Former SKC Wizards Update

 Another week of former SKC Wizards updates.  I got some updated information on Zoltan Hercegfalvi, who is apparently playing in an Austrian amateur league at this point.  And congratulations to Boris Pardo, who has become a nesting doll thanks to the give away at the Comets game on Sunday.

Active without a club or unknown
Korede Aiyegbusi
Julio Cesar
Doug DeMartin
Birahim Diop
Pablo Escobar
Mauro Fuzetti
Willy Guadarrama
Kevin Hartman
Cyprian Hedrick
Aaron Hohlbein
Will John
Mike Jones
Neal Kitson
Jonathan Leathers
Neven Markovic
Ofori Sarkodie
Sam Scales
Scott Sealy
Khari Stephenson
Shavar Thomas
Konrad Warzycha

MLS
Davy Arnaud - Montreal - Offseason.
Luis Gil - Salt Lake - Offseason.
Michael Harrington - Portland - Offseason.
Will Hesmer - Los Angeles - Offseason.
Jack Jewsbury - Portland - Offseason.
Eddie Johnson - Seattle - Offseason.
Chris Konopka - Philadelphia - Offseason.
Rauwshan McKenzie - Chivas - Offseason.
Tyson Wahl - Columbus - Offseason

NASL
Jose Burciaga - Atlanta - Offseason
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Offseason
Scott Lorenz - Fort Lauderdale - Offseason
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Offseason
Luke Sassano - Carolina - Offseason

USL
Edson Elcock - Richmond - Offseason
Akeem Priestley - Dayton - Offseason
Yomby William - Richmond - Offseason
John Wilson - Charleston - Offseason

PDL
Michael Kraus - FC Tucson - Offseason

NPSL
Nelson Pizarro - San Diego Flash - Offseason

Indoor
Jamar Beasley - Syracuse Silver Knights - Played in Syracuse's 13-10 loss to Milwaukee.
Pat Healey - Baltimore Blast - Played in Baltimore's 23-12 win over Rochester.  Played in Rochester's 15-5 win over Rochester.
Boris Pardo - Comets - Did not play in Missouri's 24-11 win over Wichita (but did become a nesting doll, see above).
Craig Rocastle - Comets - Out injured
Paul Wright - San Diego - Played in San Diego's 11-7 win over Turlock.

International
Stephane Auvray - DPMM FC - Brunei (Singapore League) - Offseason.
Vicente Arze - Esteghlal - Iran - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Esteghlal's 0-0 draw with Zob Ahan.  Beat Aboomoslem 5-0 in the Cup.
Omar Bravo - Atlas - Mexico - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in Atlas' 1-1 draw with Pumas.
Sunil Chhetri - Sporting Clube de Portugal B - Portugal - Did not dress in Sporting's 2-2 draw with Penafiel.  Lost 2-1 to Belenenses.
Eloy Colombano - UAI Urquiza - Argentina - Off until February.
Daneil Cyrus - W Connection - Trinidad - Started and played 90 minutes in W Connection's 3-0 win over Central FC.
Pablo Escobar - Atletico Huila - Colombia - No game this week.
Roger Espinoza - Wigan - England - Dressed but did not play in Wigan's 1-1 draw with AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup.
Gary Glasgow - North East Stars - Trinidad - Did not play in the Stars' 1-0 loss to Caledonia.
Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - Mexico - Started and played 74 minutes, scoring a goal in Santos' 1-1 draw with San Luis.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Drew 0-0 with Waterhouse.
Jeferson - Bahia - Brazil - No game until January.
Igor Kostrov - FC Tiraspol - Moldova - On winter break until March.
Carlos Marinelli - Universidad San Martin - Peru - Offseason.
Yura Movsisyan - Spartak Moscow - Russia - On winter break until March.
Michal Mravec - FC Emmen - Netherlands - No game this week.
Pablo Punyed - Fjolnir - Iceland - Offseason
Ryan Smith - Skoda Xanthi - Greece - Came off the bench and played 16 minutes in Xanthi's 3-0 win over OFI.
Milos Stojcev - FC Akzhayik - Kazakhstan - Offseason.
Matt Taylor - Preußen Münster - Germany - On winter break until January.
Ivan Trujillo - America de Cali - Colombia - Offseason.
Diego Walsh - TOT SC - Thailand - Offseason.

