Time for another Throw Back Thursday, and some more Sporting KC/KC
Wizards history for you. Originally today I was going to bring the last
time KC had one point or less through the first two games of the season
and how the third game went, 2009, against San Jose in the rain, sleet,
and snow. Instead thanks to Time Hop I'm going to bring up the first
game the team ever played as "Sporting Kansas City," which occurred four
years ago today, in 2011.
With the opening of then Livestrong
Sporting Park not happening until June, Sporting KC opened the 2011
season on the road against Chivas USA (RIP) in the first of seven
straight on the road. The game against Chivas seemed like a good start
to the season for KC, Chivas had finished at the bottom of the Western
Conference in 2010 while KC had seen an improved 2010 season under Peter
Vermes in his first season as head coach. While Sporting hadn't made
the playoffs, they'd finished third in the Eastern Conference with an
11-13-6 record. The team had gone through a lot of roster turnover ahead
of the 2011 season, in was the team's second designated player, Omar
Bravo, eventual rookie of the year winner, CJ Sapong, future MLS Best XI
defender, Aurelien Collin (who did not play against Chivas), and Julio
Cesar, along with many others (Luke Sassano and Milos Stojcev for
example). Chivas USA meanwhile had a very familiar face to KC fans, in
the form of Jimmy Conrad who was Chivas' captain in his final season as a
player.
The game was also my 10th road trip for a competitive
game for Kansas City. In the previous nine I'd gone an unremarkable
0-5-4, so obviously even though the match up favored Kansas City, my
expectations were low for seeing my first ever away win in person.
Things
couldn't have started better for Kansas City as in only the second
minute a long free kick into the box by Luke Sassano was not cleared and
eventually fell to Sapong who touched the ball away from a defender and
fired it past Zach Thornton to give KC the lead. To put in perspective
how rare of an occurrence Kansas City having a lead on the road when I
traveled was, that was just the third time in my nine trips that Kansas
City ever held the lead in a game I went to. Chivas controlled the game
after the goal, forcing Jimmy Nielsen to make a few good saves to keep
KC in front. Then right before half time KC grabbed a second. A long
cross from Kei Kamara made it over the head of Sapong and his defender
right to Bravo who was unmarked at the top of the box. Bravo chipped his
shot over an on rushing Thornton and into the net to double KC's lead
at the half 2-0.
The second half saw Chivas cut the lead in half
as Conrad scored against his former club after KC failed to clear a
corner. KC reestablished their two goal lead with Bravo getting his
second in the 74th minute. A long goal kick by Jimmy Nielsen was then
headed from Sapong, to Bravo, to Kei Kamara back into the path of Bravo
who touched it past Thornton and into the net to make it 3-1. Late on,
Chivas would make it interesting as Ben Zemanski scored off a partially
cleared corner to make it 3-2 before KC held on to finish the game off.
I
really can't explain what a joy it was to finally see the team win on
the road, funny enough, since the team re-branded, I'm 4-2-2 when I
travel to games.
Outside the game itself, the time I had at the
Home Depot Center (now Stub Hub Center) was great, the Chivas supporters
that we tailgated with were great, just like the majority of supporters
that I've met all over the US in my travels. They gave us beer, we
could get food, it was all around enjoyable. They even provided
entertainment with a water balloon launcher, which one of them used to
take a water balloon to his face from point blank range.
Inside
the stadium, as has become tradition, Robb Heineman came down and
visited the 70 some odd supporters that had traveled for the game,
cheering with the supporters, while making sure to replace any time we
said Wizards with Sporting (the re-branding was still a sore subject to
some of us, myself included). Not only was Heineman in the section, but after Sapong's second minute equalizer, he got the entire traveling Cauldron beer. Earlier in the day, Mike Illig (son of Cliff) had tweeted that with KC's first goal against Chivas he'd buy every SKC fan a beer at Johnny's Tavern in downtown KC. When Heineman was asked what about those that were traveling to LA, Heineman made the same offer. So after celebrating Sapong's goal I was brought along with Heineman to get beers for the group of traveling supporters.
Overall probably one of my favorite road trips, probably behind only my trip to Vancouver and Portland in 2012.
Showing posts with label roadtrip. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roadtrip. Show all posts
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Thursday, March 12, 2015
#TBT The Worst Road Trip Ever
With the big trip to Dallas this weekend, when there will be over 750 people traveling down the Toyota Park to watch Sporting KC take on FC Dallas I figured I'd use this Throw Back Thursday to look back at probably the worst road trip I've ever been on, and hard to think many others have been on worse.
First, let's set the stage, the year was 2009, the then Kansas City Wizards were headed down to Dallas to take on FC Dallas. The Wizards at the time were 5-6-6 having draw their last two games on the road 0-0 with New England and 1-1 at home against the LA Galaxy (the game Claudio Lopez scored from midfield). At this point KC's chances of making the playoffs, weren't hanging in the balance, but getting some sort of result was needed for Curt Onalfo's men. Adam Cristman got one of his three starts for KC in the game while Rauwshan McKenzie made one of his five league starts in that game. KC's current captain, Matt Besler was at right back.
From the start KC struggled to deal with Dallas as they came forward, the Wizards faced a lot of one way traffic, with Jack Jewsbury struggling to deal with Brek Shea and Jair Benitez on Dallas' left side. KC's defense held though for much of the first half either from saves by Kevin Hartman or from the offside flag. Finally in the 38th minute Jeff Cunningham opened the scoring as Atiba Harris was played in behind Besler and played a cross to the back post where Cunningham was unmarked to tap home. Only minutes later it was 2-0. Again Dallas broke down KC's right side way too easily and Shea played a ball into the middle where David Ferreira ran in front of McKenzie to flick on the cross and put it past Hartman to make it 2-0 before the teams headed into half time.
