I'm trying to be positive, but I would say put a fork in us. We are done. I just don't see us beating the Quakes 3-0. The last time we scored 3 or more goals was against Dallas on August 4 [4-0]. That was when we still had Klein on the field. There's your most valuable player. Without Chris we have really lost a lot in the midfield.
This is what i hope to see happen. The game on Saturday will be 2-0 us. Then we will go over time and Igor will score like he did in the USOC because he wants to redeem himself for not playing well Sunday. We can do it. I know we didn't work our a**** off in the regular season to be gone the second night of the playoffs. GO WIZARDS!!!!!!
Can "Bunker Bob" figure out how to generate two goals? 2+ goal wins in the Bob Gansler era: 6-0 6/20/99 vs MetroStars 2-0 8/29/99 vs Miami -- 3-0 4/1/00 vs Colorado 2-0 4/15/00 vs San Jose 5-0 4/29/00 at Colorado 2-0 5/13/00 vs MetroStars 2-0 5/17/00 vs DC United 2-0 5/20/00 vs San Jose 2-0 6/24/00 vs Los Angeles 3-1 7/22/00 vs Columbus 3-1 8/2/00 vs Colorado 3-0 8/16/00 at San Jose -- 3-0 4/21/01 at Columbus 3-0 6/30/01 vs Tampa Bay 2-0 7/29/01 vs New England 3-0 9/26/01 vs Miami - playoff game -- 2-0 4/13/02 vs San Jose 2-0 6/15/02 vs DC United 4-2 7/13/02 at New England 4-1 9/28/02 vs Los Angeles - playoff game -- 3-1 5/10/03 at Dallas 4-2 6/21/03 vs Chicago 5-1 7/12/03 vs Dallas 2-0 9/27/03 at Los Angeles 4-2 10/4/03 vs Colorado 2-0 11/8/03 vs Colorado - playoff game -- 2-0 5/1/04 vs Colorado 2-0 5/22/04 vs Dallas 3-1 6/19/04 at New England 5-1 7/3/04 at Dallas ----- Games this season where the Wizards scored two or more goals: 2-0 5/1/04 vs Colorado 2-2 5/8/04 vs Chicago 2-0 5/22/04 vs Dallas 2-3 6/2/04 vs New England 2-1 6/5/04 at Los Angeles 2-2 6/12/04 at Columbus 3-1 6/19/04 at New England 5-1 7/3/04 at Dallas 2-2 7/24/04 vs Los Angeles
We haven't scored 2 goals in an MLS game since July. Other than our "bunker" championship season of 2000, most 2 goal wins seem to be almost by accident - or against dreadful teams. On the plus side, our last three playoff home games have been 2 goal wins. Wow, looking at the numbers - do we ever miss Chris Klein.
Did anyone notice the bench players Bob elected to have available for the last game? Will, Khari, Shavar, Diego, and Graham. Notice there wasn't a forward eligible. It seems that Bob's plan had been to bunker without concern to scoring. This is especially distressing since our last game against LA saw Davey only able to go 27 minutes before Matt Taylor had to sub in. No way is Davey in great shape right now. Also missing from the available roster was Gomez. My how things have changed. As for us scoring more than 2 goals, someone tell me who will generate more than 3 passes which might result in even one goal. That said, I cannot believe this team will give up. No way will KZ have as bad a game. If we score an early goal we will be ok. But 0-0 at half will be too much too overcome. Good season no matter the outcome. Injuries would have devastated anyone else.
Never say, "Never." We have the talent and character to get the job done. That said, I wonder how years of never "releasing the hounds" has affected the team's ability to do just that. As others have commented on, it looks like virtually every team except us has added a Herron, Gomez, Sanneh down the stretch. With all of our injuries, I find it hard to believe that there wasn't anyone the Wizards could bring in. Are we that hard up against the cap? Losing either Preki or Klein didn't seemt to affect us. Losing both has really killed our offense. But looking at the two goal games and two goal victories, historically they come early in the season. And, yes, I'm concerned that neither Detter nor Taylor were on the bench in San Jose. Teams that "play not to lose" rarely win. I think we'll see the boys give it there all on Saturday. I'll be there, and Wizards have only lost one game ever in Kansas City with me in town!