More Roster Movement

Today while speaking with Andrew Wiebe from MLSsoccer.com, Peter Vermes gave us a bit of insight into what is currently going on with the roster for Sporting KC next year. Some of it we've heard previously from Thad's interviews with the SKC coach, but we did get some new news as well.

First for the news we've kind of already heard and been told. Zoltan Hercegfalvi, at this time is not expected to be back with the team at this time. Hercegfalvi has returned to Hungary, but while Vermes hasn't ruled out bringing him back, as of this time he will not be back right now. With regards to Michael Harrington, Vermes still says that the team is close to signing him to a new contract and that the ball is in Harrington and his agent's court. Also along with Thad's previous conversation with Vermes, the signing of Luke Sassano is only a formality at this point it appears. Vermes also discusses Ryan Smith's status again saying that Smith is very close to moving off the international player list.

Onto some of the new information. Two more internationals appear like they won't be back next year either. Vermes confirms that Nikos Kounenakis will not be returning to KC next season after being brought over late last year and not making a single appearance.

The other player unlikely to return is Indian forward, Sunil Chhetri. Vermes says an announcement on Chhetri's status will be made in the next few weeks. I'd likely expect this announcement to come some time shortly after India's exit from the AFC Asian Cup which kicked off today. Maybe the team will let him out of his contract to let him sign with Australian side Perth Glory as was rumored.

With Hercegfalvi, Kounenakis, and potentially Chhetri gone from KC, KC will have 3 international slots open up. Four if/when Smith gets his citizenship/green card. That would potentially open slots for Sheldon Bateau and Daneil Cyrus, the two Trinidad and Tobago players who will join the team for a trial starting on the 24th. With a few internationals in the draft on Thursday as well, one of them could be a target too. Once again the team appears set to be making a quite a few moves this offseason.

What I've Missed This Week

First, apologies for the lack of posts this week, late last week I asked to travel for work this week and after working 12 hour shifts I didn't have a whole lot of energy to sit down and write, plus I was having problems with the PC I was trying to use.

Anyways, let's look back on the news that's happened this week for the Wizards, lucky for me there was no real big news, but lots of little bits of news. I will be doing a full Former Wizards update for this past week and a post on the 2011 season tickets, so look for those to come too.

First, Wednesday was the roster deadline for MLS teams. The Wizards made no big moves on the day to fill their two open roster spots. They did make one roster move, activating forward Zoltan Hercegfalvi from the injured reserve list so that if he does get healthy enough to play, he could potentially play late in the season. Hercegfalvi is recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered in the team's 2-1 win over AC St. Louis in a friendly early in the season.

In other player player news, Wizards forward, Sunil Chhetri, currently on loan to the Indian national team, picked up another cap this week in his country's 2-0 friendly win over Namibia. Chhetri had a few chances for India, but did not get a goal.

Before I left last weekend, I got together with Thad from The Back Post for a podcast. We also had James Starritt from KCWFans, and Charles Gooch from the Star for a second blogger summit. We discussed the Wizards resurgence, the playoff race, the potential rebranding, and other things as well. It's available on iTunes and Posterous.

The Wizards also announced that their two rescheduled games against Houston this coming Wednesday and against Chicago in October will not be on KCWE. Instead, due to scheduling conflicts, the games will be broadcasted on MetroSports. It sucks for those in the metro area that do not have Time Warner Cable or if their cable provider does not offer MetroSports, but at least the games will be on TV in KC for many fans.

