Tuesday, January 01, 2008

1 Game Wonders

In the latest issue of MLS Magazine, there's a great article about MLS's one game wonders. Players that have only played one game in the league. Eighty-three players are on the list. The list does include 6 former Wizards players, and 1 current Wizard.

Here's a closer look at the Wizards players who make this list.

Dustin Branan - 2005- Branan made it single league appearance on August 13, 2005 in Salt Lake, during the Wizards 4-2 win against RSL. Coming on in the 90th minute for Chris Klein, Branan has a grand total of 1 minute of playing time in MLS. Branan, though, did appear in two more games for the Wizards, both in the US Open Cup that year.

Narciso Fernandes - 2001 - Fernandes made his only appearance for the Wizards April 21, 2001, coming on for Chris Brown in the 84th minute in the team's 3-0 win over Columbus.

Jamel Mitchell - 1997 - Mitchell came on in the season finale at the Rose Bowl in the Wizards 2-0 loss to the Galaxy. Coming on for Paul Wright, Mitchell got 16 minutes of playing time in a meaningless game, as the Wizards had already clinched the top seed in the West.

Sergei Raad - 2006 - Raad was one of the Wizards to benefit from the firing of Bob Gansler last season. After Brian Bliss took over, Raad found himself on the bench more regularly then he had under Gansler. He finally got some playing time, coming in for Dave van den Bergh in the 68th minute of a 1-1 draw with New England on July 29th. Like Branan, though, Raad saw playing time in the two Open Cup games the Wizards played that season, starting 1 of them.

Vuk Rasovic - 2004 - The former Serbia and Montenegro international is one of two Wizards to start their only game in MLS. Getting the start May 22nd against Dallas, Rasovic proved to be a step to slow for the game now. While he didn't directly lead to any goals being scored, Rasovic was pulled at half time for Shavar Thomas. Rasovic didn't see the field the rest of the season, and retired after the teams loss in MLS Cup 2004.

Cesar Delgado - 1999 - After a poor 1998 season, the Wizards had traded for Alexi Lalas and Tony Meola. Unfortunately Meola was hurt to start the season. As was the Wizards back up, Chris Snitko. Enter Delgado, who was signed as a discovery player the day before the season opener against Dallas. In that game against Dallas, Delgado allowed 4 goals, and was never seen again. The Wizards signed David Winner before the next home game and Delgado was let go. So forgetful was Delgado's performance, that not even the team knows what number he wore in the game, as his entry in the All-Time Jersey Numbers in the media guide just has 2 question marks.

Those are the Wizards who have only played 1 MLS game in their entire career, but two other players have played in only 1 game for the Kansas City Wizards.

Yari Allnut - 1996 - Came on as a halftime sub for Eric Eichmann in the Wizards inaugural season against San Jose on May 29th. Allnut actually scored the Wizards lone goal in the loss. Allnut, though, played a few seasons in the A-League and was then back in MLS with New England for a few more games.

Taly Goode - 2002 - Made his only competitive appearance for the Wizards on August 24, 2002 when the Wizards went up to Milwaukee to take on the Rampage in the US Open Cup Quarterfinals. Goode got the shut out in the Wizards 2-0 win, as the Wizards advanced to the semifinals.

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