Onalfo Takes Over in LA - Former SKC Wizards Update

Sporting KC's last head coach before Peter Vermes now has a new head coaching position. After coaching "Los Dos," Los Angeles Galaxy 2, Curt Onalfo has been given the reigns of the first team after Bruce Arena's departure for the US men's national team recently. This will be Onalfo's third head coaching job in MLS, having previously coached the Wizards and DC United. In an odd twist both coaches who replaced Onalfo (Vermes in KC and Ben Olsen in DC) are still coaching there and are now the two longest tenured coaches in MLS after Arena's departure.

Elsewhere the news doesn't appear as good for another former KC player. The Jacksonville Armada have reportedly released all players on their roster from their contracts. The club, a member of the NASL currently is reportedly cutting salary ahead of a switch to the USL. Of the players who had their contracts terminated would be former defender Mechack Jerome.

Here is the rest of this week's update.

Active without a club or unknown
Vicente Arze
Pablo Escobar
Brian Fekete
Jeferson
Neven Markovic
Victor Munoz
Jordi Quintilla
Brendan Ruiz

MLS
Jalil Anibaba - Houston - Offseason.
Teal Bunbury - New England - Offseason.
Servando Carrasco - Orlando City - Offseason.
Aurelien Collin - New York - Offseason.
Marcel de Jong - Vancouver - Offseason.
Amadou Dia - Montreal - Offseason.
Herculez Gomez - Seattle - Dressed but did not play in Seattle's 0-0 (5-4) shootout win over Toronto.
Michael Harrington - Chicago - Offseason.
Kei Kamara - New England - Offseason.
Alec Kann - Atlanta - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Portland - Offseason.
Eric Kronberg - Montreal - Offseason.
Mikey Lopez - NYCFC - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Amobi Okugo - Portland - Offseason.
Tony Rocha - Orlando - Offseason.
CJ Sapong - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Sal Zizzo - New York - Offseason.

NASL
Bernardo Anor - Minnesota (loan) - Offseason.
Omar Bravo - Carolina - Offseason.
Mechack Jerome - Jacksonville - Offseason.
Michael Kafari - Puerto Rico - Offseason.
James Marcelin - Carolina - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Oklahoma City - Offseason.

USL
Stefan Antonijevic - Tampa Bay - Offseason.
Amer Didic - Swope Park - Offseason.
Christian Duke - Swope Park - Offseason.
Tomas Granitto - Swope Park - Offseason.
Cyprian Hedrick - San Antonio - Offseason.
Ryan James - Rochester - Offseason.
Alex Martinez - Charlotte - Offseason.
Alex Molano - Swope Park - Offseason.
Nansel Selbol - Swope Park - Offseason.
Michael Thomas - Oklahoma City - Offseason.
Kris Tyrpak - San Antonio - Offseason.
Ualefi - Swope Park - Offseason.
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason.

PDL
Adnan Gabeljic - San Francisco - Offseason.

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Cedar Rapids - Did not play in Cedar Rapids' 8-7 win over KC.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Did not play in either of Baltimore's games.
Mike Jones - Dallas - Played in Dallas' 8-2 win over St. Louis.
Boris Pardo - San Diego - Did not play in San Diego's 9-3 win over Turlock.

