run at a regular starting job and for Davy Arnaud to get one of those starting midfield spots when he comes back from his ankle injury.

4) The Wizards seem to have a bright future as even with our two U-23 call-ups absent, there are plenty of future stars in the second half’s XI: Pardo; Godboldt, Hohlbein, Wahl, Anderon; Watson, Raad, Raybould, Pore; Guadarrama, Todd

5) The lack of scoring thus far has not been for want of opportunities. The Wiz outshot the Crew 12-11, but forced only 2 saves. If Onalfo can work with our forwards to tighten up our finishing, we’ll soon be winning left and right.

Two Things that Worry Me:

1) The lack of scoring thus far has not been for want of opportunities. If things don’t get better (though they will) in the scoring department, a frustrating season of 1-0 and 2-1 losses could be ahead. Had Kansas City just twice finished off an opportunity to tie up a 1-goal loss, they’d have been in the playoffs instead of RBNY.

2) The lead story on kcwizards.com from Friday is “A Rejuvenating Day for Wizards“. Isn’t that a bad attitude to have after only two scrimmages? Sure, take an unexpected day off to boost morale or do something fun like a small-squad tournament, but we already need a day to rejuvenate? Yikes!

Quote of the Day:
Davy Arnaud (rooming with Jimmy Conrad and Jack Jewsbury): “We have been playing a lot of card games like Uno and 22, and we just bought a board game called ‘Settlers of Catan.’ It’s been a lot of fun, except for the fact that Jimmy doesn’t agree with a lot of our rules and when he loses, he locks himself in his room and won’t come out.”

UPDATE: Kcwizards.com just posted the score from yesterday’s DC United scrimmage, a 0-0 draw. Analysis tomorrow.