I just realized that in 31 MLS games this season, the Wizards have scored fewer than 2 goals in 22 of those 31 games. How the hell did we get to the third tiebreaker for the Supporters Shield?
Well I think Bob should put a leash on Burciaga for this game. If he tries to hit any passes longer than 15 yards he should be subbed out. He must've given up 15 possesions to San Jose trying to spring the forwards and most of those went to Onstadt or out for a goal kick. Second thing is Bob better light a fire under the midfielders butts to ensure they have a swarm mentality when on attack. When SJ started moving foreward there was always a square pass if not a more attacking pass that was availble to the ball handler. When KC moved forward it was Josh trying to hold off a defender for 4 - 5 seconds and eventually losing it or having to pass it way back because no one would run for our forwards. Speaking of Josh - It's freaking Agoos and Waibel bro - you're two steps faster than they are; run at them and get around them you pu$$y. I'm tired of watching you play like a Grbac playing to protect your salary on your club team. You'll only make/create something original if it's for the Nats. I know alot of people around here like Josh but I can't think of any goals he's scored this year that weren't garbage rebounds or back post tap ins. Yes he can get in the right spot but I don't think he beat a single defender or keeper this entire year for a goal or assist. It's the pass to me and I'll flick it to you then run for any scraps or just hold till I lose possesion mentality. We need more than that from the leagues highest paid "striker"! At least Davey "was" pushing defenders to their limits and getting shots off to the back post at one time. Igor will do this - I don't care how bad of a game Bob thinks he's having leave him on the full 90. He was actually the closest to scoring for us with his intelligent run and chip on Onstadt that just went over the crossbar. Yes I'm bitter. Our team looks like a$$ and I consider our season over. Saturday's game is just an exercise if Bob decides to lineup and sub like he did. Time for changes in the ol' lineup TONYGrahm Garcia Conrad GutierrezZavagninZotinca BurciagaArnaud SimuntenkovWolff Tony in for the pay attention/in your ass factor.Gutierrez at LB for less corners and accurate long balls.Burciaga at mid more for his one on one skills and screamer of a shot.Grahm for set pieces as our center back were rocks last game and can cover.Arnaud back a bit to get him facing the goal for a change.Wolff up top because that's the only place you can play him.Simu stays in all game regardless since he'll take on people that will create other spaces - we're way to predictable in how we attack. Prediction: KC 1 - San Jose 0 - we win the game but start our glorious offseason.
Actually, we only reached 2 goals in 2 of the 4 MLS games against Dallas. Though we did bitch-slap them in the US Open Cup. That said our last two USOC games were also in the 1-0 category, with one of those games being 0-0 at 90 minutes.
I hate to say it, but we're f***ed. That might be the pesimistic way of looking at it, but this team just went out and played their worst game in months in the biggest game of the year.
I like this lineup. I know they talked about Tony being ready on the Sunday telecast, but does anyone know for sure? Maybe with Grahm and Gutierrez on the ends, we can make it tougher for any body to get a clean cross. I'm concerned about the field conditons for the game. With the new sod and rain predicted for most of the mid-week, how will the field be on Saturday. During the last soccer game and the Chiefs game, it looked like the new sod had not set up roots that well. Hopefully with the sun out the last couple of days, it will be firmer. If not, who benifits from a loose turf? How big of a crowd can we expect. The forcast calls for sunny and mid 60's during the day and gettin down to 47 at night. I'll actually be there in the OSCO House. Got a call today and won 4 tickets, drinks and hot dogs. Hopefully I can put in my appearance and then slid over to the Cauldron to have some REAL fun.