International
Korede Aiyegbusi - AFC United- Sweden - Offseason.
Scott Angevine - YPA - Finland - Offseason.
Claudio Bieler - Belgrano - Argentina - Started and played 90 minutes in Belgrano's 1-1 draw with Gimnasia La Plata.
Reinaldo Brenes - Belen Siglo XXI - Fall season over.
Sunil Chhetri - Mumbai City - India - Started and played 90 minutes in Mumbai's 3-2 loss to Atletico de Kolkata. Started and played 90 minutes in Mumbai's 0-0 draw with Atletico de Kolkata.
Jorge Claros - Alajuelense - Costa Rica - Started and played 81 minutes in Alajuelense's 1-1 draw with Saprissa. Started and played 63 minutes in Alajuelense's 5-1 loss to Herediano.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 2-1 loss to Central.
Toni Dovale - CD Leganes - Spain - Did not dress in Leganes' 1-1 draw with Las Palmas.
Luis Gil - Queretaro - Mexico - Fall season over.
Faik Hajderovic - Vinograder - Croatia - No game until 2/25.
Will John - RoPS - Finland - Offseason.
Igor Juliao - Fluminense - Brazil - Dressed but did not play in Fluminense's 1-1 draw with Internacional.
Igor Kostrov - Slavia-Mozyr - Belarus - Offseason.
Luis Marin - CD Temuco - Chile - Started and played 90 minutes in Temuco's 2-0 loss to Universidad Catolica.
Michal Mravec - RoPS - Finland - Offseason.
Krisztian Nemeth - Al-Gharafa - Qatar - Did not dress in either of Al Gharafa's games.
Erik Palmer-Brown - Porto (loan) - Portugal - Started and played 32 minutes in Porto B's 2-1 win over Sporting B.
Akeem Priestley - Metapan - El Salvador - Season over.
Pablo Punyed - IBV - Iceland - Offseason.
Oriol Rosell - Belenenses (Sporting Club de Portugal)(loan) - Portugal - Did not dress in Belenenses' 1-0 win over Maritimo.
Soony Saad - Pattaya United (BEC Tero Sasana) - Offseason.
Daniel Salloi - Gyirmot FC Gyor (loan) - Hungary - Started and played 90 minutes in Gyirmot's 1-0 loss to Diosgyor.
Peter Schmetz - Wuppertaler SV - Germany - Did not dress in Wuppertaler's 1-0 loss to Rot-Weiss Essen.
Yann Songo'o - Plymouth Argyle - England - Started and played 90 minutes in Plymouth's 2-0 win over Doncaster.
Kevin Souter - Deveronvale FC - Scotland - Came off the bench and played 4 minutes in Deveronvale's 2-0 loss to Cove Rangers.
Martin Steuble - Ceres-La Salle - Philippines - Offseason.
Milos Stojcev - Atromitos - Greece - Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Atromitos' 1-0 loss to Panathinaikos.
Matt Taylor - Kickers Offenbach - Dressed but did not play in Kickers' 3-0 win over Teutonia.

Former SKC Wizards Update

Here's another week of former SKC Wizards updates. First, there were plenty of former SKC Wizards in Omaha late last week when the US 94 World Cup team played an exhibition against the Omaha Vipers. Alexi Lalas, Preki, Roy Lassiter, and Diego Gutierrez all played for the US team, Tony Meola was supposed to play but couldn't make it due to travel. Chris Brunt played for the Vipers. Preki and Gutierrez both had a goal and an assist, Lassiter had a goal, and Brunt picked up an assist as the Vipers won. In other former player news, it looks like Yura Movsisyan is on his way out of Denmark and potentially on his way Russia. Not sure how much of an upward movement that is for Movsisyan, but that could be an interesting move for Movsisyan.

In former coach and front office news, former GM, Curt Johnson has been named the GM of the Carolina Railhawks of the NASL, but since the league did not get sanctioning from US Soccer yet. Also, former coach Curt Onalfo has been named the new assistant coach for the LA Galaxy and will run the reserve team. He will take over the position vacated by Cobi Jones. Here's the rest of this week's former SKC Wizards update.

Still looking for:
Nick Cardenas
Pablo Escobar
AJ Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Pete Marino
Ryan McMahen
Akeem Priestley

Indoor soccer.
Jamar Beasley - Missouri Comets - Scored a goal in Missouri's 15-13 loss to Baltimore. Scored two goals and an assist in Missouri's 21-20 win over Omaha, he also was given credit for the 3 point winning goal, though it was an own goal.
Chris Brunt - Omaha Vipers - Played in Omaha's 21-20 loss to Missouri.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Had an assist in Baltimore's 14-6 win over Milwaukee. One goal in Baltimore's 15-13 win over Missouri.
Boris Pardo - Missouri Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 15-13 loss to Baltimore. Picked up the win in Missouri's 21-20 win over Omaha.
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Sockers - Beat Last Vegas 10-9
Paul Wright - San Diego Sockers - Beat Las Vegas 10-9

International
Eloy Colombano - Ferrocarril Sud - Argentina - Did not have a game this week.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - Mexico - Came off the bench and played 3 minutes in Pachuca's 1-1 draw with Santos Laguna.
Santiago Hirsig - Quilmes - Argentina - Clausura does not start until February.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Tied St. George's SC 0-0.
Will John - NK Vinogradar - Croatia - On winter break.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - England - Did not dress in either of Fulham's games this week.
Carlos Marinelli - Györi ETO - Hungary - On winter break.
Yura Movsisyan - Randers FC - Denmark - On winter break.
Matt Taylor - Rot Weiss Ahlen - Germany - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Weiss' 3-2 loss to Koblenz. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Weiss' 3-1 loss to Werder Bremen II.
Diego Walsh - Wellington Phoenix - Australia - Did not play in either of Wellington's games this week.