Away from direct Wizards news, but still related to the team, a few changes to the league as a whole appear to be set to occur next season. First, the league has announced that we will once again have a balanced schedule next year with the introduction of Portland and Vancouver into the league. The Wizards will now play 34 games next year, home and away against each team just like this year. The season will begin on March 19th and conclude October 22nd. This is a great step for the league in my opinion, it continues to keep the competitive balance in the league as each team will continue to play every other team in the league.

The other bit of league news this past week is that MLS apparently is going to be enlarging the rosters for teams. According to FC Dallas head coach Schelllas Hyndman, MLS will add 4-6 roster spots depending on the number of home grown players teams have. Currently teams can have 20 senior roster players, 4 developmental/Generation Adidas players, and 2 home grown players for a total of 26. According to Hyndman, teams will be able to have 30 players on their roster next year. No word yet on how that will be divided up between senior roster and developmental. I would think they'd up the senior roster to something like 22 or 24 and then have 6-8 developmental player spots for players making the league minimum, are Generation Adidas, or are home grown players. The big question from this one though, is what this does to the salary cap? The home is that it will see a bit of a bigger bump this coming year to accommodate for the additional roster spots, but that remains to be seen. These two bits of news were easily the biggest to come out this week related to the Wizards.

Finally, another of KC's teams continues to build their team up. The Missouri Comets announced the signing of two assistant coaches, Vlatko Andonovski and Douglas McLagan. Andonovski is a former indoor player with the Wichita Wings and KC Comets, he was named the Comets MVP back in 2005. Andonvski has most recently been the director of coaching for Futura FC a local youth club, and the head coach of the KC Kings, Kansas City's other indoor team. McLagan also played for the Comets, the original version, before joining the Wings later in his career. McLagan also coaches at Blue Springs High School and for local youth club KCFC.

News and Notes

Earlier today, the Star posted a quick note from practice today that probably scared a lot of Wizards fans. Apparently at practice today, Wizards forward/midfielder, Ryan Smith, was carted off the field with an apparent knee injury. The Wizards have addressed the injury tonight on their website, and Wizards fans can step off the ledge. Smith's injury is apparently not serious. He has a knee strain, but they right now don't plan on doing an MRI. Smith will be readdressed tomorrow before training, so hopefully in the end it doesn't keep Smith from playing this weekend.

Also on the Wizards website today, head coach, Peter Vermes had a chat with fans where he answered questions. Overall no real new information came out that fans weren't really aware of. The biggest news really was the fact that the team expects Zoltan Hercegfalvi back in October from his ACL tear. Certainly good news for a team that has lacked a scoring punch for much of the season, but is likely going to be too late.

Finally, over the weekend, the MLS transfer window for players under contract in other leagues closed. It closed on the 15th of August. Team's can still sign players that aren't under contract or from within MLS until September 15th. With the Wizards having two open roster spots, one would hope that they're looking to fill at least one of those spots (with Hercegfalvi eventually taking the second). A bit more scoring punch off the bench, or starter would certainly be appreciated at this point.

Hercegfalvi Out with ACL Tear

As I posted on twitter earlier today, the Wizards will be without Zoltan Hercegfalvi for the next five to eight months after being diagnosed with a torn ACL. Hercegfalvi picked up the injury in the second half of KC's 2-1 win over AC St. Louis this past weekend. How big of a loss it will be remains to be seen. Me personally I am very disappointed in the injury as I thought Hercegfalvi was a good fit for the Wizards, he provided a determination and strength that I don't really see in KC's other strikers (not saying the others don't bring that, but Hercegfalvi did at a different level). Having torn my ACL twice I know it's not a fun experience at all. It's extremely painful and the rehab is a long hard process as well, but it's certainly recoverable from.

If there is a bright side in this news, it's the fact that it likely means the Wizards don't have to waive a player from the signing of Sunil Chhetri. With Hercegfalvi going onto injured reserve, the Wizards now have his roster spot open, as well as his international slot. It also gives other international players more time to get a green card so an international is not waived when Hercegfalvi does return. See Peter Vermes thoughts on the injury below.