Nobody new on the SJ roster; and we've had severe injury issues this year too. we played that last game without either of our regular center mids. Now, I'll grant you, putting Donovan in for Ekelund gets both DeRosario and Ching on the field up front with no dropoff in service; but Corrales for Mulrooney was a crapshoot. Sometimes Ramiro is on (last Sunday was his best game of the year) but he stunk up the pitch more than once this year. The only time in the last 4 years we lost playoff games was when Mulrooney was out with a broken ankle in 2002, so we were all plenty nervous about last Sunday's lineup. And with Ramiro in center, Ian Russell started at the left mid and went 90 for the first time all year, on fumes for most of the last 25. We don't know yet whether Ekelund's hamstring will recover this week, whether Ching's hamstring will release enough to give him real mobility, if Agoos is ever gonna have a strong full 90 again. We've missed Roner all year, Eddie Robinson's missed most of the season...SJ bench is pretty thin with Dombrowski, Walker and Alvarez. What lineup this weekend? Who can guess? I know you're really missing Preki and Klein. I consider the injury depletions and lack of new callups to have kept these two teams even. Both coaches are at fault DougO
I hate to say it, but I just can't see us winning by 2 no matter what. My stomach is already in knots waiting for this game though. Cheering this weekend will definitely result in voice-lossage.
I'm surprised I don't see a bunch of bitching and moaning about the "unfair" playoff format that lets the low seed have the first home game. Last year, Yallop and company were livid about the 2-0 loss at LA and how much it put SJ at a disadvantage. Well, the Mexican league has been doing this "home and away" aggregate series for some time and it works! Even though the home team is often behind after the first game, the higher seed usual pulls through with an exciting home match. Look at it this way, you'll get to experience wide open attacking soccer. You'll likely have a great game to witness and if KC pulls it out, it'll be one of your favorite memories......
what the hell is it to you anyway? you create a non-existent scenario of us whining and then respond to it? go away. <im surprised no one is complaining about landon donovan, the first openly gay male soccer player in the US. no one should complain, because gay soccer players shouldn't be discriminated against. And landon's skill on the field should outweigh his being openly gay. there are other sports where openly gay male athletes have been embraced by the public and soccer should be one as well...> god you are stupid.
You come on here asking why we aren't bitching and moaning about the way the playoff system is. For me at least, this is the system in place, the league uses this system, therefore we need to learn to live with it. We are more into bitching and moaning about how piss poor our team played in the game, rather then discuss the playoff set up. You then decide that since no one at all has brought this topic up that you personally feel it is your job to tell us of the Mexican league and the fact that they use the same system and the higher seed comes back. If we'd have wanted more info on the topic of the playoff system we would have asked for it. PS. We were screwed by the playoff system, if this were a three game series with us having two home games we'd easily win.
I gotta agree with the last two guys, what the hell are you doing? I disagree with playoffs as a whole. There, happy?
Easy guys. I was giving you CREDIT! Quakes management whined last year about how "unfair" it was. Some Quakes fans echo'd that. You guys deserve kudos for just focusing on the game and not claiming you were "jobbed" by the system. I see a bunch of pesimissom. It's undeserved. If you look at the history of this "format", you'll see that the home team OFTEN comes back from deficeits of 2-0 or greater. That was why I brought up the Mexican league. I'm sure at first there were the same concerns about first leg advantage. Now, all the Mexican league fans I know love it..... P.S. What's with the gay smack? KC fans seem a lot classer then most other MLS fans....
Its an interesting dynamic - the two-legged series is very new to MLS clubs. I personally wonder if the Quakes can bunker down for the entire match, and if so, can they hold on? The Quakes don't generally play bunker-ball, so if the Wizards can get a 1st half goal, the second half should be pretty entertaining and tense. If I were a Wizards fan, I'd be pretty pissed that they still played very conservatively at the end of the match. Yes, you are missing Klein, but Arnaud and Wolff are awfully dangerous. I'd feel much better about the Quakes if Dayak were playing. I wish the Wizards all the luck in the world Saturday. Bad luck, of course.
Agreed but we don't ever play "balls out, we have to score 2 f-ing goals just to tie the game" soccer either. That is why there is no faith among the ranks. Bob is going to have to play all out attacking soccer that is something he is not used to doing. I personally don't think we have the talent to do that. It might be crazy but this is my starting 11 Bo Jimmy Shavar Nick Zontica, KZ,Diego, Jose Igor Josh,Davey That is right a 2-1-4-1-2. Why because we have to score goals and it doesn't really matter if we give up a goal. I hope a miracle will happen but I just don't think it will.