First things first: I found myself waffling over the thread title not wanting the mods to highjack it. Just the fact that I am made to feel that way is rediculous. For the record, the last sentence was the softer [read: less blunt] version of what I wanted to post. As too many threads are not normally a problem on the KC board. It's not like, oh, the dc board. Maybe the mods can ease back on the choke collar a bit... On to the thread: KC gets a second straight shutout. Not bad after giving up 3. It shows the ability to correct a problem. That ability is one of the more important aspects of dealing with any long season successfully. Even that is beside the fact that the bench is shortened on offense with Preki and Simu down. Wolde Harris contributing with a pair last time out. It's a little shocking, but I'm glad to see it. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like a bonus any time he gets on a scoresheet. Detter earned 4 points in 60 minutes last time out. He's just ripping up the pre-season. If he isn't scoring, he's setting up someone. I'd like a better informed opinion, but from a distance it seems like he is outplaying the roundly questioned #1 pick Taylor. For Taylor's part he has 3 on the pre-season as well. 2 of them have been set up by Detter. There's many ways to read that and all of them are helpful. 5 guys on the KC roster have at least 3 goals in pre-season. Five! None of them are named Preki or Simu. Obviously both are injured but due back mid-season. 9 guys have scored at least once. Sure the competition is mostly lesser in quality. The larger point is that if a guy scores it's easy to feel like it can happen again, regardless of foe. With the apparent increased bench depth things should looke better when Preki and Simu return. Maybe this August will be something to look forward to instead of the normal whack-a-Wizard fest that has been the previous 2 Augusts. 9 goals against in 9 games mostly without Klein, Wolff, Zags, Preki, and Simu...also Tony is getting just half time in net. If you can spin that in a negative way you should seek some help and maybe paint your walls a nice shade of taupe or mauve or something. Do you think Nick Garcia is OK with his being cut from the US Camp? He gets a trip to Portugal and some wins, while our Nats gave little Haiti a tie on our soil. All things considered, that's a good trade. One loss on the preseason and that was the 4-0 CLB game where Preki was hurt early on. Loss of focus is understandable when the league's MVP and your leader goes down with an impossible-to-not-see-it injury like that. I mention it because last year KC went 8-1-3 in earning the best pre-season record in MLS before finishing second in the West. The flipside of that is KC gave up only 7 goals in the '03 pre-season. Defense was the continued prolem all year. So, who knows? Who's Brian Roberts? Both he and Taylor Graham ran :90 in the back 4 last outing v Obidios. Lesser comp and the lower guys on the roster get more run. Fine, but who is he? 20 days and counting.
Young legs I agree with your assessment for the most part. getting contributions by way of goals from wolde is always a plus. As for Taylor, I'm still not sold. It's difficult to tell but it seems as if Detter is truly the bright spot of the preseason. He leads in goals and has set up others with clean assists. This kid is always around the ball and will be an asset as the injury bug plays out. he must have been injured since he didn't play in the last 2 games. This was a good game to play with the lineup. 2 different goalis and a couple of new back. They said they were going to be looking at new people here in Portugal but where will they fit into the roster? One last game before they come home. I believe this lineup for the last game will tip the hand of the opener.
An off-field tidbit here. I have been seeing alot of business's with Wiz schedules on the front counter. Kinda wacky really, I remember two years ago the local corp. Conoco's had some in them but that was about it. Now it is not just limited to gas stations but a bunch of differnent places's. Well gone FO.
Exactly... KC requested that none of their players be called up due to the injuries... Ganz wanted to get as many of the regulars back with the squad as he could... especially with Preki and Simu not being there. Getting team chemistry with the rest of the "A" team is a lot more important right now than a meaningless friendly against Haiti. (Though, I can't help but think that Wolff would have started over Woly, and Klein would have shown better than Ralston... and even Zags shown better than Armas)
Melvin No. I don't talk to anybody. I am a Detter fan since I am also a ND soccer fan. I am hoping one of their players will finally catch on. Have you talked to Matt?
I'm a UCLA fan and I don't talk to anyone either. I hope Detter and Taylor both play well and catch on.
I'm still not sure I'm sold on the fact that the preseason shows anything. But a shutout is always nice. We just don't know what kind of competition we were up against. Harris will be needed this season, especially the first half. I'm with you that any time he scores its bonus though. He just doesn't come across to me as the 10-15 goals type of forward. We have to see it to believe it against MLS competition if you ask me. But as I said before, the draft involves some luck and maybe we just hit the jackpot. We need the rooks to step up, and I hope this is a good sign of things to come. We really haven't seen a real contribution from a rookie since Garcia. This stuff is great to see! If we're going to do absolutely anything this year in the league we have to have contribution from the whole team and not rely on someone to carry almost all of the load. If you take a look around sports its often the teams that win. Superstars win games, teams win championships. Damn straight!
Brian Roberts is the black guy that we didn't recognize at First Look. Teammate of Alberts' at Yale. http://yalebulldogs.ocsn.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/roberts_brian00.html
Re: Re: State of KC - Things to mention Except he did take Pat Noonan from NE, even though they were in the Azores.
I'm just gonna quote my own post from earlier because we're somehow still discussing this even though I already pointed out why nobody from KC was on the roster for the Haiti match.
“We are shoring up the defense some more,” he continued. “If you don’t let them score goals, we don’t need as many to win.” (Gotta love German logic.) “You can’t replace Preki. Everyone has to share that responsibility. And one man’s absence is another man’s opportunity. Some guys have maybe been doing extra work for Preki for a long time, on defense especially, and now they have their chance.” This from Lalas' most recent contribution to MLSnet.com. Interesting that Gansler would call Preki out in such a way after Preki has spent two seasons making Bob look like a moron for ever trading him.
Good Post Charter, I agree, it's nice to start up a new thread every once in a while instead of going through 3 pages of ancient information. Hopefully this new upgrade improved the available space and that won't be much of a problem. As for the season, does anyone think any of the rooks have a chance to start this year with all the injuries? James
Guessing from preseason lineups, it's possible that Detter is our #3 forward right now. Wolff & Arnaud seemed to be clicking together well in Portugal, and I expect them to start. Nat'l team call-ups could see Wolff in camp & Arnaud filling in for Klein on the right side. That leaves us w/ Wolde & Detter up top. Unless his monster preseason has been a fluke, I don't see any reason why Detter won't see some serious minutes.
I hope so, I've picked him up in the MFLS season, hoping that it wasn't a fluke, and if it was, he's only 30
Well I didn't know where else to put this, so it's going here, it looks like two Wizards are going to get looks again with the USMNT against Poland, Kerry and Wolff were both part of the 19 man roster for the game, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/soccer/03/24/bc.soc.us.roster.ap/index.html I was also reading somewhere else, I can't remember where, but apparently, Wolff has been impressing in US training camp lately as well. That could be a good sign for us this season.
Re: Klein's going to Poland, too. Article in the star that I just found about Burciaga and coming back from his second ACL tear. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/8278284.htm?1c Interesting quote in the article by Gansler, “He's not knocking on a starter's door right now, but I'm sure that will happen.” So with that said, who do you think is going to start next to Garcia and Jim-May, do you think it's Zotinca or Thomas??
Gansler selected six “pillars of strength,” as he called them, players whom he said played well every minute while overseas — Meola, Conrad, Garcia, Wolff, defensive midfielder Kerry Zavagnin and Chris Klein, with Thomas close behind. It's good to see that Thomas is playing well, he seems to be a good addition to the squad so far.
Maybe I'm nit-picking, but nobody from the wings or attacking midfield. We somehow need to get the ball from our pillars of defense up to Wolff and his running mates.