Wizards vs Red Bulls Game Report

By: Morpheus | May 2nd, 2011

I was away for the weekend refereeing a youth soccer tournament which kept me from watching this game live. But thanks to my DVR I was able to record and watch this game this morning. SKC played a pretty good game and the defense gave up only 1 goal and no red cards. But some of the same problems plagued this team in the 1-0 loss to the Red Bulls.

Formation

I still don’t like this formation, but it worked better this game than the last few games. Here is what the formation looked at to start the game.

Jimmy Nielsen

Micheal Harrington Aurelien Collin Julio Cesar Korede Aiyegbusi

Davy Arnaud Stephane Auvray Graham Zusi

Kei Kamara Teal Bunbury C.J. Sapong

Subs used: Ryan Smith for C.J. Sapong (46); Milo Stojcev for Stephane Auvray (64)

Aiyegbusi got his first start due to an illness to Roger Espinoza and Auvray got to start in place of Diop. We also got to see the pairing of Collin and Cesar for the first time and they looked pretty solid in central defense. I still don’t like this formation but with Auvray playing the holding midfielder role worked much better than Diop. This game there seemed to be an emphasis put on defending which meant that Kamara and Sapong were playing much deeper and this left Teal alone up top to do all the work. It wasn’t until the second half when Smith game on that there was space for Teal to get the ball and create shots.

Defense

It was obvious from the start that NY was going to attack the rookie in his first start and Aiyegbusi did a remarkable job for most of the game. It was unfortunate that it was his guy that got free on a quick restart that led to the only goal of the game. In the first half NY was able to put a lot of pressure on the Wizard’s defense but giving up only 1 goal is impressive. Credit should be given to this defense, including Nielsen, for holding a team with this much talent to only a goal.

Midfield

This midfield looked better at controlling the ball and clogging passing lanes than in the previous games. There is a still a problem with a lack of outside pressure because these 3 players are asked to play tight in the middle of the field. Auvray did a very good job, despite causing the foul that led to the penalty kick, of closing players down and when he got the ball he was able to distribute the ball much better than Diop was doing previously. I hope this games will show to Vermes that Auvray needs to see more time on the field. I don’t know why but this was one of the best games by Arnaud this season. He was available in the attack and took a few long range shots. Even though those shots didn’t challenge the keeper we all know that Davy can make teams pay for giving him space and this will help create space for the other players.

Forwards

Sapong was pretty much a non-factor in this game on offense, but he did track back and help defensively several times. That is a massive improvement from the last couple of games and once he finds some balance he will be a very good sub to come on late in games. Teal and Kamara did really well trying to push the attack, especially in the 2nd half, but it was obvious that Kei was getting tired towards the end of the game. He is asked to track back so far that at times he was receiving the ball deep in the defensive third. The biggest news for these forwards was the 45 minutes that Ryan Smith played. He game on and all of a sudden he was taking players on and creating space for Bunbury to move around. Hopefully we will start to see Smith starting soon and this will be a huge help for Teal. And can you imagine the kind of pressure there will be on opposing defenses when Bravo and Smith see the field together.

Overall

I am not a fan of morale victories, but with the way SKC played in this game especially in the second half they should have gotten a point out of this game. Ryan Smith’s comeback from injury looks to be a success and hopefully he will help create more chances with his speed and his skills to take on opposing defenses. The other part of this game that was a huge improvement was the fact that SKC received no cards! Not even a yellow card! I believe this was the first time this season that this happened.