Post Season Player Grades

It had slipped my mind to post my post season player grades for the Wizards, but I'm on top of things now. Here are my mid season player grades. So let's see if players were able to improve on their mid-term grades.

Goalkeepers

Kevin Hartman - Did what was expected of him, he was an improvement in net over Oshoniyi, though the stats do not show it. Will be interesting to see if age continues to catch up with him over the course of next season. B-

Eric Kronberg - Did not play a first team minute this season. INC

Chris Konopka - See Kronberg. INC

Defenders

Jimmy Conrad - Not the Groins best season in KC, but Captain Kansas has continued to be a rock in the middle of defense for Kansas City. B+

Jack Jewsbury - Jack did well in his first season after making the move from midfielder to wingback. Was able to still get into the attack some, as well as making some good defensive plays. I still don't think he's the long term answer at that position, but he certainly showed himself capable of playing there. B

Aaron Hohlbein - After appearing in 5 games early in the season, Hohlbein disappeared from the team for the rest of the season. He did not make a first team appearance after July. Still some good quality minutes from the rookie, and some high hopes for the future. B-

Tyson Wahl - Seemed to gain the number 3 center back spot from Hohlbein around the midpoint of the season, as Wahl was the only one of the two to appear after the midpoint of the season. Did well in his few appearances, but I'm still not sold on the guy. B-

Nick Garcia - Has really started to show his age this season. He's not the same player he was a few years ago. How much longer he remains a starter remains to be seen, but another season like this one could see Nick playing a lot less. C+

Ryan Raybould - Played a much bigger role in the second half of the season, after a slow first half. Was a very serviceable sub, being able to play both wingback and the wing. C+

Jose Burciaga Jr. - Onalfo finally got tired of the mistakes that Jose was making from the left back slot. He lost the spot to Michael Harrington, and was moved into the midfield, where he still had trouble. Finally after two costly mistakes in New York, Burciaga was benched and only got garbage minutes the rest of the season. Very easily could be his last season in blue. D+

Midfielders

Michael Harrington - The Wizards first round pick showed himself to be a fantastic selection with the number 3 pick. He was second on the team in appearances, 5th on the team in goals and assists. He did start to fade late in the season, which likely cost him the rookie of the year. Still a good season by the rookie. A-

Davy Arnaud - Continues to be the heart and engine of the Wizards. Seems to be giving his all in every single game. He's not the most talented player, but is that blue collar player that fans love. B+

Sasha Victorine - Found himself in a role of coming off the bench late in the season due to the emergence of Morsink, but was still able to be second on the team in assists. A good season by the veteran, but he's likely going to be the supersub/bit starter from now on. B

Kerry Zavagnin - Zavagnin was able to come back from a poor season last year, and picked up his play this year. He set a career high this year with 3 goals, all 3 of which were highlight worthy strikes. He's moving into more of a mentor role for Morsink now, as Onalfo has said that him(Morsink) and Marinelli are his midfield pairing of the future. B

Carlos Marinelli - Had a bright start to the season, and played decently. But faded drastically as the season progressed. Too many injuries, and too much time to get to full fitness. He'll get at least 1 more season to prove that he can stay fit, if not, we'll see why he hasn't been with any of the clubs he's played with very long. C+

Kurt Morsink - The Wizards 4th round pick got a lot of playing time as the season progressed. He still has plenty of stuff he needs to improve on, specifically his passing, but for where he was drafted, the Wizards got a lot out of him. C+

Eloy Colombano - Joined the Wizards late on in the season, and only played in 310 minutes, but showed a lot of promise, and looked to remind a lot of fans of Arnaud with his hustle and work ethic. INC

Edson Elcock - Did not appear for the first team this year. INC

A.J. Godbolt - See Elcock. INC

Will John - 3 games, 26 minutes, not enough to give a proper grade. INC

Michael Kraus - See Elock. INC

Amir Lowery - See Elcock. INC

Ryan McMahen - Missed the entire season with an ACL tear. INC

Lance Watson - 2 games, 23 regular season minutes and a token substitute appearance against Chivas in the playoffs for Scrappy is not enough for a proper grade. INC

Forwards

Eddie Johnson - Was a leading MVP candidate over the first half of the season, but after my first half player grades, Johnson only scored 6 goals the rest of the way. That's not the output you want or expect from an MVP candidate. Still miles ahead of his performance in 2006 though. B

Scott Sealy - At the mid point of the season, I was ready to give him a failing grade, but he came back and picked up greatly when Johnson started to struggle. Scored two of the Wizards biggest goals in a while in the 2-0 win in the season finale in Dallas. B

Ryan Pore - Seventeen games this season, zero goals for the Wizards forward. Not exactly the output you expect from a forward. He had a chance to really step up and state a claim for the number 3 striker spot when Yura Movsisyan was traded, but he couldn't do it effectively. C

Willy Guadarrama - Did not make a first team appearance this season. INC

Coach

Curt Onalfo - Looked like either the league caught onto his tactics as the season progressed, or he didn't have the right personnel for the system he wanted to play. Either way his early season success was tainted by the way that the Wizards finished the season. Still, he's definitely got a keen soccer mind and will come back with something new next year. B-

Ruiz to Wizards?

Could possibly happen, if you believe Not Doug Logan and his blog Logan's Revenge. Apparently FC Dallas is looking to offload the striker, and the Wizards are pursuing him. The Wizards are looking to fill the possible hole that would be left in the forward line if Eddie Johnson goes abroad. That's what this entire rumor hinges on. If Eddie goes to Europe, the Wizards will apparently look to replace him with the Fish. Over the years, Ruiz goal output has dropped, from 24 his first year in the league to 15, 11, ,11, 13, and then only 7 this past season.

Is this a case of the game finally catching up with Ruiz, was this just a down season, or has the league finally completely figured the Fish out?

I'm not really for this move, besides past connotations of Ruiz, he certainly seems to not be the same player that he was even 2 years ago. I think he is starting to get past his prime. I think Kansas City could find a cheaper, younger, more productive player scouting around South America like they did last year.

Wanna Play for the Wizards?

Well now is your chance. The Wizards will be hosting open tryouts coming up in February. This is the first time in years, that the Wizards have had open tryouts. The last time was, I believe, back in 1996 or 1997. The team is only accepting the first 300 registrants. To sign up, it will put you back $125, but if it earns you a pro contract, that's certainly worth it. One Wizards staff member says that the team already has registrants from France and Chile signed up to come to Kansas City for the tryouts. Finalists will be brought back in March to train with the first team. Good luck to all those that decide to participate.

San Jose Wants No Wizards

Today was the MLS Expansion draft for San Jose to pick their first 10 players, in the rebirth of the Earthquakes. The 'Quakes did not choose any of the Wizards players that were left unprotected by the team. Here is the list of players that San Jose did choose.

