Story up on the Wizards site: http://www.kcwizards.com/news/interiornewspage.asp?story_id=3A9A844VK2I7RB6IAC2PARX84W Scoring Summary: KC- Chris Brown (Chris Klein) 10’ KC- Chris Klein (Preki) 15’ KC- Igor Simutenkov (Preki) 27' KC- Igor Simutenkov (Penalty Kick) 38' KC- Josh Wolff (Francisco Gomez) 78’
huh revisisted. even holier poop. like pope poop. Joff Wolf made his debut as a Wizard. Doesn't it kinda suck that we cant see it? Wouldn't it be nice if these pre-season games were covered as well as crappy baseball games. i mean isnt the entire first half of the baseball season preseason anyway? well - im glad to see that Klein had such a huge impact in his first game. i would like to see what Dario can do. i thought if he would just stop diving he might have something to contribute - at least he has size at the forward position which we dont otherwise have. then there is chris brown who only scores so he can show that a man can stay on a team, and even get playing time despite his absolute refusal to run.
great to see Josh get his first run out. looks like he might be healthy by the season opener after all.
Not that it matters seeing as we got waxed 5-0 by the Rainbow Warriors, but the article on the Wizards website is a tad misleading.. It said that Olsen and Convey were the only starters missing in action today.. Rimando, Nelsen, Prideaux and Qauranta were all out as well and they would be considered starters at this point, so that is 6 of the 11 starters out of action.. Again, not that it mattered because we got worked by your boys....
Kansas City Lineup: Bo Oshoniyi-GK (Taly Goode-46), Nick Garcia (Chris Brunt-79), Jimmy Conrad, Jose Burciaga, Chris Klein (Jack Jewsbury-67), Carey Talley, Preki (Lazo Alavanja-79), Francisco Gomez, Diego Gutierrez (Stephen Armstrong-46), Chris Brown (Davy Arnaud-67), Igor Simutenkov (Josh Wolff-46) Here is a guess on the formation? Garcia, Conrad, Burciaga Talley, Gomez Klien, Preki, Gutierez Brown, Simutenkov Basic assumptions: There may be competition for the second goal keeper spot. The defense is consistent with Garcia, Conrad, and Burciaga. Zavagnin is a no show again. Is there something we don't know about, or is Gansler confident on his spot and letting Talley, Deigo and Gomez battle it out for it. Igor may be the other person along side Wolff
Congrats to KC on your total domination of DC United. Clearly you kicked our azzez in every way today. I'm happiest for you that Wolff returned, Burciaga helped post a shutout, and Igor nabbed a brace. If you guys get those three players to consistently contribute, you'll do very well this season. As a DC United fan, I'm glad this was against mostly backup defenders though, as 5 goals is quite an eye-opener. Our starting Dmid--Nelsen--is out for a couple of weeks with an injury. Our starting keeper--Rimando--was reported to have played, but I am curious about that one because knowledgable reports from DC United writers had him as still injured. Prideaux another possible starter at left back is out for 3 weeks. But it does look like Ivanov and/or Petke played. Most likely Reyes also played, but reports are that he's having a very bad camp. Judging by how the Wizards manhandled United, I guess our young sub defenders are definitely not ready for prime time. Hopefully United's defense will come together fairly soon. If not, it could be a very rough early season. -Tron
Ok, I was at the game. Some thoughts (I'm a dc fan, fyi): KC looked organized, hungry and dangerous. The Wiz made numerous "secondary" runs, while DC was mainly flat-footed and/or one-dimensional on offense. Josh's goal was pretty sweet. Nothing Golazo about it, but VERY clinical. He carried it across the top of the 18 and then wrong-footed Warren with a sloooooow rolling shot to the far-post. Prekis looks GOOD. Good. Klein is active and almost always open. He creates Kerry is similarly active and the defense is SOLID. DC sucked and KC just looked really fluid and ready to go.