At half time, Onalfo tried to stop the bleeding, subbing out Herculez Gomez for Lance Watson, sliding him to right back and pushing Jewsbury into the midfield after all the trouble he had dealing with Shea. The move didn't hurt KC early on at least, Davy Arnaud forced a good save out of Dario Sala just after the half started and KC showed a little bit of life. It didn't last long though and in the 65th minute, after Hartman had come out of his box and muffed a clearance, Cunningham won the ball off McKenzie outside the box and proceeded to get fouled inside the box as the Dallas attacker carried forward. Cunningham stepped up and buried the PK for his second of the night. As if things couldn't get worse, a minute later Claudio Lopez got sent off for an elbow to the throat of Dax McCarty as KC's designated player tried to hold off the Dallas midfielder. Up a man, Dallas made it 4-0 in the 76th as a long Shea cross into the box caused Hartman to start to come out, then back pedal back towards goal. The hesitation led to the ball falling to the fee of Cunningham who finished off his hattrick. Two minutes later, a poor turnover in KC's defensive half of the field by Santiago Hirsig led to Ferreira going right at Hartman in a 1v1 situation. Hartman came off his line and tried to make a slide tackle just outside the box, but missed badly as Ferreira basically walked the ball into the net to make it 5-0. Cunningham officially finished the game off in the 89th as Hirsig hesitated in cutting out a through ball that made it to Cunningham. The striker hit a shot on goal that wasn't extremely hard, and hit right at Hartman, but the ball went under the KC goal keeper and rolled slowly into the net to finish off the second worst loss in KC history.
In the aftermath of the game, the Wizards fired head coach Onalfo on August 6th. KC was off until the 16th of August so the team had time to integrate under interim head coach, Peter Vermes, but KC proceeded to lose the next three games as well, 2-0 at home to Chicago, 1-0 on the road to San Jose, and 1-0 at home to Salt Lake. Only one player on the field for that game really suffered in terms of playing time for that game, and that was McKenzie, who would make only one more appearance for KC over the final 12 games as the Wizards limped to an 8-13-9 record. You can see the low lights of the match below.
Now I'm going to share my personal experience on this trip, those that know me have probably heard this story, for those that haven't, you'll be shaking your head by the end.
Yes I was at that game, you can see me and the rest of the traveling Cauldron in the far right corner in the highlights, a far cry from the nearly 1,000 that went in 2013 and the 750 plus headed there this weekend. At the time the Cauldron stayed in a hotel that was literally right across the parking lot from the stadium, so tailgating with the Dallas supporters was very easy. And like always on the trips to Dallas, they've treated us well. At the time I was actually doing my fair share of drumming in the Cauldron, a surprise simply because of my lack of musical talent. This was actually one of my last games doing it, because about five to seven minutes into the game I had ripped the skin on my thumb, not a pretty picture.
So by then I had drunk my share of beer, had my thumb torn open, and KC was playing like shit, needless to say I wasn't in a good mood. By half time I was sitting down in the section and I didn't get up for the second half, I figured if the players weren't going to put in the effort, I wasn't going to. Well as I explained above, things got even worse and the Wizards lost badly. As the group of us headed back out to the Dallas tailgate after the game to drink with them more before heading to a nearby bar to watch an LA Galaxy friendly (I believe it was against Real Madrid but it's been a while). Well to do that we had to walk by the bus where the team was getting on to head back to the hotel. I saw Onalfo walk out to the bus and proceeded to give him a piece of my mind, saying that we played like shit, that I was embarrassed to be a fan, and embarrassed that I'd traveled to that game. Onalfo walked straight onto the bus and sat in the front row. Unfortunately for him I could still see him and continued to give him a piece of my mind until I grew tired and walked back over to the tailgate. Not one of my prouder moments of supporting this team, course it wasn't one of the team's prouder moments either.
Enjoy this weekend traveling Sporting fans, hopefully your weekend is better than this one was.
First, let's set the stage, the year was 2009, the then Kansas City Wizards were headed down to Dallas to take on FC Dallas. The Wizards at the time were 5-6-6 having draw their last two games on the road 0-0 with New England and 1-1 at home against the LA Galaxy (the game Claudio Lopez scored from midfield). At this point KC's chances of making the playoffs, weren't hanging in the balance, but getting some sort of result was needed for Curt Onalfo's men. Adam Cristman got one of his three starts for KC in the game while Rauwshan McKenzie made one of his five league starts in that game. KC's current captain, Matt Besler was at right back.
From the start KC struggled to deal with Dallas as they came forward, the Wizards faced a lot of one way traffic, with Jack Jewsbury struggling to deal with Brek Shea and Jair Benitez on Dallas' left side. KC's defense held though for much of the first half either from saves by Kevin Hartman or from the offside flag. Finally in the 38th minute Jeff Cunningham opened the scoring as Atiba Harris was played in behind Besler and played a cross to the back post where Cunningham was unmarked to tap home. Only minutes later it was 2-0. Again Dallas broke down KC's right side way too easily and Shea played a ball into the middle where David Ferreira ran in front of McKenzie to flick on the cross and put it past Hartman to make it 2-0 before the teams headed into half time.
At half time, Onalfo tried to stop the bleeding, subbing out Herculez Gomez for Lance Watson, sliding him to right back and pushing Jewsbury into the midfield after all the trouble he had dealing with Shea. The move didn't hurt KC early on at least, Davy Arnaud forced a good save out of Dario Sala just after the half started and KC showed a little bit of life. It didn't last long though and in the 65th minute, after Hartman had come out of his box and muffed a clearance, Cunningham won the ball off McKenzie outside the box and proceeded to get fouled inside the box as the Dallas attacker carried forward. Cunningham stepped up and buried the PK for his second of the night. As if things couldn't get worse, a minute later Claudio Lopez got sent off for an elbow to the throat of Dax McCarty as KC's designated player tried to hold off the Dallas midfielder. Up a man, Dallas made it 4-0 in the 76th as a long Shea cross into the box caused Hartman to start to come out, then back pedal back towards goal. The hesitation led to the ball falling to the fee of Cunningham who finished off his hattrick. Two minutes later, a poor turnover in KC's defensive half of the field by Santiago Hirsig led to Ferreira going right at Hartman in a 1v1 situation. Hartman came off his line and tried to make a slide tackle just outside the box, but missed badly as Ferreira basically walked the ball into the net to make it 5-0. Cunningham officially finished the game off in the 89th as Hirsig hesitated in cutting out a through ball that made it to Cunningham. The striker hit a shot on goal that wasn't extremely hard, and hit right at Hartman, but the ball went under the KC goal keeper and rolled slowly into the net to finish off the second worst loss in KC history.