Former Wizards Update

Another former Wizards update this week. The biggest news this week for former Wizards all came out today. First the news came out that former Wizards coach, Curt Onalfo was fired as head coach of DC United. Based on the news that came out about the firing, Onalfo is going to get plenty of money. The other news, is that former Wizards midfielder, Herculez Gomez is back with the national team as he was called up for the upcoming friendly against Brazil. Here's the rest of your former Wizards update.

MLS
Preston Burpo - New England - Out with injury
Adam Cristman - DC United - Dressed but did not play in DC's 3-0 loss to RSL.
Nick Garcia - Toronto - Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 1-0 loss to KC. Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 2-2 draw with Montagua.
Luis Gil - Real Salt Lake - Did not dress in RSL's 3-0 win over DC.
Taylor Graham - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 1-0 win over San Jose. Did not dress in Seattle's 1-1 draw with Isidro Metapan.
Kevin Hartman - Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes in Dallas' 1-1 draw with Colorado.
Will Hesmer - Columbus - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 3-1 loss to Chivas.
Chris Klein - LA - Did not dress in LA's 3-2 loss to Chicago. Dressed but did not play in LA's 2-1 win over Puerto Rico.
Claudio Lopez - Colorado - Came off the bench and played 6 minutes in Colorado's 1-1 draw with Dallas.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Real Salt Lake - Did not dress in RSL's 3-0 win over DC.
Kurt Morsink - DC United - Dressed but did not play in DC's 3-0 loss to RSL.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Started and played 45 minutes in San Jose's 1-0 loss to Seattle.
Carey Talley - DC United - Started and played 90 minutes in DC's 3-0 loss to RSL.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle - Did not dress in Seattle's 1-0 win over San Jose. Did not dress in Seattle's 1-1 draw with Isidro Metapan.
Alex Zotinca - Chivas USA - Did not dress in Chivas 3-1 win over Columbus.

USSF Division 2
Doug DeMartin - Portland - Came off the bench and played 11 minutes in Portland's 2-2 draw with Tampa Bay. Did not dress in Portland's 1-0 loss to Rochester.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Started and played 90 minutes, getting an assist in Minnesota's 2-2 draw with St. Louis.
Pat Healey - Baltimore - Dressed but did not play in Baltimore's 1-1 draw with Montreal. Came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Baltimore's 1-0 loss to Miami.
Neal Kitson - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes, recording the shutout in Rochester's 1-0 win over Portland.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 2-2 draw with Vancouver.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 2-2 draw with Tampa Bay. Started and played 90 minutes in Portland's 1-0 loss to Rochester.
Abe Thompson - Miami - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Miami's 3-1 loss to Austin. Started and played 90 minutes in Miami's 1-0 win over Baltimore.
Lance Watson - Austin - Started and played 90 minutes in Austin's 3-1 win over Miami.

USL-2
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-2 draw with Charlotte.
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Started and played 71 minutes, scoring a goal in Richmond's 2-0 win over Harrisburg.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Pittsburgh's 2-0 win over Maryland.
Yomby William - Richmond - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-0 win over Harrisburg.
John Wilson - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-2 draw with Charlotte.

PDL
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City - Season is over.
Mauro Fuzetti - Michigan - Started and played 90 minutes, getting an assist in Michigan's 2-0 win over Rochester. Started and played 120 minutes in Michigan's 2-1 extra time loss to Thunder Bay.
Sergei Raad - Central Florida - Season is over.
Michael Todd - Long Island - Season is over.

International
Vicente Arze - Aurora - Started and played 83 minutes in Aurora's 1-0 win over Guabira.
Herculez Gomez - Pachuca - Mexico - Dressed but did not play in Pachuca's 1-1 draw with Toluca.
Chris Konopka - Waterford United - Ireland - Dressed but did not play in Waterford's 1-1 draw with Athlone.
Yura Movsisyan - Randers FC - Denmark - Started and played 90 minutes, scorinng 2 goals in Randers 3-2 loss to Lausanne Sports in a Europa League qualifier. Started and played 90 minnutes in Randers' 2-0 loss to Nordsjælland.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesund - Norway - Did not dress in Aalesund's 1-1 draw with Motherwell in Europa League qualifying. Did not dress in Aalesund's 3-1 loss to Strømsgodset.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Colombia - Did not play in Quindio's 3-2 win over Millonarios.