1. Ryan Cochrane (Houston Dynamo)
2. Clarence Goodson (FC Dallas)
3. Ned Grabavoy (Columbus Crew)
4. James Riley (New England Revolution)
5. Joseph Vide (New York Red Bulls)
6. Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire)
7. Brian Carroll (D.C. United)
8. Jason Hernandez (Chivas USA)
9. Gavin Glinton (LA Galaxy)
10. Chris Pozniak (Toronto FC)

This left KC with Salt Lake and Colorado as the three teams that did not have a player chosen by the Earthquakes. Players like Jose Burciaga, Kevin Hartman, and Eloy Colombano, the most attractive potential picks for the 'Quakes will now return to the Wizards. I'd expect the Wizards to test the trade waters to see what they can possibly get for Burciaga. Hartman and Colombano I expect to be back in Wizards blue next season.

Wizards Expansion List is Out.

Thanks to Sam Pierron, I have the list of protected players by the Kansas City Wizards, for Wednesday's expansion draft. The list that I created was not very far off the list that the Wizards ended up going with. Here's the list of protected players, those bolded were ones that I did not protect in my list.

Davy Arnaud
Jimmy Conrad
Nick Garcia
Michael Harrington
Jack Jewsbury
Eddie Johnson
Carlos Marinelli
Kurt Morsink
Scott Sealy
Sasha Victorine
Kerry Zavagnin

Those two replace Eloy Colombano and Kevin Hartman. Below then, is the list of players that the Wizards have left unprotected for the upcoming draft.

Burciaga, Jose
Colombano, Eloy
Elcock, Edson
Godbolt, AJ
Guadarrama, Willy
Hartman, Kevin
Hohlbein, Aaron
John, Will
Konopka, Chris
Kraus, Michael
Kronberg, Eric
Lowery, Amir
McMahen, Ryan
Pore, Ryan
Raybould, Ryan
Wahl, Tyson
Watson, Lance

Of the players on this list, there are a few that are more likely to be taken then others.

Jose Burciaga - I think he's the favorite to be taken. He's fallen out of favor with Coach Onalfo, and seems to be on his way out. Is a good attacking option out of the back.

Eloy Colombano - With the possible expansion on the number of foreign slots a player like Colombano could be a pretty good pick up for the Earthquakes.

Kevin Hartman - Of the guys I'm writing about here, he seems to be the most unlikely, even though he is a California boy. His age and his salary are probably the two big turnoffs for the 'Quakes.

Aaron Hohlbein - Maybe it's me, but I like this kid, I think he could be a good starter in this league. He started 4 games this season for the Wizards and looked pretty good doing it. Could fit in on the 'Quakes backline.

As you can see by the first link I posted, all the exposed players are listed there. There is some good talent available from the different teams. Houston in particular I see decent talent on there to be drawn from. Craig Waibel, Zach Wells, Corey Ashe, and Ryan Cochrane could all be taken. LA could see Kevin Harmse, Steve Cronin, Josh Tudela, or Kelly Gray taken. Definitely some decent talent in the draft. It will be interesting to see if Yallop plays it like Toronto did or how Salt Lake/Chivas did.

And if Eddie Comes Back...

He will not be counting as the Wizards designated player next season. Johnson was suppose to count as a DP for the 2008 season, along with Landon Donovan and Carlos Ruiz, they were grandfathered in for 2007. The MLS Board of Governors voted on Friday, though, that Johnson, Donovan and Ruiz would all not count as DP's for the 2008 season.

It would have been fun to watch the Galaxy squirm while trying to find a team to trade them their designated player slot, but I would guess that the league is just stalling until they can get a second designated player slot passed so that the Galaxy don't have to get rid of Donovan or trade for a DP slot.

Eddie Johnson Transfer Rumors are Back

After his 15 goal, 6 assist, MLS Comeback Player of the Year, Wizards MVP season, the transfer rumors are back. Johnson turned down a move to Derby County back during the summer transfer window, and now that the January transfer window is fast approaching, the rumors are starting up again.

Although this rumor comes from The Sun, I figured I'd post this information. Apparently Derby County is still in the running for Eddie Johnson, but also, Reading is in the race to sign the Wizards striker, for the fee of 2 million pounds.

It's not surprising that Derby is still interested, they're having enough trouble scoring goals this season. Reading, though, is a bit of a surprise, as Johnson had trained with them during the offseason last year, and Steve Coppell didn't seem interested in signing him to a deal. Maybe that's changed.

Johnson would be the third American on either of those teams, joining Benny Feilhaber and Eddie Lewis on Derby or joining Marcus Hahnemann and Bobby Convey on Reading. I still don't see joining the sinking ship that is Derby as a good move, but I think a move to Reading would be a good move for Johnson, Coppell is a good coach and could definitely get a lot out of Johnson.

Wizards Rookies

Earlier this year, the Wizards drafted 10 players in the combined Super draft and Supplemental draft. How did these 10 players perform in their first year as professional players. I'll go in the order the player was drafted.

Round 1 (Pick 3) - Michael Harrington - Harrington played in 33 of 34 games for the Wizards this season getting 3 goals and 4 assists this season in 2812 minutes. While he started off strong, he faded down the stretch. In the end, though, Harrington was a great pick up at the number 3 slot and should give the Wizards a good option on the left for years to come.

3 (29) - Edson Elcock - The Wizards second pick of the draft did not play a minute with the first team, but played 599 minutes for the reserve team, recording 1 assist. Showed some good speed this season, will be interesting to see if he gets time on the wing next season.

4 (42) - Kurt Morsink - Came on late and started many of the games for the Wizards late in the season. Raked up 1845 minutes playing 32 games for the first team in league, US Open Cup, and playoffs, along with the reserves.

Supplement 1 (3) - Aaron Hohlbein - Started 4 games for the Wizards early in the season, but tapered off as the season went on. Didn't play in a game for the first team after the July 1st game against Toronto. Did start 9 games for the reserves, though, scoring 1 goal.

2 (16) - Michael Todd - Never made the roster, haven't been able to find any information on him.

3 (29) - Chris Konopka - The Wizards third string goalie this season. Came off the bench in 3 of the Wizards reserve team matches, getting 135 minutes.

4 (30) - Eric Frimpong - Was drafted by the Wizards, but never made it onto the team's roster. Part of that had to do with the Frimpong's legal trouble. Unfortunately I haven't found any more updated information then that.

4 (32) - AJ Godbolt - Another player who only appeared in reserve team matches, playing in 6 of them.

5 (48) - Michael Kraus - The MO Valley Conference player of the year last year didn't play in a first team game, but was able to make the bench this season after impressing with the reserves. He was one of only 2 rookies (Elcock the other) to play in all 12 reserve games. Had 2 goals and 4 assists in those 12 games.

5 (52) - Willy Guadarrama - Mr. Irrelevant, the last player taken in last years draft tied Harrington for the most goals scored by a rookie, scoring 3 in the reserve league while playing in all but one of the reserve games.

Overall, a decent rookie class this year. The Wizards got first team contributions out of 3 of their rookies. All 3 looked like they'd be able to contribute in the future. Will be interesting to see if their contributions continue next year and which, if any, of the other rookies will be able to contribute next year.

More Bannister Stadium Stuff

Some more great information from Pete Grathoff's blog, Tor! Tor! Tor! about the potential stadium at Bannister Mall. Pete posted some interesting facts about the stadium, including:

The average paid attendance is expected to be 13,500 for 20 Wizards games.