UPDATE: Although the latest from Gooch at the Star is that it won't really affect Chhetri yet, as Vermes says he still needs to adjust. It also says that the Wizards have not gotten Chhetri's International Transfer card, although it appears it has been granted by FIFA.

Wizards Beat AC St. Louis

Playing without four starters from last week's season opener against DC (Davy Arnaud, Stephane Auvray, Ryan Smith, and Josh Wolff) the Wizards traveled to St. Louis to take on AC St. Louis in the second leg of their home and home series last night. With those 4 out, starts were given to Teal Bunbury, Zoltan Hercegfalvi, Santiago Hirsig, and Craig Rocastle. KC started the game out the same way they did against St. Louis in KC, dominating possession, but unable to really get many good chances on goal against Alec Dufty. KC broke through in the 31st minute, when Hercegfalvi intercepted a poor back past to Dufty and finished past two St. Louis defenders on the goal line to give KC the lead. KC continued to have the better of the chances, but St. Louis also showed more going forward than they had in the teams' previous game against each other.

In the second half, St. Louis started to get more possession and get deeper into KC's territory, but were unable to get off any real chances. In the 53rd minute, Wizards goalkeeper, Jimmy Nielsen was judged to have fouled a ACSTL player in the box giving them a PK. Nielsen guessed the right way, but the PK was well placed by Elvir Kafedzic into the corner to tie the game at 1-1. Shortly after the PK, the worst happened for the Wizards, and that was Hercegfalvi going down with what looked like a serious knee injury. He stayed on the field for a few minutes before being stretchered off the field. Even then he sat on the sidelines on the stretcher for a few more minutes before being carried to the locker room. Definitely not what KC wanted in this game. After the injury, the Wizards seemed to down shift a little bit more than they had before. They were still controlling much of the game, but you could tell they were also trying to avoid more injuries at the same time. KC grabbed what was probably a deserved winner late in the second half. Kei Kamara got fouled on the right wing, setting up a free kick that Rocastle put into the near post. Hirsig was the first one to reach the ball and just got a touch on it to put it past Dufty at the near post and give KC the 2-1 lead. Overall, a decent performance, not the solid performance of last week, but with 4 players I'd consider major game changers not on the field, I'll take the friendly win and the 4-1 aggregate score against St. Louis.

Wizards Man of the Match - Kei Kamara - Even though he was carrying an injury, he was a force down the right wing for KC, he gave St. Louis problems all game and won the free kick that led to the game winning goal. A solid performance from Kamara.

Honorable Mention - Michael Harrington

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Harrington 7, Conrad 6, Besler 6, Espinoza 5, Rocastle 6, Hirsig 7, Jewsbury 6, Kamara 7, Bunbury 5, Zoltan 6. Subs Aiyegbusi 5, Escobar 6, Zusi 5.

Wizards Defeat UMKC

The Wizards continued their preseason tonight out at CAB in a game against NCAA Division 1 UMKC tonight in a friendly that Wizards season ticket holders were invited to. The Wizards started the game with a lineup almost exactly like the one used by the white team in last Thursday's intersquad scrimmage, but early on the game was back and forth as UMKC held their own. In fact they forced a very good kick save out of Jimmy Nielsen very early in the game. Things also got a little chippy as the half went on, with Davy Arnaud taking a hard foul that earned the UMKC player a yellow. Shortly after, Arnaud and another UMKC player saw yellow and we got a bit of a shoving match as Arnaud appeared to elbow the UMKC player trying to get a little retribution for the hard foul. The Wizards grabbed the lead late in the first 45 minute period as UMKC had some very lax defending as Ryan Smith took the ball right off the defenders own foot inside his own box, took a touch and slipped the ball past the keeper to give KC the lead.

