Off to Utah. KC-RSL (Pre-Game)

By: Herschel | May 15th, 2009

It off to the West to meet the up and down Real Salt Lake who it seems expended all it’s ammunition in a 6-0 defeat of New England in April and now is on a slide, having scored only 3 goals in 4 games. It’s going to be a tough visit for the Wizards who have struggled to score and don’t seem to have found consistency from the ever changing starting 11 that Curt Onalfo sends out.

From my visits to the practice facility I would assume that the starting 11 will be the following:

————-Hartman————-
Watson – Conrad – Hohlbein – Besler
—————Hirsig—————
Arnaud——————–Espinoza
————-Jewsbury————
——Wolff———–Lopez——–

I really don’t like this lineup, and with the exception of Lopez starting in place of Michael Harrington and moving Arnaud to the right side of the midfield it’s the same group that got beat in Columbus. I fear that the result this weekend will not be positive since the coach is failing to address the main problems for this team which I see as:

1. Up and down defense: Ex Wizard Yura Movsisyan will keep the KC defense on their toes and either Robbie Findley or Javier Morales coming in behind him will need to be kept out of the box. Still I think the biggest problems will come with the RSL wingers who love to run up the field, which means that Besler and Watson will have their hands full with the overlapping runs of Mathis and Co. I feel their weaknesses, especially Lance’s, will be exposed. Conrad is not having his best year and Hohlbein, Besler and Watson (out of position) cannot make up for it.

2. Mid-field needs to hold it when it needs to be held and play it fast when you need to give and go: I am not sold on Santiago Hirsig in the middle. I have yet to see him play a one touch ball. He will hold the ball forever and the MLS has figured this out and will collapse on him (he’s responsible for at least 1 goal because of this already); he also tends to be slow to react at times. Davy Arnaud needs to again move to the wing (and show up for the whole game) and Jack Jewsbury needs to man the other side of the field; his assists against DC and against C-Bus show how well he moves on the wing; I hope he is not the Attacking mid.

3. More punch up front. The Wolff and Lopez combo scares no one. If Wolff plays, he needs to do it up front; Lopez could also back up to the A-Mid or come in off the bench. Adam Cristman get healthy now.

4. The same subs over and over and over: I have been able to guess what the Wizards subs were going to be by half time of every game after the Colorado match. Onalfo surprises no one. Here’s my take on the sub situation: Harrington is in a slump and is lost when not in the back 4 (he is better than Watson); Kraus, with the exception of his goal in Colorado has given tons of effort but little when it comes to soccer and making the team better and has no weight in a featherweight attack; Espinoza has his moments but I feel he get confused at times and doesn’t play the smart ball; Gomez has been very unreliable both as a starter and a sub. I feel that bringing some change into the top with a physical Abe Thompson on a tired defense might make a difference and bringing another holding mid like Kurt Morsink might our transition to 3 defenders a bit easier on Jewsbury and give him more chances to move forward and help the attack.

So, now back to the game. RSL will attack and KC will be pushed hard. They are a stronger and more physical than KC and that is something KC has struggled with (see Connor Casey, Brian McBride and Danny Dicchio). KC is a slow starting team and we’ll be back on our heels for most of the game. We’ll be lucky to be tied at the end of the first half. The relentless pressure from RSL will eventually lead to a couple of goals, with KC waking up and scoring in the second half. Javier Morales should have a good game for RSL since Hirsig offers little pressure at D-Mid and Josh Wolff will score again off a cross from either Jewsbury or Lopez.

Final Score KC-1 (Wolff) RSL-2. (Movsisyan, Morales)

Here’s my sub guessing game: Coming in:Harrington, Gomez and Kraus. Out in no particular order: Holhbein/Besler, Espinoza, Watson

I really hope I’m wrong. Feel free to comment or participate in our online poll.