I think this is likely a rather low attendance guess for the team. Considering back in 2003 and 2004, when Lamar Hunt was actually actively promoting the team, the team averaged 15,573 and 14,816 respectively. Both over that average. In a 18,000 seat stadium, I think expecting less then 15,000 would be a failure.

Average ticket price: $20.

Well ticket prices are going up this coming season, so expecting them to average $20 in a new stadium is not unacceptable.

Parking would likely be $3, but would be rolled into the ticket price -- so it'd still be free.

Due to the layout of the facility in the renderings that I've seen. It will be like Colorado's Dick's Sporting Goods Park with all the other activities around the stadium.

The stadium will have 30 luxury suites and 400 club seats, which would generate an estimated annual premium revenue of $646,000.

Generating more money is always a good thing.

Here would be 12 women's pro games (expected attendance: 5,000).

Looks like KC is heading towards getting itself a team for the new women's league as well. At least they have low expectations for that team.

Naming rights for the stadium would bring in $800,000 in 2010 and rise to $900,000 by 2014.

I'm hoping this is a low ball estimate like the attendance average from earlier, I would think stadium naming rights would get them at least $1 million.

Concession revenue would be split 50-50 between the Wizards and the stadium owners (the city).

This would be a great deal for the Wizards, the split revenue would give KC a bit more money, and since it's likely that the Wizards wouldn't be controlling the stadium in any regard getting half the revenue would be a good thing.

Expansion Time

The expansion draft is right around the corner. Steven Goff stated in his Soccer Insider blog that the draft would be held a week from today, the 21st. He's also posts that the rules will likely be the same as last years expansion draft for Toronto FC.

• Current teams cannot lose more than one player.
• Teams can protect 11 of 28 roster players.
• Each team cannot leave more than one senior international player unprotected.
• Generation Adidas players are safe from selection and do not need be among the 11 protected.

So who are the Kansas City Wizards going to protect? I have my own opinions on which players we will protect, but below is the list of players that I think the team will be protecting.

First, the Wizards currently have 2 Generation Adidas players. So unless both Ryan Pore and Will John are graduated from the program, both will be automatically protected. Of the two, Pore is the more likely to be graduated.

So here's the 11 guys that I think that the Wizards will protect in the expansion draft.

Davy Arnaud
Jimmy Conrad
Michael Harrington
Kevin Hartman
Kurt Morsink
Scott Sealy
Eloy Colombano
Jack Jewsbury
Eddie Johnson
Kerry Zavagnin
Carlos Marinelli

At least that's my guess at the 11 players, although I could see a change or two made. I could see Zavagnin, Marinelli or Johnson being dropped for a younger player like Aaron Hohlbein.

If that's the 11 players, that would leave the following players available to be picked in the expansion draft.

Jose Burciaga Jr.
Edson Elcock
Nick Garcia
A.J. Godbolt
Willy Guadarrama
Aaron Hohlbein
Chris Konopka
Michael Kraus
Eric Kronberg
Amir Lowery
Ryan McMahen
Ryan Raybould
Sasha Victorine
Lance Watson
Tyson Wahl

If that happens to be the list, the most appealing player on that list of available players, is Burciaga. He's still relatively young, as well as being experienced. Burciaga also seems to be out of favor with the team, having only played garbage minutes after 2 errors cost the Wizards two goals in LA. If not Burciaga, then I could see San Jose taking someone like Hohlbein, who started 4 games for the Wizards this past season

Kansas City's Indoor Soccer Team

The Kansas City Comets folded a few years ago. Since then there's been no professional indoor soccer in KC. This year, though, there will be indoor soccer in KC. The Kansas City Kings, an expansion team in the Premier Arena Soccer League, will start play this season at the KC Soccer Dome. The PASL is the largest international amateur indoor soccer league in the world, and the Kings will be in the league's Midwest division with Piasa FC , Springfield Spirits, and Swanner United Futbol Club.

I haven't seen a schedule for the team's 2007/2008 season, but the team has released a release on their myspace page about upcoming tryouts for the team. The tryouts will be held on November 21st. You can read more about the tryout in their release, here.

Edit: I apologize, I forgot you had to be a friend of theirs to see their myspace page. You can view most of the information they have there on their page on the KC Soccer Dome's website.

3 Trails TIF Plan

Today on Mayor Funkhousers blog, he posted an analysis of the 3 Trails TIF plan. Included in the plan, is how it's going to affect many things, including how many jobs this development will create, how it will help to reduce crime, help to improve the blighted area, among other things. It's a good read for any Wizards fan interested in finding out more about the TIF plan.

The plan is going to create a projected 6573 jobs in the area. An area that has lost quite a few different jobs over the course of the year. With the closer of the mall, the HyperMart, and most of the other stores in that area, it's probably lost a couple thousand jobs. It is unknown, though, how many of those jobs will qualify as "quality jobs."

As for the real and perceived crime in the area, that's going to be a major point of the develpment. Lane4 is working with city officials on incorporating CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) concepts into the development of the area.

The site has been identified by the city council as a blighted area, prime for redevelopment. Overall, Lane4's plan answers the majority of the questions asked of it. The only draw back, is that the area is not "economically distressed" as according to the ED&I Policy.

Enjoy the read.

Suspend Jaqua

Yesterday in my post game thread, I talked about how Houston forward Nate Jaqua should have been red carded for his flying elbow on Jack Jewsbury. Apparently I was not the only who thought that Jaqua should have been red carded for it. Greg Lalas agrees that it should have been a red card. Lalas says the league should revue the game film and retroactively suspend Jaqua for the final. I've quote the entire part of his article where he discusses it below.

Referee Jair Marrufo was rightly praised 10 days ago when he courageously called off Christian Gómez's winning goal for D.C. United against the Chicago Fire for a handball. But on Saturday night, he undid all that. After Houston's Nate Jaqua slammed a vicious forearm shiver into Jack Jewsbury's head, Marrufo showed the big Houston attacker a yellow card.

It was a gutless decision, and I find it hard to believe that none of the referees on the field at the time saw the play sufficiently to advise a straight red.

Now, predictably, the league will claim it cannot punish the player. It'll claim it would undermine the referee's authority. That's bull, and everyone knows it. TV technology allows for retrospection in cases like this. It lets us right certain wrongs. The league can and should try to rectify blatant errors like this whenever possible.

That's why I am calling on MLS officials to suspend Jaqua for the MLS Cup final. His blow was deliberate, violent, and uncalled for. It deserves to be punished.

This topic, though, shows the underlying problem with MLS, and that's a problem with the referees. The level of play in this league has grown dramatically over the past few years. The refereeing has stayed at a very low level. It's been a cause of concern all season, in multiple games. The USSF tried to start working on it by making a few of the referees full time refs, but it hasn't helped, as the referees have still been bad this season.

Wizards Bow Out of the Playoffs

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

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

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

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

Trip to RFK on the Line

A trip to MLS Cup is on the line tomorrow night in Houston as the Kansas City Wizards take on the Dynamo in the Western Conference Finals. The Wizards come in after beating Chivas USA 1-0 on aggregate. Houston made the conference finals by beating Dallas 4-2 after overtime. Houston won the season series with KC 1-0-1. A Patrick Ianni goal in KC gave the Dynamo a 1-0 away win. In Houston, Eddie Johnson scored his 14th goal of the regular season, but was countered by Joseph Ngwenya's strike, giving Houston a share of the points.