Cristman Traded

Last year I spoke with some excitement when the Wizards traded for forward Adam Cristman. I thought given the chance he could be a big time goal scorer for the Wizards. Unfortunately a foot fracture and a hamstring injury limited Cristman to only 5 appearances for the Wizards, 3 starts, and only 213 minutes played. For those that missed it on Twitter today (still the best way to keep in touch with this blog during the day), Cristman's time in KC came to an end. Cristman was traded to DC United today for an international slot for two years.

Overall I like this trade and it makes a lot of sense. The Wizards are currently stacked at forward, with Teal Bunbury, Zoltan Hercegfalvi, Kei Kamara, and Josh Wolff already with the team, it was going to be hard to justify having a 5th forward on the roster, and Cristman appeared to be the odd man out. I thought the Wizards would have trouble trading Cristman due to his lack of playing time and his injuries the past two seasons. But former Wizards coach Curt Onalfo brings in a player he helped originally bring to KC. And to get an international slot for him is a good move, especially with the number of foreign players currently in camp for KC. A smart move in my opinion by the Wizards team.

Vermes Interview

In case you missed it, Thad over at The Back Post has another interview with Peter Vermes posted up over at his blog in 2 Parts. Part 1 of the interview is spent focusing mainly on the upcoming SuperDraft. Vermes talks about the teams college scouting techniques, how they do their background work before the combine via scouting, playing college teams, dvd, tv, and other means. They arrive at the combine with a few different lists that they work off of. As is to be expected, Vermes danced around a few of the draft questions so as not to potentially tip off other teams in the league. The new players the team has signed can affect who they pick, but they're more affected by how the teams in front of them pick. They look to draft for their needs, but if the players available at those positions aren't the talent level they want, they'll draft the best player available.

In part 2, Thad focuses more on questions about current Wizards players. Vermes mentions that the team offered Herculez Gomez a new contract, but Gomez was apparently looking to play elsewhere. Speaking about Kei Kamara, Vermes spoke well of him, saying their in consistent contact and that Vermes has a good relation ship with the Sierra Leone forward. He's trying his luck abroad, but the team is still hoping to re-sign him. In regards to Claudio Lopez, the team is still talking with him and trying to work something out, but they are not there yet and Lopez is currently down in Argentina. We find out that two of the Wizards three goalkeepers, Kevin Hartman and Eric Kronberg are both currently out of contract, which could change the upcoming draft strategy. Vermes also speaks well of Roger Espinoza, Chance Myers, and Kronberg's training time in Croatia with Dynamo Zagreb. He says that for Myers and Kronberg it's a chance to continue to recover from their injuries that affected them for long portions of the 2009 season. For all 3, it was an opportunity for them to get more training and learn from a different coach in a different system to help their development.

Like Robb Heineman on Bigsoccer earlier this week, Vermes puts the Andy Herron rumors to bed, saying his name had come up to them months ago, but the team didn't act on it. He did say they have quite a few players on their list, and they've put a lot of work into bringing in a few players, but reiterates the issues with bringing in international players. Finally Thad asks him about the game on opening day and the extra interest in the game now that Curt Onalfo is coaching DC United. Vermes brushes off that saying that it's more interest for "you" and that while the team is focusing on the game, they're not overly focused on that aspect of it.

Opening Day Just Got Interesting

Today DC United announced their new head coach, and it's someone familiar to Wizards fans. Former head coach, Curt Onalfo has been named the head coach of DC United. Onalfo is only about 5 months removed from being fired as the Wizards head coach. With the Wizards beginning the 2010 season at home against Onalfo and United this will definitely make things more interesting. You know that Onalfo has this date already circled on his calender for many reasons. Opening day is definitely going to be more interesting now.

Final Farewell to Onalfo

Today, former Wizards coach, Curt Onalfo gave a farewell to Wizards' fans via The Back Post. Onalfo says that he loves and appreciates the support of the fans and tells them to continue to support the team in the future.