In the aftermath of the game, the Wizards fired head coach Onalfo on August 6th. KC was off until the 16th of August so the team had time to integrate under interim head coach, Peter Vermes, but KC proceeded to lose the next three games as well, 2-0 at home to Chicago, 1-0 on the road to San Jose, and 1-0 at home to Salt Lake. Only one player on the field for that game really suffered in terms of playing time for that game, and that was McKenzie, who would make only one more appearance for KC over the final 12 games as the Wizards limped to an 8-13-9 record. You can see the low lights of the match below.
Now I'm going to share my personal experience on this trip, those that know me have probably heard this story, for those that haven't, you'll be shaking your head by the end.
Yes I was at that game, you can see me and the rest of the traveling Cauldron in the far right corner in the highlights, a far cry from the nearly 1,000 that went in 2013 and the 750 plus headed there this weekend. At the time the Cauldron stayed in a hotel that was literally right across the parking lot from the stadium, so tailgating with the Dallas supporters was very easy. And like always on the trips to Dallas, they've treated us well. At the time I was actually doing my fair share of drumming in the Cauldron, a surprise simply because of my lack of musical talent. This was actually one of my last games doing it, because about five to seven minutes into the game I had ripped the skin on my thumb, not a pretty picture.
So by then I had drunk my share of beer, had my thumb torn open, and KC was playing like shit, needless to say I wasn't in a good mood. By half time I was sitting down in the section and I didn't get up for the second half, I figured if the players weren't going to put in the effort, I wasn't going to. Well as I explained above, things got even worse and the Wizards lost badly. As the group of us headed back out to the Dallas tailgate after the game to drink with them more before heading to a nearby bar to watch an LA Galaxy friendly (I believe it was against Real Madrid but it's been a while). Well to do that we had to walk by the bus where the team was getting on to head back to the hotel. I saw Onalfo walk out to the bus and proceeded to give him a piece of my mind, saying that we played like shit, that I was embarrassed to be a fan, and embarrassed that I'd traveled to that game. Onalfo walked straight onto the bus and sat in the front row. Unfortunately for him I could still see him and continued to give him a piece of my mind until I grew tired and walked back over to the tailgate. Not one of my prouder moments of supporting this team, course it wasn't one of the team's prouder moments either.
Enjoy this weekend traveling Sporting fans, hopefully your weekend is better than this one was.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Comparing the Long Road Trips
So KC finished up their 10 game road trip by going 1-6-3 after their 0-0 draw in Toronto last weekend. Now with it over let's take a look at the other two extended road trips that teams have gone on before the opening of their own soccer specific stadiums. LA in 2003 and Chicago in 2006 went on extended road trips before the opening the Home Depot Center and Toyota Park opened respectively.
LA went on an 8 game road trip to open the 2003 season. LA started the season with 3 straight draws against Columbus, Dallas, and New York. Lost in San Jose and New England, then drew with Dallas in their 6th game of the road trip. That was the last point of their road trip as they lost the final two to KC and Colorado to finish their road trip. A 0-4-4 record, and only 4 points, so if you think KC's record is bad, it could be worse. For LA to make the playoffs in 2003 it involved them having the second best home record in the league, going 9-3-3 at the Home Depot Center after it opened. The Galaxy finished the season 9-12-9, getting into the playoffs ahead of Dallas who was extremely poor that season. The Galaxy lost to the Earthquakes in the Western Conference semifinals. KC is likely going to need a similar record at this point to make the playoffs.
Chicago did fare much better than LA on their opening road trip before opening Toyota Park. The Fire actually went on a 6 game unbeaten run on the road after losing their opener to Dallas. They tied LA and Columbus before defeating New England. The tied KC and New York before beating Houston. They ended their road trip with loses at Chivas and Salt Lake. 2-3-4 on their road trip getting 10 points, which is what many KC fans were hoping for on the team's 10 game road trip. The Fire finished in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference in 2006 with a 13-11-8 record. The Fire lost to the Revolution on penalty kicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals that year.
KC went 1-6-3, finish with 6 points on their road trip. While currently KC is in last place in the East, they have 17 home games to try to make up points. There are 51 points available at home, KC is likely going to need at least 40 of those points, while still stealing another few points on the road to make the playoffs. Certainly possible, but it's going to take a lot of wins, starting Thursday against the Fire.
LA went on an 8 game road trip to open the 2003 season. LA started the season with 3 straight draws against Columbus, Dallas, and New York. Lost in San Jose and New England, then drew with Dallas in their 6th game of the road trip. That was the last point of their road trip as they lost the final two to KC and Colorado to finish their road trip. A 0-4-4 record, and only 4 points, so if you think KC's record is bad, it could be worse. For LA to make the playoffs in 2003 it involved them having the second best home record in the league, going 9-3-3 at the Home Depot Center after it opened. The Galaxy finished the season 9-12-9, getting into the playoffs ahead of Dallas who was extremely poor that season. The Galaxy lost to the Earthquakes in the Western Conference semifinals. KC is likely going to need a similar record at this point to make the playoffs.