The Wizards made only one change after 45 minutes with Pablo Escobar coming on for Jimmy Conrad. KC doubled their lead on a very nice play by Stephane Auvray after a through ball from Chance Myers. Auvray danced by a few defender in the box that sent the keeper the wrong way and Auvray slid the ball into the net to double the lead. KC began to really control the game more and more and UMKC got less of the ball. UMKC started to get more frustrated and Arnaud was once again fouled about 25 yards from goal. Arnaud stepped up on the free kick and put it off the post and into the net to the keepers right, a really nice free kick to make it 3-0. With KC continuing to dominate possession, UMKC loss a player to a second yellow card. They immediately replaced the player so the Wizards didn't play with a man advantage, but it showed the physicality that was taking place in the friendly. KC made it 4-0 before the end of the second 45 minute period as Michael Harrington streaked down the left and played a nice lofted cross where substitute Jonathan Leathers had time to place a looping header back across goal and over the head of the keeper into the net.

KC had made a few changes over the course of the second period, but made even more before the final period started. With UMKC not having as many players, the Wizards continued to be the team that controlled the game especially with the fresh legs. It did take a little while for those fresh legs to get underneath them in the offensive end, but finally Zoltan Hercegfalvi hit a rocket that made it 5-0. The ball only rarely got deep into KC's half as the period went on and KC continued to find ways into the Kangaroos box. Teal Bunbury got brought down on one of those runs being awarded a PK. Bunbury stepped up and placed the ball to the keepers left out of reach to make it 6-0. With less than 2 minutes left in the game, KC added the extra point as Santiago Hirsig knocked home a corner to give KC the 7-0 win.

Overall it was a good performance although the lack of goals in the first period against the college team was a little frustrating, still it was nice to see the team continue to play well and combine. Smith continues to be very impressive and Auvray really is a beast in the center of midfield, both these guys I think are going to have good seasons in MLS.

Wizards Win Preseason Opener

Last night in Arizona, the Wizards played their first preseason game against the Arizona Sahuaros at Grand Canyon University. No official report on the game has come out yet, the only thing I've found so far with the result is tweets by Wizards forward, Kei Kamara, who apparently did not have a good game in his 30 minute shift. According to Kamara, the Wizards won the game 5-0. Once more details on the game come out, I'll update this post.


UPDATE: Thad has the information on who played and who scored last night for the Wizards. The first team was the same as the "Blue" team that won the scrimmages on Friday in practice. Josh Wolff scored the first two, the first off a short corner from Roger Espinoza, the second coming from Zoltan Hercegfalvi. Hercegfalvi got the third goal off an assist from Mauro Fuzetti. Fuzetti got the 4th goal finishing a chance on the back side. All these goals came within the first 16 minutes of the game.

The second group appeared to struggle, which goes along with what Kamara said in his twitter post last night. The fourth goal came from the third group, as Nelson Pizarro scored with a diving header. New signing, Pablo Escobar was red carded late on for a rough tackle.

October Player of the Month

The Wizards season is over, but the Player of the Month for October needs to be handed out. My year end awards will also be coming out soon as well. In October the Wizards went 0-2-2, scoring 5 goals and allowing 8 goals during that time frame. Here are a few candidates for October.

Claudio Lopez - Lopez had a goal and an assist in October, setting up Zoltann Hercegfalvi's goal in Houston and scored the game tying PK against DC.

Zoltan Hercegfalvi - While he only started two games in October, Hercegfalvi scored two goals for the Wizards against Houston and Seattle.

This month, the award is going to




Zoltan Hercegfalvi. Hercegfalvi's play was refreshing for the team. He brought something to the forward line that had been lacking for the Wizards throughout most of the season. And while he didn't get a whole lot of minutes in October, when he was on the field, his style of play pushed the game for the Wizards. I'm looking forward to next season and him having an entire year with the team.

Put a Fork in It, It's Officially Over

It took a lot longer than I think many people expected it to, but the Wizards are now officially eliminated from the playoff race. The Wizards were eliminated before they even took the field against Seattle after Toronto's win over Salt Lake yesterday. Still it wouldn't have mattered, as the Wizards blew another lead and once again lost at home, this time to Seattle, 3-2 last night.