While Onalfo's time with KC wasn't the most successful, he did at least bring the Wizards out of the worse situation they were in when he was hired before the 2007 season. Under Onalfo, the Wizards went 27-29-22, making the conference finals in the 2007 season and the conference semifinals in 2008. In the playoffs, Onalfo went 1-2-2, the lone win, a 1-0 win over Chivas USA in the 2007 MLS playoffs. Onalfo led KC to two straight US Open Cup Quarterfinal appearances, going 2-1-2, both times going out to the Seattle Sounders (USL and MLS version). Finally, in his only appearance in an international competition (the Wizards first since 2005) Onalfo went 0-1-2 in this year's SuperLiga.

Onalfo's attacking style didn't bring the goals that many Wizards' fans were hoping for when Onalfo was named coach back in November of 2006. In his 2 and a half seasons, the Wizards scored 102 league goals under Onalfo, which placed KC in 9th place of the 13 teams that have played all the games of the past two and a half seasons (meaning no San Jose or Seattle). Not exactly the offense you'd expect unfortunately. On top of that, the Wizards never really had much luck in blowing teams out, as only 1 under Onalfo did the Wizards win by 3 or more goals, and that was the team's home opener back in 2007 against, then expansion side, Toronto.

Still, knowing his history and what he's been through, and the "goodbye" message Thad posted, you still have to respect the man. Good luck Coach Onalfo in your next position (unless it's against the Wizards), with what you've already over come, this shouldn't be any harder to get by.

Onalfo GONE!

Thad over at The Back Post has the breaking news, with the press release coming soon, that Coach Onalfo has been dismissed by the Wizards. The move comes after the Wizards embarrassing 6-0 loss to Dallas on Sunday. Along with Onalfo being let go, assistant coach, Kris Kelderman was also let go. That leaves Kerry Zavagnin and John Pascarella as the two remaining coaches.

The interim coach will not be announced until the team has been informed following Monday's off day, but you have to think Zavagnin and Pascarella are the leaders to be the interim coach. My guess is it would be Zavagnin in the interim role and potentially see Paul Rideout step up as an assistant to help out.

I'm shocked that this move happened so quickly. The last 2 months without a win have been frustrating and it's finally come to a head. I thought that this move could be coming after Saturday, but not this soon. Good for OnGoal for stepping up, seeing there was a problem, and working to fix it.

Thanks to what Onalfo has brought, he at least got us back to the playoffs finally, but the team has not improved under him in the last 2 and a half years, we are still a boarderline playoff team.

Record at Home

The Wizards dropped two more points at home last Saturday night when they drew with the Galaxy 1-1. Compared to last year, the Wizards are struggling at home this year. The Wizards are 3-3-3 at home this season, earning them 1.33 points per game when they play at Community America through 9 games. Compared to the rest of the league at home, the Wizards are tied for the 3rd worst points per home game (PPHG) record so far this season, with Dallas and San Jose. Only New York (1 point per game at home) and surprisingly, Chicago (1.25 points per home game, but 5-1-4 on the road) have a worse record at home. Below is the current PPHG for each team along with their points and the number of home games they've played.

	points	Played	PPHG
New York	9	9	1
Chicago	10	8	1.25
SJ	12	9	1.33
Dallas	12	9	1.33
KC	12	9	1.33
LA	13	9	1.44
Toronto	18	11	1.64
RSL	18	9	2
Houston	18	9	2
Seattle	22	11	2
Colorado	18	9	2
New England	14	7	2
Chivas	19	9	2.11
DC	19	9	2.11
Columbus	22	10	2.2

Coach Onalfo has preached in weekly press conferences that he wants the team to average 2 points at home this season and 1 on the road. So far the team isn't even close to that total, and would actually need to win their remaining home games this season to average 2 points per home game this season.

The question is, why are the Wizards not doing as well this season as they did last year at CAB? There are probably a couple reasons. The first reason probably has to do with most teams now having played a game at CAB and knowing more of what to expect when they come to KC. The other issue has to do with how the team plays. From interviews that Thad and I have done with players they say that their style of play isn't really suited to the field dimensions at CAB.

My question in response to that, is why is the team not playing a style that is conducive to the place where you play most of your games? You would think that Onalfo would have created a game plan and style of play that would allow the Wizards to exploit their smaller field when playing teams that are used to a bigger field. The strategy worked well for the original San Jose Earthquakes when they played at Spartan Stadium. Sure, it's probably not as attractive a style of play, but it gets the results.

Is Onalfo's Seat Hot?