Chicago did fare much better than LA on their opening road trip before opening Toyota Park. The Fire actually went on a 6 game unbeaten run on the road after losing their opener to Dallas. They tied LA and Columbus before defeating New England. The tied KC and New York before beating Houston. They ended their road trip with loses at Chivas and Salt Lake. 2-3-4 on their road trip getting 10 points, which is what many KC fans were hoping for on the team's 10 game road trip. The Fire finished in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference in 2006 with a 13-11-8 record. The Fire lost to the Revolution on penalty kicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals that year.
KC went 1-6-3, finish with 6 points on their road trip. While currently KC is in last place in the East, they have 17 home games to try to make up points. There are 51 points available at home, KC is likely going to need at least 40 of those points, while still stealing another few points on the road to make the playoffs. Certainly possible, but it's going to take a lot of wins, starting Thursday against the Fire.
Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Heineman Offers Clarification
Wizards President, Robb Heineman responded to comments he made yesterday at the season ticket holder stadium tour today on Bigsoccer. He responded to the comments about where the Wizards will play to start next season, the possibility of playing at Arrowhead, as well as neutral site "home" games.
My biggest issue was the neutral site league games, which Heineman addresses first, and even says is likely not a good idea. He says that the Wizards are entertaining the idea of "a" netural site "home" game in a location where the team can assure a "pro-Wizards/pro-Bravo crowd. AKA, they're looking for a location in the southwest (as Heineman mentions), somewhere where they can pull in Mexican fans who want to see Wizards designated player, Omar Bravo play. Any game in a neutral site in Arizona (or anywhere in the southwest) isn't going to be a "pro-Wizards" crowd, it's going to be a "pro-Bravo" crowd that is only cheering for the Wizards because that's who Bravo is playing for. How many of those pro-Blanco fans are still coming to Fire games, even in Chicago now that he's not there?
If the team does play a neutral site home game, Heineman says the team will work to put together a travel package for fans who want to travel, or compensate season ticket holders who don't want to do that. That's a smart move at least in offering both options for season ticket holders instead of holding them to it or not offering the opportunity to possibly travel if people want.
Heineman reiterates that the team will not play a game at CAB next season, because he says much of the equipment on site is leased annually, so the team won't sign leases for an entire year when they would only be using the stadium for a few games. He does say that the team has not ruled out the possibility of playing at Arrowhead some next year. Heineman mentions that in his perfect world the team would play 3 games at Arrowhead to help break up the road trip, similar to the situation this year for Philadelphia where they played 2 games at Lincoln Financial Field while PPL Park was finished. For me this is the best option of the three options, where none of those options are ideal. But I'd rather have a few games at home before the stadium opens just to help provide some help competitively to the team's record.
As I said yesterday, the Galaxy had a horrible run when they opened the Home Depot Center, going 0-4-4, while the Chicago Fire did better, going 2-3-4, picking up 10 points. And going back to my above example with the expansion Union, who went 2-7-1 before PPL Park opened (1-7 on the road). So maybe I overreacted a bit last night, but I don't like the idea of an extended road trip, it gets tiring on players having to travel every single week, and the Wizards have never been a good road team, they only have two seasons in their history where they have a winning record on the road, going 9-7 in 1997 and 5-3-8 2000. Over their history the Wizards average 15 points on the road a season, on the road for a long stretch I struggle to see the Wizards hitting that mark.
I still struggle to see the Wizards making the playoffs in the 2011 season, maybe I'm just pessimistic, but unlike 2003 and 2006 with LA and Chicago, less than half the teams in the league will make the playoffs in 2011, and with a traditionally poor road team playing a long stretch away from home it's hard to see the Wizards getting enough points early on in the season. But I do appreciate Heineman stepping up to clarify his comments from yesterday.
My biggest issue was the neutral site league games, which Heineman addresses first, and even says is likely not a good idea. He says that the Wizards are entertaining the idea of "a" netural site "home" game in a location where the team can assure a "pro-Wizards/pro-Bravo crowd. AKA, they're looking for a location in the southwest (as Heineman mentions), somewhere where they can pull in Mexican fans who want to see Wizards designated player, Omar Bravo play. Any game in a neutral site in Arizona (or anywhere in the southwest) isn't going to be a "pro-Wizards" crowd, it's going to be a "pro-Bravo" crowd that is only cheering for the Wizards because that's who Bravo is playing for. How many of those pro-Blanco fans are still coming to Fire games, even in Chicago now that he's not there?
If the team does play a neutral site home game, Heineman says the team will work to put together a travel package for fans who want to travel, or compensate season ticket holders who don't want to do that. That's a smart move at least in offering both options for season ticket holders instead of holding them to it or not offering the opportunity to possibly travel if people want.
Heineman reiterates that the team will not play a game at CAB next season, because he says much of the equipment on site is leased annually, so the team won't sign leases for an entire year when they would only be using the stadium for a few games. He does say that the team has not ruled out the possibility of playing at Arrowhead some next year. Heineman mentions that in his perfect world the team would play 3 games at Arrowhead to help break up the road trip, similar to the situation this year for Philadelphia where they played 2 games at Lincoln Financial Field while PPL Park was finished. For me this is the best option of the three options, where none of those options are ideal. But I'd rather have a few games at home before the stadium opens just to help provide some help competitively to the team's record.
As I said yesterday, the Galaxy had a horrible run when they opened the Home Depot Center, going 0-4-4, while the Chicago Fire did better, going 2-3-4, picking up 10 points. And going back to my above example with the expansion Union, who went 2-7-1 before PPL Park opened (1-7 on the road). So maybe I overreacted a bit last night, but I don't like the idea of an extended road trip, it gets tiring on players having to travel every single week, and the Wizards have never been a good road team, they only have two seasons in their history where they have a winning record on the road, going 9-7 in 1997 and 5-3-8 2000. Over their history the Wizards average 15 points on the road a season, on the road for a long stretch I struggle to see the Wizards hitting that mark.