Seattle started the brighter of the two sides, with Fredy Montero having a shot saved with a good reflex save by Kevin Hartman. Hartman covered up the rebound before a Seattle player could get there. Their bright start was rewarded in the 27th minute when Tyrone Marshall scored off of a rebound after a Freddie Ljungberg corner. The goal has to fall on Hartman, as he had no one marking up on his near post. This allowed Ljungberg to attempt to put it in directly from the corner, forcing Hartman to scramble to keep the ball out. Marshall was there waiting for the rebound and made no mistake. Poor choice by Hartman.

KC had a penalty shout turned down soon afterwords, as Zoltan Hercegfalvi was knocked over going for a ball in the air, but no call was made. It was only a quick reprieve, as Seattle took control of the game back and were unlucky not to make it 2 or even 3-0 before half time. Steve Zakuani hit the cross bar from about 30 yards out as he tried to chip Hartman after he got played in behind the Wizards defense. Not soon after that, the cross bar saved the Wizards again, as Nate Jaqua put a header off the cross bar.

In the second half, KC started to get into the game a little bit more and tied the game early in the first half thanks to Hercegfalvi. He raced onto a shot/cross by Michael Harrington that was going wide and redirected it into the net. The Wizards continued with the pressure and took the lead only 2 minutes after equalizing, this time through Josh Wolff, who got his foot to Davy Arnaud's cross into the box to make it 2-1 Wizards.

Seattle started to push back, and Montero pushed a shot just wide of the post only minutes after Wolff's goal. In the 69th minute, Seattle found the equalizer through Roger Levesque after a Ljungberg corner. Levesque had gotten around Harrington and had an easy header into the net to tie the game. Zakuani had a few good chances to make it 3-2 Seattle, once pushing his shot just wide of the post and a second when he tried to go "5-hole" on Hartman, but Hartman was able to get down fast enough. Soon after that attempt, Seattle found the winner. Ljungberg challenged Matt Besler down the line, shrugged him off the ball before going in towards goal down the end line. Jimmy Conrad commited to cover Ljungberg, who was able to pick out an unmarked Nate Jaqua who had an empty net to shoot for to make it 3-2 Seattle. KC wasn't able to find a winner and Seattle became the third straight team to clinch a playoff spot against the Wizards.

Wizards Man of the Match - Josh Wolff - Hit a career high with his 11th league goal last night.

Player Ratings - Hartman 4, Leathers 3, Conrad 5, Besler 4, Harrington 4, Arnaud 4, Zusi 4, Jewsbury 4, Lopez 5, Hercegfalvi 5, Wolff 5. Subs Myers 4, Kamara 4, Espinoza 4.

Zoltan for Goal of the Week

Wizards forward, Zoltan Hercegfalvi's equalizer is up for Goal of the Week. Zoltan took a one time shot off of a lofted ball into the box by Claudio Lopez. Zoltan's shot had enough power on it to get past Pat Onstad. Check out the goal below. By the way, I love the call on this goal. De Zoltan!

Fading Away

It's getting close to just saying "let's prepare for 2010". After today's result down in Houston, the Wizards playoff hopes get even more faint. Up a man for over 70 minutes, the Wizards had to fight back from a goal down to salvage a draw against the Houston Dynamo this afternoon.

KC came out and tried to push the game from the start getting into Houston's end multiple times early on. They were unluck to not have the lead inside the first 15 minutes, as Kei Kamara struck the wood work on a sliding effort after a cross from Claudio Lopez. Houston came right back down the field, and Brad Davis forced a strong save out of Kevin Hartman. Things started to get a little rough in the 16th minute, as Davy Arnaud slid into Dynamo keeper, Pat Onstad after a cross from Josh Wolff. Although replays made it look like Arnaud did not even touch Onstad. Only a minute later, the Dynamo were reduced to 10 men when Cam Weaver came in high and with his cleats up on Santiago Hirsig. Hirsig made a comedic meal out of the tackle, but Weaver received his marching orders, and for the 9th time this season, a Wizards opponent saw red. In those previous 8 encounters, the Wizards were 5-2-1, not bad odds when you need all 3 points.