KC should have their full roster for this game, although Carlos Marinelli is still hobbled by his ankle sprain. I'd expect to see the same exact roster that the team started with for the two games agianst Chivas.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Conrad - Garcia - Harrington
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Morsink - Victorine
Sealy - Johnson

Prediction
The Wizards will need to come out of their defensive shell to take this game. They'll need to get more possession, which the team lacked severely in the second leg against Chivas. Houston has been a rock defensively this season, breaking records set by the 2000 Wizards, so Sealy and Johnson will have to be on top of their game for the Wizards to take this. As much as I want to pick the Wizards to take this, I just see the Dynamo as too strong, and unfortunately for not just Wizards fans, we'll get a repeat of last years dull MLS Cup final.

KC - 1 (Sealy)
Houston - 2 (Ching, Holden)

New Wizards Blog

The Wizards have a new blog out here on the world wide web, Oz City. The creator of Oz City is trying to get the Wizards an independent source on the team, like FC Dallas has with 3rd Degree. The blog has been added to my blog roll below, so check it out.

Yours truly has also been asked to contribute to the site, which I will do, usually by double posting my posts that I put up here. Although I will still do unique stuff here and possibly there as well.

TIF Commission Gives Wizards/Bannister Unanimous Support

A quick post. The TIF Commission has given unanimous approval for the Three Trails District TIF Plan proposed by Lane4, that includes a Wizards SSS. Big day. The plan now goes before the city council in late November/early December, and from there, goes to the state assembly for approval in early 2008. The Wizards hope to break ground in early 08 and have construction going full force later that year. The plan is for it to be open for the 2010 season.

Attention Bloggers

Over the past day or so I've seen an influx of the number of bloggers writing about the Kansas City Wizards. This has to do with the Wizards announcing their home for the 2008 and 2009 season, Community America Ballpark.

Much of the discussion in these blogs has had to do with the small facility compared to the larger facility that the team had been playing in, the pros and cons of moving from the 80,000 seat Arrowhead, to this 10,000 seat facility. There are still the uninformed people out there though. People that think this is a terrible move, and that the team should be moved out of KC. My question to all those people is, who is going to move the Wizards?

The league? Well I certainly doubt that, MLS is not the owner of the Wizards, OnGoal LLC are the owners of the Wizards, and they'd have final say in any decision on whether the Wizards move or not.

The league does NOT move teams, owners do. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT.

OnGoal is a group of KC local businessmen, who have already put plenty of money into this team and community. For instance, building the multi-million dollar training facility that the Wizards call home. OnGoal is also working very closely on the redevelopment of the Bannister Mall site (including spending their own money to help with the designing of the project), with the hopes of building a SSS there, that would be completed by 2010. Call me crazy, but that doesn't sound like a group of owners that are looking to move the team.

Big Day for Bannister Mall Tomorrow.

The fate of Lane4 and the Kansas City Wizards plan for the redevlopment of the Bannister Mall area will likely be decided tomorrow morning. The Kansas City TIF Commission will meet tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM in a special meeting to discuss the plan. By all accounts that I've heard, the plan seems to have a good shot at passing. We will see what happens at the meeting. Unfortunately due to other commitments, I am not going to be able to make it to the meeting. Some friends of mine are going, and I'm hoping to get a report from one or both of them on the meeting. If you can make it to the meeting, get out there. The meeting is in the 4th Floor Hearing Room at 1100 Walnut in Kansas City.

More on Wizards Move to Community American Ballpark

The Wizards have released the news on their website finally to go along with the KC Star story I posted last night about the team's 2008 home being Community America Ballpark, home of the T-Bones.

From a friend of mine that posts on bigsoccer, and works for theWizards, we have this photo of not just the layout, of the field, but the ticket layout for the building as well.
Honestly, while I see the possibility of some poor sight lines at the new stadium, I think that this was the best move for the Wizards in the end. They won't be playing in a high school stadium, and the team will have all the amenities that you expect from a professional ballpark.

Speaking of stadiums, don't forget that tomorrow at 9:30 am is the TIF commission meeting about Lane4's plan for the redevelopment of the old Bannister Mall site. If you can make it, please attend. The address is in this post.

Wizards 2008 Home Is.....

Community America Ballpark. At least according to this Star article from Bob Luder. This is the location that I've been hearing would be the Wizards home for a few months now in "off the record" conversations.

As the article stats, some changes will be made to the facility to make it more acclimated to soccer, including modifying the right-center field wall. Thankfully the team will be putting sod over the infield dirt, much like DC United did for their games at RFK, which they shared with the Washington Nationals.

The article also contains information on the price of season tickets for next season.
Stadium seats - $405
Bleacher seats - $325
GA on Grass berm - $150

Single game tickets
Stadium seats - $25
Bleacher seats - $20
GA on Grass berm - $15

Johnson: Comeback Player of the Year

Eddie Johnson was named the MLS Comeback player of the year today by the league. Johnson won the award after piling up career highs in both goals (15), and assists (6) and leading the league in game winning goals (6). The article says that Johnson won the award after a 2006 season full of national team call ups and suspensions. While his comeback is nice (he had only 2 goals in 2006), I would think a comeback player of the year would need to comeback from some kind of injury, not an incredibly poor season. But that's besides the point, congrats to Eddie for being out Pat Noonan and Frankie Hejduk for the award.

Speaking of the award as a whole, the article has an interesting fact. Since 2000, the Wizards have won half of the Comeback player of the year awards. Tony Meola won it in 2000, and Chris Klein won it twice (2002, 2005).

Important Dates Coming for Bannister

The Kansas City Wizards sent out an email to their email distribution list today, with information about the upcoming meetings involving the proposed redevelopment of Bannister Mall, that would include a stadium for the Wizards to play in.



Here are a few highlights of the project from that email

1. 18,500 seat soccer stadium
2. At least 12 tournament-quality soccer fields
3. 590 hotel rooms, including a new 250 room hotel attached to the stadium
4. Over 1 million square feet of mixed retail
5. 1.7 million square feet of office space

The first of the two meetings is a City Plan Commision meeting tomorrow, November 6, where they will discuss the rezoning of the properties in question and approving the plan. That meeting is at 11 am at City Hall, here is the address; 26th Floor414 E. 12th St, KCMO.

The second meeting is the big TIF meeting on Wednesday in the 4th Floor Hearing Room at 1100 Walnut in Kansas City. This is the big meeting, where we will hopefully here the TIF Commissions decision on the redevelopment of the location.

Here are some of the monitary specs, according to the Wizards email. The total cost of the project is projected to be $943.5 million, with $675.5 million - 72% of the project - to be private investment in Kansas City. The balance of $268 million, only 28% is requested to come from TIF. In addition, Lane4 is not asking the city to back the construction bonds and OnGoal, LLC has committed to paying for any cost overruns on the stadium.

Both meetings are open to the public and Wizards fans are encouraged to attend.