I still struggle to see the Wizards making the playoffs in the 2011 season, maybe I'm just pessimistic, but unlike 2003 and 2006 with LA and Chicago, less than half the teams in the league will make the playoffs in 2011, and with a traditionally poor road team playing a long stretch away from home it's hard to see the Wizards getting enough points early on in the season. But I do appreciate Heineman stepping up to clarify his comments from yesterday.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Get Your Planners Out
Today the MLS schedule was released for the 2010 season and it's time for everyone to get their planners out and start figuring out their vacations and road trip plans to see the Wizards this season. Kansas City 13 Saturday night games, 1 Thursday night game, and 1 Sunday afternoon game. Most of the Saturday games are at 7:30 except for the game against FC Dallas in September which is at 7. For those fans outside KC, it's going to be a lot harder to see the team unless you get the Direct Kick package as the Wizards only have 3 games on national broadcasts this year. And those are KC's first three games in May. Saturday May 1st in Houston is on FSC, Wednesday May 5th on ESPN2 in DC, and Saturday May 15th against Chicago, again on FSC.
The close road trips for Wizards fans all come in July, as the Wizards play in Dallas July 3rd, Columbus July 14th, Colorado July 17th, and July 24th in Chicago. Longer trips to either Houston or Salt Lake are both in May.
Here is the Wizards schedule.
March
03/27 - Saturday D.C. United 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
April
04/10 - Saturday Colorado 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
04/17 - Saturday at Seattle 2:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
04/24 - Saturday LA Galaxy 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
May
05/01 - Saturday at Houston 7:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
05/05 - Wednesday at D.C. United 6:00 p.m. ESPN2, Deportes
05/15 - Saturday Chicago 7:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
05/23 - Sunday Columbus 3:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/29 - Saturday at Real Salt Lake 8:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
June
06/05 - Saturday at Toronto FC 3:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/10 - Thursday Philadelphia 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/26 - Saturday New York 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
July
07/03 - Saturday at FC Dallas 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/10 - Saturday Chivas USA 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/14 - Wednesday at Columbus 6:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/17 - Saturday at Colorado TBD DK, MLSnet.com
07/24 - Saturday at Chicago 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/31 - Saturday Toronto FC 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
August
08/07 - Saturday Real Salt Lake 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/14 - Saturday at San Jose 9:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/21 - Saturday New England 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/28 - Saturday at LA Galaxy 9:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
September
09/04 - Saturday at Philadelphia 2:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/11 - Saturday Houston 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/19 - Sunday at Chivas USA 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/25 - Saturday FC Dallas 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
October
10/02 - Saturday at New York 6:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/09 - Saturday Seattle 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/16 - Saturday at New England 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/23 - Saturday San Jose 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
The close road trips for Wizards fans all come in July, as the Wizards play in Dallas July 3rd, Columbus July 14th, Colorado July 17th, and July 24th in Chicago. Longer trips to either Houston or Salt Lake are both in May.
Here is the Wizards schedule.
March
03/27 - Saturday D.C. United 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
April
04/10 - Saturday Colorado 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
04/17 - Saturday at Seattle 2:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
04/24 - Saturday LA Galaxy 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
May
05/01 - Saturday at Houston 7:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
05/05 - Wednesday at D.C. United 6:00 p.m. ESPN2, Deportes
05/15 - Saturday Chicago 7:30 p.m. FSC, FSE
05/23 - Sunday Columbus 3:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
05/29 - Saturday at Real Salt Lake 8:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
June
06/05 - Saturday at Toronto FC 3:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/10 - Thursday Philadelphia 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
06/26 - Saturday New York 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
July
07/03 - Saturday at FC Dallas 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/10 - Saturday Chivas USA 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/14 - Wednesday at Columbus 6:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/17 - Saturday at Colorado TBD DK, MLSnet.com
07/24 - Saturday at Chicago 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
07/31 - Saturday Toronto FC 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
August
08/07 - Saturday Real Salt Lake 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/14 - Saturday at San Jose 9:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/21 - Saturday New England 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
08/28 - Saturday at LA Galaxy 9:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
September
09/04 - Saturday at Philadelphia 2:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/11 - Saturday Houston 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/19 - Sunday at Chivas USA 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
09/25 - Saturday FC Dallas 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
October
10/02 - Saturday at New York 6:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/09 - Saturday Seattle 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/16 - Saturday at New England 7:00 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
10/23 - Saturday San Jose 7:30 p.m. DK, MLSnet.com
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Cauldron News (Games and Roadtrips)
With the Wizards having this coming weekend off, there isn't a whole lot of Wizards news. There is, though, news coming from the Wizards supporter's group, the Hillcrest Syndicate. The Syndicate has news about the upcoming "Beckham game" as well as plans for a road trip down to Dallas to watch the Wizards play.
First, the Beckham game, coming up a week from Saturday.
Hillcrest Syndicate has some discounted Cauldron tickets available for the LA Galaxy game, on Saturday, July 25th. HS will be offering single game tickets, as well as a two game package which includes the August 29th game against Real Salt Lake. Anyone interested in more information can visit www.kccauldron.com/store or send the Syndicate treasurer an email at treasurer@kccauldron.com.
The other news is the road trip the Cauldron is playing for the weekend of August 1st down in Dallas to watch the Wizards take on FC Dallas. For more information on that trip, see this flier (click on it for a bigger image).
First, the Beckham game, coming up a week from Saturday.
Hillcrest Syndicate has some discounted Cauldron tickets available for the LA Galaxy game, on Saturday, July 25th. HS will be offering single game tickets, as well as a two game package which includes the August 29th game against Real Salt Lake. Anyone interested in more information can visit www.kccauldron.com/store or send the Syndicate treasurer an email at treasurer@kccauldron.com.
The other news is the road trip the Cauldron is playing for the weekend of August 1st down in Dallas to watch the Wizards take on FC Dallas. For more information on that trip, see this flier (click on it for a bigger image).