Unfortunately it was the Dynamo that struck first not long after the red card. In the 26th minute, Luis Angel Landin lost his marker inside the Wizards box and latched onto a Brian Mullan cross at the back post to give the Dynamo the lead.

In the second half, KC started to push the game more, using their man advantage, and looking for the equalizer. Jack Jewsbury got played in 1v1 with Onstad, but Jewsbury tried to dribble around the Dynamo keeper, and instead got run out of bounds. Claudio Lopez was now playing more lofted balls into the box, and one of those chances almost resulted in an own goal as the Houston defender deflected a ball back to Onstad who did reacted well enough to catch the ball. After that, and the subbing out of Kei Kamara, Houston seemed to grab more control of the game and had a few opportunities to make it 2-0, but thankfully for the Wizards, Dominic Oduro was shooting as good as the Wizards were, as he shot high with an open net. It was Kamara's sub, Zoltan Hercegfalvi, who got the equalizer. Once again from a lofted back by Lopez. Zoltan was the first to the ball and he first timed it at Onstad, who could only parry it into his own net to tie the game at one. KC pushed to find the winner, creating half chances and some decent defensive plays by the Dynamo, but KC couldn't find net.

With the draw KC is now well out of the playoff picture. Even though they are only 6 points out of the final playoff spot, with all the teams between them and that spot, it's going to be hard for KC to make up the ground without someone else making up ground as well. On a day when 3 points was the requirement, KC only came away with 1 point.

Wizards Man of the Match - Zoltan Hercegfalvi - I was confused by this sub at first, doing a forward for forward sub down a goal needing a win, but Zoltan was the one that pulled back the equalizer. It was the least he deserves after his play recently, providing a strong spark off the bench.

Player Ratings - Hartman 6, Leathers 4, Conrad 5, Besler 5, Harrington 5, Arnaud 4, Jewsbury 5, Hirsig 5, Lopez 5, Kamara 5, Wolff 4. Subs Zoltan 6, Zusi 4, Myers 5.

I'm Tired

I'm tired. So tired. I'm tired losing. So tired.

Ok, so it doesn't work out as well as Weezer's "Tired of Sex", but the sentiment is the same, I'm plain tired of losing at this point. It's been over 2 months since the team won a game. It's been over a month since the team scored a goal, and that continued last night back at CAB as Real Salt Lake came in and got only their second road win of the season, beating KC 1-0.

The early portion of the game went back and forth with both teams having some chances. Herculez Gomez put an early shot wide of the post, and Kevin Hartman did a good job at stopping Andy Williams as he attempted to turn and shoot a few minutes later. As the half continued, though, it was Salt Lake that took control of the game, and were rewarded in the 18th minute. Salt Lake played it down the Wizards left, before squaring into the middle for Pablo Campos who was open after Jimmy Conrad got caught ball watching. Campos had time to pick his corner and easily beat Hartman to give RSL the lead.

Kansas City tried to come back, but their best chances were mainly from distance or off target. Claudio Lopez did have a few chances, including one where he made a long run from the midfield got into the box and forced Chris Seitz to knock the ball out for a corner. The game changed late in the first half, when Ned Grabavoy was sent off for a tackle on Gomez. Advantage was played at the time and the Wizards should have really equalized before the red card. Lopez played in a great cross to Jack Jewsbury who was unmarked in the middle of the box, but he put his header over.

