KC visits dc at RFK stadium 6:30p Central - Shootout, FSW. KC is 2-1-3 overall and in second place in the West, 2 points and a game in hand behind leader San Jose. KC comes in unbeaten in three games (1-0-2), on the road in '03 (1-0-1), in OT (1-0-3), and against dc (1-0-0). It sounds great on the surface, but KC has just 2 wins having held leads on 7 separate occasions ithrough 6 games. If not for Colorado's leaky defense KC would have the unique double of MLS' best offense (2.0/G) and worst defense (1.67/G). dc isn't faring as well. They are currently in last, 3 points out of a playoff spot and 8 points behind East rabbit Columbus. dc's shortcomings are widespread and varied. The black and white are also dealing with injuries, missing Reyes and Barclay. Ivanov and Etcheverry are listed as probable. MLS' worse offense is further burdened by having failed to score in any capacity in 200 league minutes at home. The good news is that the visiting teams also failed to score in those 2 games so dc did gain 2 points. Another positive would be that of the 3 total goals earned in the '03 season, two of them were against the Wizards. The overall series is in KC's favor at 9-8-2. The season series is also 1-0-0 to KC. Both teams played midweek, with dc getting help from an own goal to beat Tottenham Hotspur ENG 1-0. KC tied NE 1-1, giving up a 91st minute goal to Twellman after a lazer from Simutenkov put them ahead. KC's last 6 results - see if you can spot a pattern: W T L T W T... Also in these 6 games: KC has scored first in all 6, proceeded to give up 5 of those 6 leads, and managed to only regain the lead in one of the 5. I'm sure dc board visitors will remember it as that was the OT winner vs dc. KC is down Burciaga and Gutierrez, must start 2 guys with "playable" injuries, and will not have Wolff available - word on him is two more Saturday's. Kerry Zavagnin, Igor Simutenkov and Eric Quill are playing well. Meola, Brown, Fabbro, Armstrong, and Gansler can probably be considered "out of form". dc's last 5 results - again something of a pattern: L T T T L... Other than the KC game, dc has been largely unwatchable. For comprehensive opinion on dc's problems check the dc board.
Crush DC!!! I expect nothing less after these last few let downs. Our team should be p!ssed and I know that we want to be done with our terrible funk we have when we play at their house. I want a scrappy game with a 3-0 scoreline in our favor. It's possible (although unlikely) ---------------To-NAY --Jim-MAY---Tal-LAY---Jesus Garcia ----------Z -------------------Diego Klei-NAY--------------------------Quill ---------------Pre-KAY ----------Igor ------------------------Wolff *Armstrong on first wherever needed. *No Brown until 75 or later and behind please. *No Zotnica unless absolutely necessary. Lets break him in on home games a little more. *Arnaud over Fabbro if target forward is needed.
*Please no Armstrong, he's so out of form he could pass for a Iraqi at an RAF cotillion. [rimshot] *Gansler was observed after the game doing some, uh, coaching directly to Brown. It didn't look like a happy friendly conversation. *Agreed *Ouch, I dunno. Fabbro has no work rate to speak of past 30 minutes. May as well be the last :30. Has Arnaud ever done anything beyond having a kingly first name and not being someone else?
????????? How can you tell an offensive minded player is out of form when he has only come in once when his team was attacking? Why do you think he's out of form?
i agree - he doesnt look out of form to me, and i didnt see him do anything particularly bad when he was in there. In fact, I thought the real problem was that we were left with one forward who didnt run much and we couldn't hold the ball at all. In order for him to hold the ball we have to have support, it isn't just a one man comes in an kills the clock and maintains possession. He is fast and that is a good thing at the end of games. But we have to get the ball in order to do anything with it. ... I think coaching is what needs to get a little better for us to win at DC.
i like ray a lot as a person and i think he has some great strengths and weaknesses to be sure. he is a great guy no doubt. but we do need better results. i want him to succeed.
im critical of my coach like im critical of myself. it doesnt mean i would rather have your coach do it. i think he makes mistakes sometimes, that doesnt mean i dont want him to do the job. i just want 100% perfection out of the whole team... is that too much to ask? and my opinion isn't "you guys" its me. alone.
ok, i was just wondering if there was grumbling over there about Gansler. in DC of course several people are already calling for ray's head, etc. i'd like to think i am critical in that same way.