Monday, March 09, 2009
Wizards Involved in Triple Header
Today the home venues for this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup were announced, and it looks like the Wizards will be part of a triple header on their trip to New England in July. On July 11th, the Revolution are set to host a 2 of the final group play games, along with their game against the Kansas City Wizards. It'll be a day full of soccer, as the Wizards kick off at 3pm central time. Ives Galarcep is reporting that one of the matches in New England that day will involve the US team. So it'll be a day of club and country for Wizards fans, especially for any that are interested in making the trip up to the Boston area for the game. Me, I'm interested in making the trip, I've never been to Boston period, so going and seeing the Wizards and US play would be a major bonus.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Playoff Series
The Wizards playoff series with the Columbus Crew kicks off Saturday night out at Community America Ballpark. Let's pack CAB and make sure the Wizards have the home field advantage for the game. The Wizards are 7-0-3 in their last 10 home games, so having a packed house for the game will be important. Get your tickets here.
But why just stop at attending just the home game? The Wizards are looking to charter a bus to go to Columbus for the return leg on November 8th. The bus would leave early Saturday morning, arriving in Columbus for the game. You'll stay Saturday night in Columbus and come home Sunday. For more information on the details of the trip, contact Sam Pierron with the Wizards at spierron@kcwizards.com. Seriously, help fill the bus, join me in Columbus and let's have a big crowd cheering on the Wizards on the road as well.
But why just stop at attending just the home game? The Wizards are looking to charter a bus to go to Columbus for the return leg on November 8th. The bus would leave early Saturday morning, arriving in Columbus for the game. You'll stay Saturday night in Columbus and come home Sunday. For more information on the details of the trip, contact Sam Pierron with the Wizards at spierron@kcwizards.com. Seriously, help fill the bus, join me in Columbus and let's have a big crowd cheering on the Wizards on the road as well.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Heading to Big D
Getting ready to leave to head on my second road trip of the year, this time down to Dallas for the Wizards 4th of July encounter with FC Dallas. Both teams are coming into the game on short rest, as they each played in the US Open Cup Tuesday night, where both teams won. Dallas should be the fresher team from that, though, as they were at home, and pulled off their win in regulation, while the Wizards had to travel to Carolina and went into extra time against the Railhawks.
Some good news for the Wizards, is the current injury report. While the Wizards only have reserve midfielder, Kevin Souter listed on it, Dallas has at least 3 players on there that would likely see time tomorrow. Midfielders, Pablo Ricchetti and Arturo Alvarez are both listed as out right now and midfielders Marcelo Saragosa and Dax McCarty are both listed as questionable. If none of those guys can go tomorrow, the Wizards chances definitely increase. The big match up tomorrow will be Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad against FC Dallas forward, Kenny Cooper, should be a good one. With such a small injury list, I'd expect a lineup similar to the one that played against Salt Lake last week.
I could see Kerry Zavagnin brought in for either Victorine or Morsink, but I don't think there's room in the starting 11 for Carlos Marinelli.
PREDICTION - I'd love for the Wizards to go in and treat Dallas like Chicago did to us on July 4, 2001, but that's a wish I'd like for basically every game, so I don't really see that happening. With the injury report, KC may have the advantage, but with 5 players in my starting 11 getting a lot of time in Carolina the fatigue factor may come into play early in the second half.
KC - 2 (Lopez, Trujillo)
FCD - 1 (Cooper)
Some good news for the Wizards, is the current injury report. While the Wizards only have reserve midfielder, Kevin Souter listed on it, Dallas has at least 3 players on there that would likely see time tomorrow. Midfielders, Pablo Ricchetti and Arturo Alvarez are both listed as out right now and midfielders Marcelo Saragosa and Dax McCarty are both listed as questionable. If none of those guys can go tomorrow, the Wizards chances definitely increase. The big match up tomorrow will be Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad against FC Dallas forward, Kenny Cooper, should be a good one. With such a small injury list, I'd expect a lineup similar to the one that played against Salt Lake last week.
Hartman
Jewsbury - Conrad - Hohlbein - Harrington
Arnaud - Victorine - Morsink - Lopez
Trujillo - Sealy
Jewsbury - Conrad - Hohlbein - Harrington
Arnaud - Victorine - Morsink - Lopez
Trujillo - Sealy
I could see Kerry Zavagnin brought in for either Victorine or Morsink, but I don't think there's room in the starting 11 for Carlos Marinelli.
PREDICTION - I'd love for the Wizards to go in and treat Dallas like Chicago did to us on July 4, 2001, but that's a wish I'd like for basically every game, so I don't really see that happening. With the injury report, KC may have the advantage, but with 5 players in my starting 11 getting a lot of time in Carolina the fatigue factor may come into play early in the second half.
KC - 2 (Lopez, Trujillo)
FCD - 1 (Cooper)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Long Road Trips
Today the Wizards begin their long 6 game road trip, the longest road trip in team history. You would think it'd be the longest road trip by a few games, but it's not. This road trip is only one game longer than the 5 game road trip the Wizards went on in the month of June, 2004. The Wizards were gone for less than a month, but played 5 games in that time, actually going undefeated on that trip, beating LA, CO, and New England, while drawing with Columbus and San Jose.
So how can the Wizards do on this 6 game road swing? Let's take a look.
@ Chicago - As I stated in my pregame, KC is not good in Chicago at all. Combine that with the fact that Chicago has looked like a pretty good team so far, I don't see the Wizards getting any points out of this game. (0 points)
@ Toronto - BMO Field has become a lot tougher place to play with the additions TFC have made. It'll be a tough place to get points for any team this year. I think the Wizards can just pull out a point here, though. (1 point)
@ Columbus - Columbus has looked very good earlier in the season, with a lot of young American talent around Schelotto. It'll be an interesting battle between him and Wizards Argentine forward, Claudio Lopez. (1 point)
@ New York - Playing on some of the worst turf in the league is always fun, and New York has always played us tough. With Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, the Wizards defense will get a strong test. (1 point)
@ LA - The Galaxy just doesn't impress me at all, outside of Beckham and Donovan, there isn't much on that roster. By this time Ruiz may be back, but this is still the Wizards game to lose, especially with LA's weak back line. (3 points)
@ RSL - Ending the road trip at altitude, and a much improved RSL team, this will be hard to get the full 3 points off of. A lot in this match will depend on how the rest of the road trip is gone, but I'm going to be optimistic right now. (3 points)
So of a possible 18 points available for the Wizards on this road trip, I'm predicting they'll get half of them (9 points). Not a terrible result for the road trip, but not great. They'll have to take advantage of their home games from there on out.