It's a question that a lot of Wizards' fans have been asking lately. Is Coach Onalfo's seat getting hot with the current slump the Wizards are in? Kansas City has not won a game since their 3-1 win over New England back on June 13th (the open cup win is officially a draw). That's over a month that KC has gone without a win. Taking out the Wizards 3 goals against Minnesota, the Wizards have only scored 2 goals in that time frame, one an own goal and one a Claudio Lopez free kick. Since May started, the Wizards have only won 2 games, a span of 14 games. While the team had a busy stretch in parts of June and July, that's still a pathetic number of wins for KC. Two wins in almost 3 months of play is going to get you no where in any league, including the parity driven MLS.

So is Onalfo's seat hot? It probably should be, I mean look at the results. That's a poor performance for any team to have. The good news is that even with this poor run of form, the Wizards are surprisingly not out of the race to make the playoffs. After last night's results, the Wizards are 8 points out of first place with a game in hand, and 7 points out of second with 2 games in hand on DC. So winning those two games in hand would put KC back in the race. Such is MLS and it's parity, even with this poor run of form KC is not out of it.

In the end, Onalfo is likely feeling some pressure with the lack of results lately and I'm sure his seat is getting a little hot, but no where near hot enough for him to be concerned about losing his job during the course of the current season. Onalfo's past performance on taking the Wizards to the playoffs in his first two years (no matter what you think about how they got in the previous two seasons) has probably bought him at least 1 seasons grace should the Wizards miss the playoffs this year.

Dive-Gate Continues

The fall out from the Wizards departure from the US Open Cup continues. Today at the Wizards weekly press conference, Coach Onalfo made his feelings about the game and the deciding penalty known. Onalfo pulled no punches in the discussion either calling Seattle striker, Fredy Montero a punk and said "it was devastating to get the penalty call in the 90th minute. It was a blatant dive. For me as a MLS coach, it was the worst I've felt in terms of being cheated of a game."

The quotes have been picked up over in the Northwest and not surprisingly, Sounders fans are taking exception to the comments. The debate picked up with the release yesterday of this photo of the penalty call by Rick Morrison. Thad over at The Back Post gave a good break down of this photo and what it could and couldn't mean in his write up on the game, giving his break down from the perspective of someone who has taken many action photos. I have to agree with his comment that Montero was already on his way down by the time the contact was initiated. In the photo linked above, Montero has already gone airborne to do his swan dive. If he was running his trailing leg would have been moving forward in a running motion.

There's also the question of whether or not Montero would have actually reached the ball anyways before it went out of bounds. Watching the highlights again I don't see how, even at full speed, Montero was going to reach that ball before it went out of bounds.

In the end, the play and Onalfo's comments should serve as bulletin board material for both sides when the two teams meet in Kansas City in October. As Onalfo said, "I was furious after the game and I told the guys to use that energy or anger down the road." This result (along with the first game against Seattle earlier this season) will only add to the competitiveness on the field in October.

Weekly Press Conference News

Today was the weekly press conference for the Wizards at their Swope Park training facility. During the press conference, Coach Onalfo talked about the game against New England and the up coming SuperLiga games as well. Coach is planning to use his entire depth in the tournament and the team is definitely taking it seriously. In regards to the rumors of Atlas bringing a youth team, he waived it off saying that that could make the game more dangerous as those youth players will be looking to make an impact and work for first team inclusion.

While he did mention that the Wizards would use their depth, he did say that the team will likely be without a few players. First, midfielder, Davy Arnaud has apparently been called up by the United States for the upcoming Gold Cup. Arnaud's been considered one of the more underrated players in the league. He's been capped twice for the United States in his career and will now get a chance to earn a few more call ups for the US.

Roger Espinoza is also probably going to likely be missing as well, because as mentioned previously, he was on the Honduran preliminary roster for the tournament. With Espinoza's call ups, but not appearances for Honduras in World Cup qualifying, it seems likely that Espinoza will earn the call up and likely get a few matches for Honduras in the tournament.

Also missing for the Wizards, will be Kevin Souter, who Onalfo mentioned has had a sports hernia surgery and will miss some time as that heals up. This is a blow for Souter, who was likely to get plenty of time over the next two weeks, with SuperLiga and Open Cup games coming up.

Jack Jewsbury was the player for this week's press conference, with the Atlas game in St. Louis, where Jewsbury went to school. Jewsbury's first question today came from teammate Kurt Morsink, who asked Jewsbury about his return to St. Louis and the stadium where he played his college career, which was good for a laugh.