KC made one halftime change, bringing on Zoltan for Adam Cristman. Zoltan helped the Wizards to continue to push the game for the equalizer, his speed of play and vision on passes should have been rewarded at least once if not more often with a goal, as he set up Gomez in the 58th minute, but he blazed his shot high and wide. KC continued to pressure and Lopez forced a good save out of Seitz in the 62nd minute. The majority of the second half was down in Salt Lake's end, and KC had a few penalty shouts that came more from the Cauldron than from the players on the field, including Gomez going down in the box, and a collision on a corner kick. In second half stoppage time, Zoltan forced Seitz into another good save on a ball headed for the corner. Unfortunately KC continues to struggle finding the net, it's now 4 games without a goal and only 1 in the last 7 league games.

Wizards Man of the Match - Zoltan - Zoltan brought something entirely different to the game in the second half. He was able to find players with passes and was getting into dangerous situations. You could tell he was getting frustrated with the way that many of his teammates were playing yesterday. He did enough in my opinion to earn himself a start next week against New England.

Player Ratings - Hartman 5, Watson 4, Besler 4, Conrad 4, Harrington 4, Gomez 5, Hirsig 4, Jewsbury 4, Lopez 5, Arnaud 4, Cristman 3. Subs Zoltan 5, Myers 4, Leathers 4.

Sunday Of Stats

Not a lot of stats from today's game, but in the coming weeks we should have a few more, big stats coming up for players, so stay tuned.

The Wizards tied a team record for the most red cards in all competitions in a season. Zoltan Hercegfalvi was the Wizards 8th red card of the season in all competitions, tying the record set in 2002.

Today was Jack Jewsbury's 135th start in all competitions for the Wizards, tying him with Diego Gutierrez for 10th on the all time list.

ZOLTAN!

As you most likely know by now, Zoltán Hercegfalvi was officially unveiled today by the Wizards at the weekly press conference.
photo courtesy of Thad Bell

Hercegfalvi Official

The Wizards officially announced the signing today of Hungarian forward, Zoltán Hercegfalvi after the acquisition of his P-1 Visa. Hercegfalvi has been training with the team for a few weeks now, and the contract was even announced in Hungary press that the deal was done earlier this month. The Visa was the only thing left to get, and now with that, Hercegfalvi will be able to be on the field Saturday when the Wizards take on FC Dallas. To make it easier on everyone else in the league, Hercegfalvi will just have Zoltán on the back of his jersey.

Hercegfalvi Signed

Word out of Hungary is that the Wizards' rumored new forward, Zoltán Hercegfalvi, has signed with the team. The only thing that Hercegfalvi is waiting on is his work permit and then the deal shall take effect. According to the Hungarian media, the deal is an 18 month long loan, taking him through the end of the 2010 season. The Wizards also apparently have the option to buy him once the load deal is up.

Apparently the team will officially announce the deal once his work permit is through.

Hercegfalvi News

I stopped by practice today, but was a little late to see Zoltán Hercegfalvi practicing for the Wizards today, but Thad over at The Back Post was earlier and got some photos of Hercegfalvi practicing with the team in a small scrimmage. As you can see by the photo below, Hercegfalvi will be wearing number 20 for the Wizards. And as Thad mentions he was headed in to get his photo taken in uniform, which means that a deal is likely done. photo courtesy of Thad Bell

New Player for KC Part 2

So I have been doing a little research since I posted about Thad's post on a potential new player for KC. I ended up checking the Wizards wikipedia, and on the current roster, there is a new player listed, Zoltán Hercegfalvi out of Hungary, someone updated Hercegflavi's wikipeida page yesterday with the information that he was joining the Wizards. Finding that information I went and googled for articles about Hercegfalvi joining KC. I came across this one from the first of July about Hercegflavi coming to Kansas City for a medical. It appears that the deal maybe some sort of loan, although google translate isn't always helpful. Either way it looks like it's a year and a half contract according to that article. It also says that Hercegflavi had other interest from Germany and Greece. Hercegflavi has spent the last few years playing for Budapest Honvéd FC, where he appeared 51 times, scoring 13 goals, according to wikipedia.

We'll see if this is the same player once it's made official, if it is.