Some good news for when the team returns, though. On their return home from that 5 game road trip in 2004, the Wizards promptly crushed Dallas 5-1.
So how can the Wizards do on this 6 game road swing? Let's take a look.
@ Chicago - As I stated in my pregame, KC is not good in Chicago at all. Combine that with the fact that Chicago has looked like a pretty good team so far, I don't see the Wizards getting any points out of this game. (0 points)
@ Toronto - BMO Field has become a lot tougher place to play with the additions TFC have made. It'll be a tough place to get points for any team this year. I think the Wizards can just pull out a point here, though. (1 point)
@ Columbus - Columbus has looked very good earlier in the season, with a lot of young American talent around Schelotto. It'll be an interesting battle between him and Wizards Argentine forward, Claudio Lopez. (1 point)
@ New York - Playing on some of the worst turf in the league is always fun, and New York has always played us tough. With Juan Pablo Angel and Jozy Altidore, the Wizards defense will get a strong test. (1 point)
@ LA - The Galaxy just doesn't impress me at all, outside of Beckham and Donovan, there isn't much on that roster. By this time Ruiz may be back, but this is still the Wizards game to lose, especially with LA's weak back line. (3 points)
@ RSL - Ending the road trip at altitude, and a much improved RSL team, this will be hard to get the full 3 points off of. A lot in this match will depend on how the rest of the road trip is gone, but I'm going to be optimistic right now. (3 points)
So of a possible 18 points available for the Wizards on this road trip, I'm predicting they'll get half of them (9 points). Not a terrible result for the road trip, but not great. They'll have to take advantage of their home games from there on out.
Some good news for when the team returns, though. On their return home from that 5 game road trip in 2004, the Wizards promptly crushed Dallas 5-1.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Weekend in Colorado
Getting up at 5 am on your day off isn't normally something that you look forward to, but when you're a Kansas City Wizards fan, and you're getting up so that you can meet up with a van to ride out to Denver to watch the Wizards play, it's something you definitly look forward to. By plane and automobile, 40 plus Wizards fans made the trip out to Denver this weekend to watch the Wizards take on the Colorado Rapids. 18 of us traveled in 2 12 passenger vans. As anyone that has taken the drive from KC to Denver will tell you, it's one of the most boring drives in the US, but when the closest MLS team to you is 8-10 hours away, sometimes you gotta make the long boring drives.
Once in Denver, with the realization that another Kansas City team was in town to play as well, a group of us made the trip to Coors Field to watch the Royals come from 2 down in the 8th inning to win the game 5-2. Coors is an amazing stadium, and it's situation near downtown Denver, and within walking distance of the Breckenridge Brewery, almost makes me change my mind about a downtown baseball stadium in KC.
Saturday was another early morning for many of us, as we got up to go to a local pub to watch the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea. A rather dull encounter only avoided penalties thanks to a late Didier Drogba goal to give Chelsea the 1-0 win, and a "double" as they'll call it. For me personally winning the league cup and the FA Cup is in no way a double, but I digress.
It was then on to a supporters match between the Cauldron and a mix of the Colorado supporters groups, which was won by the home fans, 7-3. After that is was on to the parking lot to tailgate with the Rapids supporters. From the fans I've met, that have come to KC or from going to other teams stadiums, the Rapids supporters are right up there with the Dallas fans as some of the friendliest in the league, they welcomed us, fed us, and gave us beer, in my book, that's a trifecta.
As for the game, the Rapids took the lead in the first half thanks to an iffy handball call that he switched from being outside the box to inside giving the Rapids a PK. The Wizards equalized in the second half, thanks to Davy Arnaud who received a great cross from Eddie Johnson, as he beat Pablo Mastroeni to the ball and beat Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul. The Wizards level of play picked up remarkably in the second half, thanks to the introduction of Carlos Marinelli into the game. Marinelli, who was thought to still be a few weeks away from returning, was able to change the make up of the game, and add a stronger punch to the Wizards attack. The traveling support of the Cauldron were great, and also got some props during the HDNet broadcast crew according to fans back in KC who watched the game, the quote apparently in the broadcast was "what a subdued crowd.... well except for the KC fans."
You can see pictures from both the Wizards-Rapids game, and the supporters match here, thanks to Yellow Card Journalism.
3 Stars of the Game
1. Davy Arnaud - KC - Scored the tying goal and was working his butt off all night, it was about time he earned himself a goal this season.
2. Terry Cooke - CO - Was giving Jose Burciaga a lot of trouble down the week and was creating a lot of chances that CO, specifically Roberto Brown numerous times, was unable to finish.
3. Eddie Johnson - KC - Created numerous chances, and probably should have had a goal, his great cross into Davy in the box was brilliantly placed, he also had another few crosses later in the game from almost the same position that no one was just able to finish.
Once in Denver, with the realization that another Kansas City team was in town to play as well, a group of us made the trip to Coors Field to watch the Royals come from 2 down in the 8th inning to win the game 5-2. Coors is an amazing stadium, and it's situation near downtown Denver, and within walking distance of the Breckenridge Brewery, almost makes me change my mind about a downtown baseball stadium in KC.
Saturday was another early morning for many of us, as we got up to go to a local pub to watch the FA Cup final between Manchester United and Chelsea. A rather dull encounter only avoided penalties thanks to a late Didier Drogba goal to give Chelsea the 1-0 win, and a "double" as they'll call it. For me personally winning the league cup and the FA Cup is in no way a double, but I digress.