Onalfo Fined

For those that visit the news section of the KC Wizards website, you'll notice under the disciplinary section that Wizards coach Curt Onalfo was fined $500 by the league. The fine stems from comments Onalfo made to the referee after the game against Toronto FC. Obviously whatever was said wasn't too bad, as there hasn't been much news made about the fine.

Weekly Press Conference

Today the Wizards held their weekly press conference out at the Swope Park training facility in preparation for Sunday's game against the San Jose Earthquakes. Along with Coach Onalfo this week was Wizards goalkeeper and multiple MLS record holder, Kevin Hartman. Onalfo spent some time talking about the injury issues that the team has been struggling with. The good news, is that Davy Arnaud is back practicing with the team after missing last week. Onalfo said the fact that Arnaud missed last week's game was a surprise to him. Today at practice he was practicing with the first team which is a good sign going into Sunday that Arnaud could be back on the field, as he was sorely missed in Colorado.

The bad news coming out of the press conference today was the fact that Michael Harrington and Graham Zusi did not practice today and it appears likely that neither will be able to play in the game on Sunday. The midfield should survive without Zusi, because along with the returning Arnaud you also have Santiago Hirsig who looks set to get his first start. The defensive slot left by Harrington could be more worrying. It would appear that rookie Matt Besler will also get his first MLS start, filling in for Harrington. It will be interesting to see how the team plays on Sunday as the injuries continue to be an issue.

Espinoza Call Up News

I mentioned last night that Coach Onalfo at the First Kick Party said that Roger Espinoza had again been called up to the Honduran national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Trinidad & Tobago and Mexico. Thanks to AG over at the KC Soccer Review, we have a link with the official news of the call up for Espinoza. Espinoza is part of the preliminary 23 man roster for the qualifier, that will be narrowed down to 18 for both game days. With the call up, Espinoza will likely only miss one MLS match, March 28th when the Wizards travel to Colorado is the same day that Los Catrachos play Trinidad. The second game is April 1 against Mexico. Good luck to Roger

Notes From the Wizards Event Tonight

Since the Wizards First Kick event tonight was in my own back yard in Lee's Summit I made my way over to Paradise Park to see the Wizards players and show my support for the team. I wasn't disappointed, as those that attended were given two surprises tonight. The first being the appearance of the team's offseason signing, Santiago Hirsig. Hirsig was at the event tonight and Coach Onalfo announced that Hirsig's P-1 Visa had come through and that he was now able to train with the team.

The other news from Coach Onalfo tonight was that apparently Roger Espinoza has been called up to the Honduran national team again for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers for Honduras. No official word has been released yet, but congrats to Espinoza if that is true, it's good that Espinoza's original call up wasn't just a flash in the pan.

Full Draft Recap

So I'm back from St. Louis and ready to give a full recap of the Wizards draft. While it's hard to tell immediately what will come of this draft, looking at it, I think the Wizards got some good players with their picks.

1(8) - Matt Besler - D - Notre Dame
Besler is a local kid who grew up watching the Wizards and certainly endeared himself to those Wizards fans who traveled to St. Louis by giving them a shout out when he was at the podium after being selected. He's a strong hard nosed defender that by looking at his college career is definitely able to be healthy. His main position at Notre Dame was in the center of defense, but he said he'd also spent time as a wide defender as well as in the midfield, so he fits the versatility that Coach Onalfo and Peter Vermes has shown to like in their draftees. The Wizards also rated him as one of the top defenders coming out of college. The Wizards weren't the only ones that rated him either, as there were rumors that two other teams were trying to trade up into the 7 spot (held by DC) to try and get him (which was the likely reason for DC's time out there). "That was the guy that we wanted at that pick, and we got him," Vermes added. The fact that he's a local player was a bonus in Onalfo's eyes, and wasn't a reason that the Wizards actually took Besler.

2(22) - Doug DeMartin - F - Michigan St - DeMartin scored 38 goals in his college career, including 17 in his senior year. While Coach Onalfo believes that the team currently has 4 forwards capable of starting, he sees this as a good situation for DeMartin to show what he can do. "We have a lot of confidence in him," Onalfo said.

2(23) - Graham Zusi - M/F - Maryland - Zusi was the offensive MVP of the College Cup, as he scored in both the semifinals and the finals for Maryland. Onalfo said that Zusi had really opened their eyes during the Final Four, "(He)really took his team on his shoulders and had an outstanding Final Four." Onalfo sees him as being a guy that can fit in in the attcking midfield position for the Wizards.