Shades of 2000, Wizards Defense Sees them Through

Wizards coach, Curt Onalfo has prided himself on saying that the Wizards are a team that was going to come out this season and attack. It showed throughout the regular season as the Wizards would throw numbers forward. In the process, their defense, which had been rock solid started to leak more and more goals. Last night all that changed.

Protecting a 1-0 lead from their home leg, the Wizards brought back signs of the great 2000 season Wizards defense. After a quick 15 minute start where the Wizards created probably their best chance, the team started to go into a defensive shell. Part of the reason for this, as Onalfo explains in this audio clip from the Sideline Views blog, was the fact that the Wizards were unable to hold much possession, which forced them into the defensive shell.

Throughout the week leading up to this game, much was said from Chivas' end about how they were going to take it to KC, and that the Wizards didn't have the personnel to stop them for 90 minutes. Even after the game, Chivas coach, Preki, doing his best Jose Mourinho impression, said the Wizards were lucky to even be in the playoffs, let alone win, "They were fortunate to be in the playoffs and they were fortunate tonight. There are no excuses. We played really good, we just couldn't put the ball away. We totally dominated. We're a far better team."

Sasha Victorine had the best response to Preki's comments though, with this gem from the same link above. "Lucky my ass," he said. "They haven't scored a goal on us in 180 minutes."

The Wizards were lucky in one or two regards, though, as Chivas had two shots hit the post, Kurt Morsink saved a ball off the line, and Chivas had a handball call go unheard (It's the same call the Wizards have had called on them at least twice this season, when a cross has struck a defenders arm.). Overall, while it wasn't the type of game I think anyone wanted, the Wizards will take it and move on to Houston to take on the Dynamo for the Western Conference title.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Kevin Hartman - KC - Came up with the big saves when he was needed, including some gems in the first half. Yet another time where we see why he was brought in.
2. Jimmy Conrad - KC - Chivas continually tried to come through the Wizards central defense, and Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad, along with central defense partner Nick Garcia worked to shut them down. Specifically Maykel Galindo, who while not 100% was still a handful, but Conrad handled him well.
3. Nick Garcia - KC - Conrad's partner in the back was just as strong as Conrad helping to clog up the middle of the field and keep Chivas from getting too many quality chances.

Wizards Control Their Destiny

The Kansas City Wizards are looking to do the same thing that the Chicago Fire did last night, and that's go on the road, protect their 1-0 lead, and get into the conference finals. The Fire did it in DC last night, and KC will try and do it on the other coast tomorrow when they take on Chivas USA.

As I posted earlier this week, Chivas will be without Ante Razov probably, as well as Maykel Galindo, due to their continued injury issues. In KC last weekend without those two, the Chivas attack couldn't mount many quality chances. Without them at home they'll likely continue to struggle.

The Wizards will likely still be without Carlos Marinelli for this game, although the latest is that he will be travel with the team to LA and could be on the bench for the game. Other then that, the Wizards look like they will be good to go for this game. I'd expect a lineup like we saw at home to line up tomorrow night at the Home Depot Center.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Conrad - Garcia - Harrington
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Morsink - Victorine
Sealy - Johnson

Prediction
The Wizards only need a draw to advance, but playing like that's all they need will spell defeat. I'm sure both them and Chivas watched last nights game and know that a quick start will help to see them through.

KC - 1 (Sealy)
Chivas - 1 (Bornstein)
Wizards advance 2-1

Jose's Time in KC Running Short?

Is this one of the last images of Jose Burciaga Jr. celebrating a goal in Wizards blue? It very well could be. Burciaga has not seen the field since he was subbed at half time of the Wizards 2-0 loss at New York. In that game, Burciaga was responsible for both New York goals, giving up a PK for New York's first goal, and then slipping on the ball and giving it up for the second goal.

Since then, Wizards rookie, Michael Harrington has taken up the left back spot. The Wizards have not allowed a goal since then. So the question becomes, is Burciaga expendable? He certainly seems to be. Harrington has played well at the left back position, and while I'd prefer him in the midfield, he contributes to both sides of the ball the same as Burciaga does. The big thing he lacks is the power shot that Burciaga has.

Even before his benching against New York, the signs seemed to be there. Onalfo switched things up and pushed Burciaga into the midfield, dropping Harrington back. Burciaga did not impress in his time in the midfield, lacking the instincts that you expect of a midfielder.

If this late season benching is any sign, Burciaga could very well be on his way out of Kansas City, either in the expansion draft or by trade. He's only recently removed from being an MLS Best XI player, so he certainly has trade value. The Wizards could fill other needs on the roster with the trade of a player like Burciaga.

This is all speculation, but there certainly seem to be signs that some big changes could be coming this offseason.

Love for the Cauldron

I've been a member of the Cauldron for about 4 seasons now. Starting back in 2004, I have not missed a game standing with friends cheering my lungs horse there. Finally after 4 seasons we finally have probably the best article ever written about the supporters group. Author Andrew Wiebe does a good job of capturing the group as a whole and what all goes into the game day atmosphere that the Cauldron creates. He gets a great quote from Anthony Frei about the sheer excitement that comes over you when a goal is scored.

“Whenever a goal is scored it’s pandemonium,” Frei said. “There’s a huge amount of joy. In football, basketball and other sports your team scores at regular intervals. It’s all of that packed down into the one moment you are all waiting for.”

He also gets great quotes from Davy Arnaud and Kerry Zavagnin on the team's perspective of the group, which is always great to hear.

This isn't Wiebe's first article on the Cauldron either, he wrote one a week ago chronicling the where the Cauldron got it's start, from the Mystics and moving into the present with the Cauldron. Growing from a hand full of people to the 450-500 that were at the game last Saturday night against Chivas.

Chivas Report Gives Wizards Good News

It looks like the Kansas City Wizards have just gotten a big boost in their efforts to make their 1-0 series lead against Chivas USA stand up. According to freelance writer Jamie Cárdenas, there was big news from Chivas today. Cárdenas, who was at Chivas practice today, filed this report on his blog. It looks like Chivas will once again be without their two top scorers for the return leg on Saturday. Preki has already ruled out Ante Razov for the game on Saturday, and Maykel Galindo looks unlikely to suit up for the game either, due to what he's said is a sports hernia that he will need to be operated on. If this is all true, then the Wizards chances of advancing to the conference finals just went up. Without Razov and Galindo on the field on Saturday the Chivas offense lacked punch.

Wizards Take Advantage to LA

The Wizards will carry a one goal advantage into the second leg of their conference semifinal series next weekend with Chivas USA thanks to a Davy Arnaud free kick. Chivas USA played last night without their two top scorers, Ante Razov and Maykel Galindo, and without them, their offense struggled to get a good string of offensive chances going.

While the Wizards had the run of play in the first half, they were only able to get the one goal. In the 35th minute off of a free kick, Arnaud found net thanks to a bit of a deflection. Overall it seemed like Brad Guzan read that one late, expecting more of a cross from that position instead of a shot from the Wizards midfielder. Chivas' best shot at an equalizer came in the second half, when John Cunliffe's shot glanced off of the bar in the 61st minute.