It was then on to a supporters match between the Cauldron and a mix of the Colorado supporters groups, which was won by the home fans, 7-3. After that is was on to the parking lot to tailgate with the Rapids supporters. From the fans I've met, that have come to KC or from going to other teams stadiums, the Rapids supporters are right up there with the Dallas fans as some of the friendliest in the league, they welcomed us, fed us, and gave us beer, in my book, that's a trifecta.
As for the game, the Rapids took the lead in the first half thanks to an iffy handball call that he switched from being outside the box to inside giving the Rapids a PK. The Wizards equalized in the second half, thanks to Davy Arnaud who received a great cross from Eddie Johnson, as he beat Pablo Mastroeni to the ball and beat Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul. The Wizards level of play picked up remarkably in the second half, thanks to the introduction of Carlos Marinelli into the game. Marinelli, who was thought to still be a few weeks away from returning, was able to change the make up of the game, and add a stronger punch to the Wizards attack. The traveling support of the Cauldron were great, and also got some props during the HDNet broadcast crew according to fans back in KC who watched the game, the quote apparently in the broadcast was "what a subdued crowd.... well except for the KC fans."
You can see pictures from both the Wizards-Rapids game, and the supporters match here, thanks to Yellow Card Journalism.
3 Stars of the Game
1. Davy Arnaud - KC - Scored the tying goal and was working his butt off all night, it was about time he earned himself a goal this season.
2. Terry Cooke - CO - Was giving Jose Burciaga a lot of trouble down the week and was creating a lot of chances that CO, specifically Roberto Brown numerous times, was unable to finish.
3. Eddie Johnson - KC - Created numerous chances, and probably should have had a goal, his great cross into Davy in the box was brilliantly placed, he also had another few crosses later in the game from almost the same position that no one was just able to finish.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
On the road again
The Wizards are back on the road this week, in Colorado. They'll have company on the road as well, because the Cauldron has a good sized group of fans traveling to Colorado this weekend to cheer the Wizards on at The Big Dick, as Jimmy Conrad calls it. Kansas City is coming off their tough 2-1 loss at home against Dallas. Colorado is coming in off handing New York their first lose of the season.
Kansas City got some good news last night, as on the Jimmy Conrad Show on 97.3 FM in Kansas City, Jimmy announced that his jaw break this time was in the same place as last year. And that last year's break did not heal properly. The good news is though that he said he would be playing this Saturday in Colorado. Carlos Marinelli though is still out for at least another week or two before he comes back. Scott Sealy is also likely still going to be out this week. This means that Yura Movsisyan is going to be starting up top with Eddie Johnson again this Saturday. Kansas City has been getting fouled quite often lately, as the last 3 games they've been fouled over 20 times in each game. This choppiness is slowly down the Wizards attack and playing into the hands of the other team. Will be interesting to see if Colorado picks up their number of fouls as teams have done against the Wizards. The Wizards will likely field a lineup similar to the game against Dallas, except for Conrad replacing Aaron Hohlbein.
Prediction
These two teams have split their season series the past 2 seasons, with each team winning at home. The Wizards last won in Colorado in 04. The Wizards have also not won while the traveling Cauldron has been in attendance in a while, games in Dallas, Chicago, and Colorado last season were losses, the season before was a loss in Chicago and a tie in Dallas. The hope is that the Wizards will finally break it, but I think we'll see a tie.
KC - 1 (Arnaud)
CO - 1 (Gomez)
OTHER NEWS
The KC Brass won their season opener last night, coming from a goal down to defeat the Des Moines Menace 3-1 last night. With goals by Michael Thomas, Keith Gorczyca, and JD Warman.
I will be with the traveling Cauldron this weekend and will try to give reports on all the goings on, including the Royals-Rockies game Friday night, the FA Cup final at Fado's Irish Pub in Denver Saturday morning, Supporter's Match against the Colorado supporters Saturday afternoon, and the match on Saturday night.
Kansas City got some good news last night, as on the Jimmy Conrad Show on 97.3 FM in Kansas City, Jimmy announced that his jaw break this time was in the same place as last year. And that last year's break did not heal properly. The good news is though that he said he would be playing this Saturday in Colorado. Carlos Marinelli though is still out for at least another week or two before he comes back. Scott Sealy is also likely still going to be out this week. This means that Yura Movsisyan is going to be starting up top with Eddie Johnson again this Saturday. Kansas City has been getting fouled quite often lately, as the last 3 games they've been fouled over 20 times in each game. This choppiness is slowly down the Wizards attack and playing into the hands of the other team. Will be interesting to see if Colorado picks up their number of fouls as teams have done against the Wizards. The Wizards will likely field a lineup similar to the game against Dallas, except for Conrad replacing Aaron Hohlbein.
Hartman
Jewsbury - Garcia - Conrad - Burciaga
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Victorine - Harrington
Movsisyan - Johnson
Jewsbury - Garcia - Conrad - Burciaga
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Victorine - Harrington
Movsisyan - Johnson
Prediction
These two teams have split their season series the past 2 seasons, with each team winning at home. The Wizards last won in Colorado in 04. The Wizards have also not won while the traveling Cauldron has been in attendance in a while, games in Dallas, Chicago, and Colorado last season were losses, the season before was a loss in Chicago and a tie in Dallas. The hope is that the Wizards will finally break it, but I think we'll see a tie.
KC - 1 (Arnaud)
CO - 1 (Gomez)
OTHER NEWS
The KC Brass won their season opener last night, coming from a goal down to defeat the Des Moines Menace 3-1 last night. With goals by Michael Thomas, Keith Gorczyca, and JD Warman.
I will be with the traveling Cauldron this weekend and will try to give reports on all the goings on, including the Royals-Rockies game Friday night, the FA Cup final at Fado's Irish Pub in Denver Saturday morning, Supporter's Match against the Colorado supporters Saturday afternoon, and the match on Saturday night.
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