Sunday, November 11, 2007

Wizards Bow Out of the Playoffs

The Wizards bowed out of the playoffs in a weak 2-0 loss to the Houston Dynamo. It certainly was not one of the prettier games the Wizards have played this season. In fact it was a very weak performance by the boys in blue. Only 3 shots all game, none of them on goal, is not going to be enough to win you a game against a team like Houston.

From the beginning of the game, the Wizards looked like they were on their back foot. The team's best chance of the game came early in the first half, when a Davy Arnaud free kick was flicked on to Eddie Johnson, who's shot blasted just over the bar. KC then conceded their first goal of the playoffs in the 35th minute, when Nate Jaqua beat Michael Harrington and Kevin Hartman to the ball to score the opener. About 5 minutes later, Jaqua was lucky to remain on the field when he led with his elbow going into a challenge on Jack Jewsbury.

In the second half, while the Wizards were able to have more possession, they never looked very dangerous at all on the attack. Finally, late in the second half, the Dynamo were able to strike again, this time through Dwayne DeRosario. The win for the Dynamo sets up a rematch of the snoozefest that was MLS Cup 2006.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Eddie Robinson - Houston - Completely shut down the Wizards forwards all night, 3 shots all game for KC, can't hope for much better then that.
2. Ryan Cochrane - Houston - Robinson's partner in the back, the two of them were rocks in the back, Eddie Johnson and Scott Sealy were not able to get anything going all night.
3. Dwayne DeRosario - Houston - Scored the second, and had his run of the midfield, especially in the second half, when Kerry Zavagnin was subbed out, and Kurt Morsink was given the task of marking DeRosario.

1 comment:

szazzy said...

The Dynamo were too physical for the Wizards to handle with Marrufo calling that kind of game.

Our forwards were eaten alive. Sealy showed once again he is a good player but too small in many situations.

Eddie Robinson will be in EJ's nightmares for years to come. He was outstanding along with Cochrane. I'd like to see a Eddie Robinson-Jimmy Conrad back line for a USMNT friendly sometime.