Overall, Kansas City looked satisfied with the result late on, as they started to play like the Wizards under Bob Gansler, bunkering, absorbing the pressure, and trying to counter. Chivas as well seemed to be ok with the result as well, especially with their team being undermanned. It should set up a very nice return leg in LA next weekend.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Davy Arnaud - KC - The heart award winner showed it tonight. And any time you get the winner in a playoff game, that's a good game.
2. Francisco Mendoza - Chivas - I really like this guy, he's quick and plays the game really well. Each time the Wizards have played Chivas this year, he's been one of their best players.
3. Kevin Hartman - KC - Two straight shutouts for Hartman, a good night at the office, made the saves when he was called upon, which is what the Wizards brought him in for.

It's Playoff Time

The Wizards return to the playoffs for the first time since their MLS Cup loss in 2004. They'll take on the Western Conference Champion, Chivas USA, tomorrow night at Arrowhead. Chivas comes into the game after drawing 0-0 with Houston at home. The Wizards come in after beating FC Dallas 2-0 to get into the playoffs.

Chivas will be without two fairly regular starters, Lawson Vaughn is suspended for the match in Kansas City due to a red card in the match against Houston. The more important loss for the Goats, though, is the loss of second leading scorer, Ante Razov. Razov has been the main attacking problem for the Wizards in their matches against Chivas, as he helped to set up Chivas' first in KC, and scored both goals in the game in LA.

As for KC, they'll be without Carlos Marinelli, who injured his ankle again in the win over Dallas. The Wizards rest of the starting lineup should be ready to go.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Garcia - Conrad - Harrington
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Morsink - Victorine
Sealy - Johnson

Prediction
Chivas is fighting the injury bug right now, not only is Razov out, but Maykel Galindo and Jesse Marsch are also fighting the injury bug. If the Wizards want to stand a chance in this series they need to take advantage of the injuries this week. Too do that, both Johnson and Sealy need to be on mark.
KC - 2 (Johnson, Sealy)
Chivas - 1 (Galindo)

Year End Awards Part 2

A day after I released the Down the Byline End of the Year Awards, the Wizards released their End of the Year awards in the post season media guide that is online.

Honda MVP - Eddie Johnson
Budweiser Golden Boot - Eddie Johnson
US Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year - Jose Burciaga Jr.
Defender of the Year - Jimmy Conrad
Kansas City Wizards Heart Award - Davy Arnaud
Rookie of the Year - Michael Harrington
Kansas City Wizards Reserve Team Player of the Year - Ryan Pore

I can't argue with any of the choices in these awards. Considering each player that I handed an award to earned the same award for the Wizards. As for the awards I didn't hand out, Burciaga is definitely the humanitarian of the year, throughout the season we heard about Jose's trip down to New Orleans and his work with his foundation, the Jose Luis Burciaga Foundation both great causes. The heart award should be renamed to the Davy Arnaud Heart Award, because if it was handed out every season, Davy would likely be the winner every single time. As for the reserve player of the year, Pore once against lead the Wizards reserves in scoring, with 7 goals and 3 assists.

Wizards Year End Awards

The regular season is over, and that means that it's time to hand out some awards for the season. For the Wizards, Down the Byline will be handing out awards for Rookie of the Year, Defender of the Year, Goal of the Year, and MVP. So let's get to it.

Rookie of the Year
Michael Harrington
Really it came down to two players, Kurt Morsink, and Harrington. Over the course of the season I have to give it to Harrington, he came in from day one and claimed a spot on the left side. He's played both on the wing and in the back. He had a great start to the season, scoring the fastest ever debut goal 2 minutes into his MLS career. Over the course of the season he seemed to hit a wall, but he's been the Wizards best rookie this season.

Defender of the Year
Jimmy Conrad
Not a great year for the Wizards defense. Allowed the third most goals in MLS this year, with pretty much the same back line that was stellar in 06. The change in tactics by Curt Onalfo, though, had the Wizards defending less. Conrad has become the face of the Wizards over the past few years, and while this wasn't his best year, Conrad was the Wizards best defender.

Goal of the Year
Kerry Zavganin vs Chivas 7/29
What more can you say about this shot, but incredible. It's up for goal of the year and is one of the top 5 goals of the year.

MVP
Eddie Johnson
Yes, he's not been great late in the season. But tell me this, where would the Wizards be without Eddie? My guess, around RSL and TFC level. Johnson has been the Wizards go to forward, and without his 15 goals the Wizards are not the same team. He's definitely been the Wizards most valuable player.

Yahoo Best XI

Found this Yahoo article tonight with the Best XI this season for MLS, voted on by Martin Rogers (Yahoo! Sports), Grahame Jones (Los Angeles Times), Steven Goff (Washington Post), Greg Daurio (MLSnet.com), Scott French (MLS Magazine), Frank Dell'Apa (Boston Globe) and Michael Lewis (New York Daily News).

So here's the roster

Brad Guzan
Michael Parkhurst - Wade Barrett - ClaudioSuarez - Jimmy Conrad
Shalrie Joseph - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Ben Olsen - Cuauhtemoc Blanco
Juan Pablo Angel - Luciano Emilio

No Wizards made the "bench." Now, I love Jimmy, he's probably one of, if not, my favorite players ever to wear Wizards blue, but he is not deserving of being on the Best XI this year. Off the top of my head I can think of at least one defender I'd rank ahead of Jimmy this year, and that's Eddie Robinson of Houston. But it's how those guys decided to vote, so congrats to Jimmy on being named to this team.

Grant Wahl's Playoff Incentive

Thanks to Pete Grathoff's Tor! Tor! Tor! blog for this nice little tidbit. Apparently Grant Wahl has given the Wizards some nice incentive for the post season in his latest writing for SI.com, Greatest American Heroes. If you go to page three of the article, the second to last question, you'll see this question:

I hear you wear a scarf all the time. Any truth to that?
--Tim, St. Louis

Here is Wahl's response to the question.

Hmmm ... any chance you're referring to the Jimmy Conrad column where he descrbies the unnamed "bald fellow who ... wears cool, hip clothes to every event I see him at. The guy loves the scarf. Pouring rain, scarf; denim-on-denim, scarf; 112 degrees, scarf."

Wahl goes on to give Jimmy a little jab for the Wizards lack of making the playoffs, and then goes on to give the Wizards some incentive for the playoffs.

Welcome back to the postseason, Jimmy! (Good thing you never had to wear the Toucan Sam rainbow-sleeved Wiz get-up K.C. had back in the old days, or it might be hard to take you seriously as a fashion arbiter.) Anyway, just as a playoff incentive, if you and the Wizards reach the MLS Cup final I'll promise to wear a rainbow-striped ascot this time around.

Sounds like a challenge to me. I look forward to seeing Mr. Wahl in a rainbow-striped ascot at MLS Cup.

But what's this about Jimmy never having worn the Toucan Sam rainbow-sleeved Wizards jersey?

Sorry Jimmy.

Sealy named Player of the Week

Scott Sealy was named the MLS player of the week this week for his two goal performance against Dallas, in what was basically a do or die game for the Wizards. The two goals were Sealy's 2nd and 3rd of the month of October, 3 quarters of the Wizards goal out put this month.