Mmmmmm, sweet music to my soul... OK, still grinning but back to reality: It's pre-season. dc is youthful, has many new players, has a coach who may not be suited for non-veteran players, and was summarily blitzed by a highly experienced KC squad. What can we draw from this? First, thanks to Bambule GK for posting first-hand; classy and no doubt a tough thing to do. No tears, he's warmer than we are. 4-0 at halftime. KC is only unbeaten team in pre-season. By the sound Preki has the A game dusted off and ready. Likewise for Igor. Conrad is apparently well. Good. We know Klien runs open all day, nothing new there. From the reports, Bo and Talley were untested. The website article hyped the Goode save, but as we know, things from a Hunt Sports' website are written with a highly favorable tinge. Regardless, KC will go to LA in late November with one save shutouts all season. Plus, over 540 minutes our guys have conceeded just once. Regardless of competition, the D is doing a job. On to the attack, 10 goals since returning from RSA. The chances were created all last season, and for now, they are going in. Wolff with a marker and more importantly, Brown with an opening goal from a Klein cross. Obviously, most every time we see this a win will follow. It's too early to say if it's fixed, but last year a main problem was conversion of opportunities. A small part of that was available space and another was simple technique. As advertised, Wolff may be the solution to the available space problem. His speed and intelligence presents the imminent danger that forces defensive decisions and therefore opens space for the secondary runs Bambule GK mentioned were present all day. We know Brown can use his head. Apparently this time he had space too - wish we could see a clip. Questions: *Fabbro is looking more like a non-factor. No shock, but judicious use of SI slots has always been necessary to win in MLS. *Where is Zags and what will be his roll? Is he hurt? *Any kids going to stick? *How about Alavanja? His minutes seem to be coming in as a closer for Preki. *Meola with rest in 2 of last 3. I'm not worried, but it would be nice to have a Star reporter ask the question of why so we can hear officially that "Tony doesn't need the work", or whatever. This seems like Journalism 101 to me. *Are defensive set pieces still going to be the Achilles? Only CLB has been able to attack KC consistently on the ground since '99. One goal in six games is something, but are set pieces even happening for the opposition? Last thought: If I'm Preki, I'm drooling and recalling Miami '00, a team that can strike in various ways. Here's the difference - Meola and a defense instead of a rookie GK.
Obviously a good win and exciting to see Wolff play and score. Incidentally the Screaming Eagles are planning a trip for our match with them on April 12. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=37743 Mystic/Eagles tailgate?
You gotta love this-I hope that this preseason performance carries over into the reg season. Looks like the smartest thing Curt did was to trade our draft picks for proven guys. Conrad has played very well and Josh is coming back from injury very well-opening day perhaps?. I think Bob is finally finding a lineup he can stay with-let's hope he doesn't play revolving positions this year. And even at his ripe old age, Preki is still bringin' it. I like our chance at the cup this year. On a side note, the guys from DC who gave us the info-Thanks and hope to see you at Arrowhead on April 12th.
Repeat the following: 1. Let's not get carried away, it was only a pre-season match 2. They didn't have a full line-up 3. We have a team who are ready for the season to start now 4. They don't! 5. I'd rather us win 5-0 than lose 5-0, any time! 6. When we play them in April, we can sing 5-nil, 5 nil!!
I realize it was only a preseason match but the way that the team is gelling with each other is what I'm excited about-not that we beat DC 5-0 without some of their starters. I just think we have a good chance to make some noise in the league this year. Anything is better than being the 8th seed again.
It's better than the 9th seed. But seriously, I'm excited at the potential of this team. An entertaining brand of attacking football with a decent defense might help keep all of these new fans entertained and maybe attract even more new ones. Death to "Bunker Ball"!
I'll believe that when I see it. Sorry to be a skeptic, but after three nil-nil draws in a row, a 2-nil win and a 5-nil win don't make us an attacking side just yet. I think DC's bad defenders might have had something to do with it. I hope we have turned into attacking monsters, but I guess I need more proof.
This preseason reminds me of the year KC won the championship. They keep on winning but nobody notices. KC sneaks up on people. If a team loses to them they think they suck rather than thinking KC is good.
Re: Re: Wizards - DC United (R) If you are going to use the "they didn't play their best players" line, then you must say the same of the Wizards, especially in S. Africa. David Testo and Davy Arnaud started up top against Supersport United, for christ's sake.
Re: Re: Re: Wizards - DC United (R) Very true. I do think our S. African trip has us in better shape than most teams and Gansler seems to be closer to his starting 11 than other teams. I am not discrediting our performances at all, but until they are worth 3 points I can't say how meaningful these matches are.