3(42) - Neal Kitson - GK - St. John's - Kitson had a strong senior year at St. John's, making 95 saves and finished with a goals against average of .48 in 24 games. "He's made some unbelieveable saves and kept St. John's in games," Vermes said of Kitson. He's certainly a player that can push Eric Kronberg next season.

4(50) - Akeem Priestley - M - Conneticut - Priestley has played for the Jamacian U-23 team as well as their full national team, so he brings in some international experience to the Wizards. He had a solid college career, starting 74 of the 76 games he played in scoring 22 goals and getting 27 assists.

Onalfo believes that unlike previous years, the team didn't come into the draft looking for players that would have to immediately come in and start, instead they are now looking to find cover and depth in all positions. But he did say that Besler is a guy that can come in and compete with Aaron Hohlbein for the starting spot on the back line.

On a side note, one of the best lines of the day came when DC took their timeout in the first round between their two picks. Sitting right in front of me at the time, was USSF President, Sunil Gulati and upon hearing that DC was calling a timeout between their picks said they took the time out because "They were surprised by the 6th pick." That got a good laugh from the press that was sitting nearby.

Onalfo Interview

Thad from The Back Post has put up an interview that he got yesterday with Wizards head coach, Curt Onalfo. Overall, it's a good interview, with some insight into the team for this weekend's game, along with an update on the situation with Carlos Marinelli. With regards to the lineup, Onalfo says that he's going to go with something very similar to the lineup the team put out last week against Chicago, and similar to the last 4 games. I don't expect any changes from the starting lineup against Chicago, so we'll see if we see the same starting 11 tomorrow.

As for the Marinelli situation, as Thad mentions in the interview, Marinelli has not been back out at practice since the situation took place. Coach plays it off as two passionate people getting into it with each other. He mentions that Marinelli has some personal issues that he has to work through though. In the end, no big revelation, but that wasn't to be expected. The fact that Thad even got an answer at all to the question is kind of amazing, considering what it was. Still, I don't know many people that expect Marinelli back next year, especially after the situation last week.

Practice Confrontation

Thad checks in with his write up from the press conference yesterday, as well as a report from practice today. As Thad says in his write up, the big news is the fact that today out at practice there was a disagreement between Coach Onalfo and midfielder, Carlos Marinelli. The disagreement got the attention of the staff and people watching practice. Other players tried to hold Marinelli back and move him away from the situation. Whatever was the cause of the confrontation was big enough that Marinelli left practice early.

This is definitely some interesting news, and definitely makes you wonder what the disagreement was over. Either way, it doesn't help the case for Marinelli to stay in KC next year. He was already on my list of players that wouldn't be back next year due to the fact that he just can't remaining healthy, but this disagreement basically clinches that fact for me. The question now will be how serious it really was, and if it was really serious, will we see Marinelli ever again?

The other news was from yesterdays press conference, where Onalfo said that the Wizards designated player, who has come off the bench the last 3 games, is out for this Sunday's game against Chicago due to a hurt ankle.

Line up Shake Up

Thad over at The Back Post has the story. It looks like Onalfo is going to be switching things up this weekend with Chivas coming to town on Saturday. Roger Espinoza, Kurt Morsink, and Ryan Pore are dropped in favor of Josh Wolff, Kerry Zavagnin, and rookie Matt Marquess. So we can expect something like this on Saturday it looks like.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Conrad - Hohlbein - Marquess
Harrington - Zavagnin - Victorine - Lopez
Arnaud - Wolff

Onalfo confirmed the lineup during this weeks press conference. It's interesting to see Marquess out there instead of someone like Chance Myers or Jonathan Leathers. Thad mentions that Onalfo touched on this as well, saying that Marquess is a naturally lefty, and that while Myers or Leathers could play there, Marquess was the better option.

Overall this looks to be a good lineup, and I know plenty of people are happy to see Harrington moved back into the midfield, where he played the majority of last season before taking over for Jose Burciaga on the back line.

One final note about this lineup. Should Zavagnin make it to the 57th minute Saturday night, he will pass Nick Garcia for the all time Wizards leader in MLS minutes played. Zavagnin currently sits on 20,102 to Garcia's 20,158. Earlier this season, Zavagnin became the games played leader, and all time competitive minutes leader, topping Garcia both times. So an early congrats to Zavagnin as I can't see him not breaking the record this season.