Testimonial

A testimonial match is a way for a club to show their respect for a player for his service to the club. Recently, DC United put on a testimonial match for DC great, Marco Etcheverry, on the 20th, before the team's match with the Columbus Crew.

This got me thinking about who, if anyone on the Wizards, would deserve such an honor. According to the wikipedia article I linked, testimonials are usually given for 10 years of service to the club. No one has played for the Wizards for 10 years though.

One former Wizards player, though, in my opinion is definitely worthy of a testimonial. That is Wizards' fans' hero, Preki. The current Chivas USA coach is more than worthy of a testimonial match in my opinion. He has scored 71 goals and 98 assists for the Wizards in his 9 seasons with the club (1996-2000, 2002-2005) . And until this season, he had been the Wizards leader in appearances with 218. Preki has the pedigree and history in the league and with the Wizards, just as Etcheverry does with DC. If there is a more worthy candidate, I do not know who.
The question becomes, would the Wizards be interested in doing such a thing? Personally I think the player that holds almost every offensive record for the Wizards deserves the chance the honor of a testimonial in his honor. Preki certainly has the ability to still get out on the field and kick the ball around a bit and be part of a testimonial match. In fact, I can even think of the opponent for the match. It should be a friendly between the Kansas City Wizards, and Preki's current team, Chivas USA. Kind of like the recent testimonial for Roy Keane, this would be a fitting way to honor the career of the greatest player to ever put on the Wizards blue.

2007 MLS Average Attendance

The regular season is over, the playoffs are about to begin. But first I wanted to go back to something I started last year, and that's posting the average attendance of the league.

Overall this year, MLS' average attendance was 16670, the highest average attendance for the league since the inaugural season back in 1996, when the league averaged 17406.

Here are the team break downs.

1. LA - 24252
2. DC - 20967
3. Toronto - 20130
4. New England - 16787
5. New York - 16530
6. Chicago - 16490
7. Salt Lake - 15960
8. Houston - 15883
9. Columbus - 15230
10. Dallas - 15145
11. Colorado - 14749
12. Chivas - 14305
13. Wizards - 11586

Yes, the Wizards are at the bottom of the table again this year in terms of attendance. That got me thinking, though, about the Wizards schedule this weekend. I couldn't remember many Saturday games, so I began to look at that. The Wizards had the most random schedule of any team in MLS. The Wizards played on 5 different days of the week (only not playing on Monday or Tuesday). They also played at varying times, 4 Saturday night, 1 Saturday afternoon, 4 Sunday evening, 1 Sunday afternoon, 1 Thursday evening, two Wednesday evening, 1 Wednesday afternoon, and 1 Friday evening.

Definitely not having a set start time has hurt the Wizards. What also hurt the Wizards, was the fact that they waited so long to decide on a venue for this year. If the Wizards had picked a spot sooner, chances are they would have had a few more Saturday night games, and a few less Wednesday and Sunday games.

If you want more information on attendance, particularly the Beckham effect, check out this post on bigsoccer. That post does show a good sign for Wizards fans, though, even with the crap scheduling, the Wizards increased attendance this season.

Not wanting to be a blog Nazi either, but any posts left here that are just move KC posts will be deleted. I'm tired of dealing with you guys and most Wizards fans are tired of dealing with you, we're not going anywhere.

Former Manchester United Player Gives KC Playoff Opponent

No, not THAT former Manchester United player, I mean John Thorrington. Thorrington, a former reservist for the Red Devils scored the game winning goal in second half stoppage time to give the Chicago Fire the 1-0 win and a date with DC United in the playoffs.

With that result, the Wizards will now be hosting Chivas USA some time next week between Thursday and Sunday in the first leg of their playoff series.

Wizards Win, Playoffs Ahead

For the first time in three years, the Wizards are returning to the MLS Cup playoffs. The Wizards took care of business down in Dallas last night, with two Scott Sealy goals. While the Wizards had everything to play for, Dallas had nothing but pride to play for, and it certainly showed in the way that Dallas played the game.

From the start KC came out trying to dictate the tempo of the game. Less then a minute into the game, Davy Arnaud had put a shot over the cross bar. The Wizards best chance at a goal came in the 30th minute, when Sasha Victorine played Eddie Johnson in alone on Ray Burse. Johnson rounded Burse, but then over thought his shot and skied it over the goal. Lucky for Johnson and the Wizards, about 10 minutes later, the Wizards had their deserved opener. An Arnaud cross found Scott Sealy alone on the right. Sealy brought it down with his chest, took a touch and then curved it around Burse and into the net for the 1-0 lead.

In the second half, the Wizards continued their pressure, Sealy should have added a second on a long ball by Arnaud, but his finishing was off. It wasn't off in the 55th minute, though, as Arnaud found Jack Jewsbury streaking into the box. Jewsbury completely shanked what looked like a shot, but it was ok, as it right to Sealy who just had to get a redirection on it to put it in the net. With the 2-0 lead, the Wizards sat back a little bit more and absorbed some of the pressure from Dallas. Dallas, though, never really got into the game, and the Wizards held on for the 2-0 win.

The bad news out of this game, is that the Wizards had to use two of their three subs on injuries. Late in the first half, Carlos Marinelli had to be subbed out due to an ankle injury he picked up on a tackle by Arturo Alvarez. Then in the second half, after only being on the field for 7 minutes, Eloy Colombano pulled up lame with what looked like a hamstring injury. So the Wizards two Argentines were subbed out and will certainly be big question marks for the up coming playoff series against either Chivas or DC United.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Scott Sealy - KC - Two of the biggest goals of the TnT strikers career, as he showed composure on finishing the first and was in the right place at the right time to finish the second.
2. Jimmy Conrad - KC - Shut down Dallas' offense for the entire game. Dallas never had a really good look at Kevin Hartman's goal last night.
3. Davy Arnaud - KC - Two assists for Davy gave him the team assist title for the season. I'd still like to see some better finishing out of him, he had some poor ones last night.

Wizards Need Win in Season Finale

The Wizards end their 2007 regular season tomorrow night in Dallas against FC Dallas. A win would see the Wizards clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time since they made the MLS Cup Finals in 2004. A draw or a loss in Dallas, and KC will have to wait and see how the other results go over the weekend, to find out whether they make it in or not.

Hopefully the Wizards can just take the result into their own hands and win this weekend. Dallas is already in the playoffs and could rest some starters for the upcoming playoff series with either Houston or Chivas. Dallas will also be without Bobby Rhine who is suspended due to a red card.

As for the Wizards, Kerry Zavagnin is suspended for this game due to yellow card accumulation. Other than that, the Wizards should likely have everyone available for this game. The only other change I possibly see being made is Jose Burciaga Jr moving to the bench after his howler of a game in New York last weekend.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Garcia - Conrad - Harrington
Morsink
Arnaud - Marinelli - Victorine
Sealy - Johnson

Prediction
KC - 1 (Sealy)
FCD - 1 (Oduro)

The Wizards need this result more than Dallas does, but the Wizards have had their road problems this season. While I'd love to see us get the win and secure our playoff spot so that the team can relax on Sunday instead of stressing through the LA-Chicago game, I just don't see it happening with the way the team has been playing. The Wizards will once again be sweating on Sunday waiting to see how other results fall.

That Déjà vu feeling

Anyone else getting that déjà vu feeling right about now? The Wizards head into their last game of the season in the same way they have headed into their last game the past 2 seasons. More so, it's really starting to resemble the 2005 season. Just like this year, in 2005, the Wizards were heading into their last game of the season, also against FC Dallas, controlling their own destiny. A win and the Wizards would have gone into the playoffs, a draw and the Wizards would need help to get into the playoffs.

In 2005, the Wizards fell behind 2-0 early in the second half, only to fight their way back for a 2-2 tie, with Wizards legend, Preki scoring the game-tying and last goal of his fantastic career.
While the Wizards got a point, the Wizards missed the playoffs thanks to former Wizard, Tony Meola, standing on his head against Chivas USA the next day as New York won 1-0 to knock KC out of the playoffs.

Fast forward to 2007, and the Wizards are again heading down to Dallas. As with 2005, the Wizards can clinch a playoff spot if they take care of business and get a win down in Dallas. Should they not, the Wizards will again have to wait and see on Sunday. On Sunday Chicago plays LA, and if the Wizards don't get a point on Saturday, LA could hop over the Wizards and into the final playoff spot.

Will the Wizards take care of business on Saturday? Or will the Wizards again have to wait until Sunday, and will history repeat itself?

Newcastle in Johnson Chase?

According to Ives over at Soccer By Ives, a Newcastle scout was at the KC-New York game this past weekend to scout Wizards forward Eddie Johnson. The scout also met with Red Bull forward Jozy Altidore, but according to Ives, Johnson was his main focus.

Not the greatest performance for Johnson, though, in front of the Toon scout, missing a PK and ultimately being invisible for most of the game, although his yellow card for diving was rather harsh after viewing the replay. Live I would have agreed with the referee though.

This is a bad move for Johnson in my opinion, there's already 4 strikers with national team caps on their roster, 3 of whom are easily still first choice strikers for their national team. Is Johnson really going to surplant Mark Viduka, Michael Owen, Obafemi Martins or even Alan Smith, to get significant minutes for the gordies? I doubt it, Johnson just isn't that good of a striker to beat out those guys for playing time. Even if the rumored move of Owen to Manchester City goes down, Johnson isn't going to see a ton of playing time on Tyneside. All of this is why I just don't see the move happening, Newcastle is stacked at forward right now, and I don't see Big Sam going after a striker that would likely fight with Smith to be the number 4 striker on the team.

Calling Out the Leadership

No, this entry is not about calling out the Cauldron leadership, the Front Office or any such off the field organization that I could possibly call out. This entry is calling out the Wizards team leadership, namely, those veteran players on the field.

This goes out to all the veteran leaders on the team, Jimmy Conrad, Kerry Zavagnin, Nick Garcia, Sasha Victorine, Davy Arnaud, and Kevin Hartman. In my eyes, these 6 players are the leaders of this team. And it's time for them to step up. Aside from Hartman, these guys have all been here for a while and have been here especially over the last 2 years, when the team has missed the playoffs due to late season collapses.

Two seasons ago it was an 8 game winless streak to end the season that kept the Wizards out of the playoffs, last year, it was a 9 game winless streak in the middle of the season that likely doomed the team. This year, the Wizards have won only 3 games since the all star break, back in July. They've gone from looking like a team that was gonna compete for a possible chance at the MLS Cup, to a team that's just fighting to make the playoffs.

If these veteran leaders want to have a shot at the playoffs, it's time for them to step up.
Time to get in your teammates faces, time to be the one to step up in the locker room and tell the team what is expected of them. Tell them that you're tired of missing the playoffs, that this could be the third year in a row that the Wizards have missed the playoffs. Tell them that is completely unacceptable for a team that has 4 US National team pool players, 3 other capped US players, 1 TnT international, and 3 more players who have been capped at the youth level for the US team to miss the playoffs for the third straight year.

It's time for these leaders on the field to step up and show that they are leaders. If they aren't going to step up and lead the team, then get someone in who will, someone like a Mo Johnston, who won't take shit from people. If they aren't going to lead this team, then it's time for some of these elder statesmen to move on. I hope they step up this week in practice and Saturday they take care of business in Dallas, because I have a feeling many of their jobs are on the line.

Playoffs? Playoffs?

The Wizards for the third year in a row are pissing it down their leg. Needing to get some kind of point last night to help their push for the playoffs, the Wizards come up with nothing, and lose 2-1 at New York, thanks to two gifts by left back Jose Burciaga Jr.

The first gift, was when former Wizard, Dave van den Bergh tried to send a cross into the box. The cross hit Burciaga's arm as he was sliding in, PK called. Second time this season the Wizards have had that PK called on them. Juan Pablo Angel put the PK away making it 1-0 New York. Less than two minutes later, KC was level, as Davy Arnaud found Jack Jewsbury on a free kick, that Jewsbury was able to bury with a strong header.

The Wizards weren't level for long, though, as Burciaga slipped on the ball while trying to control it in his defensive third, giving the ball up to Dane Richards, who was 1 on 2 with Jimmy Conrad and Angel. Richards slotted the ball to Angel who easily beat Kevin Hartman for his 19th of the season, and 5th against KC.

KC's offense looked anemic for most of the night, playing mostly route 1 soccer over the top trying to pick out Scott Sealy or Eddie Johnson, neither of whom were able to do much with it. The Wizards had a chance though in the second half, as Sealy was pulled down by Carlos Mendes, and exaggerated it enough to earn a PK. Johnson stepped up to take the PK, and promptly put the PK right at diving height, about 2 feet to Conway's right, making it an easy save for the Red Bull keeper.

The Wizards are now in the same position they've been in the past 2 seasons, going into the final game, a result will put them in the playoffs. If not, they have to hope for other results to fall their way for them to get in. Will the Wizards finally step up and play late in the season for once, grab the bull by the horns and get in the playoffs? Or will they wilt and hope to back in, like they have tried the past 2 seasons? If they do, will results fall their way for once?

3 Stars of the Game
1. Juan Pablo Angel - NY - The new KC killer, Angel's stats vs. KC this season, 3 games played 5 goals scored. Five of NY's seven goals against KC have come from him.
2. Jon Conway - NY - While Johnson's PK was pathetic, Conway still had to make the save, and others to help preserve the result.
3. Kevin Hartman - KC - The only Wizards player who seemed to give a damn the entire game, would have been worse if he'd not been in net, can't be faulted on either one of the goals NY scored.

Wizards Look to Get in Playoffs

For the third straight year, the Wizards have making the playoffs in their own hand. Two years ago, all the had to do in the last two games of the season was win one game. They ended up losing and drawing those two games, and missed the playoffs when the then Metrostars beat Chivas. Last year, the Wizards just needed a draw in New York on the final day of the season to get in the playoffs. Two pk calls later, the Wizards were again sitting at home for the playoffs. This year, the Wizards can clinch a playoff spot without any help with a win this weekend against the Red Bulls. A draw and the Wizards can clinch a playoff spot with help, I break down what they need in this entry.

The Red Bulls are on a run of bad form right now, they are 1-4-3 in their last 8, including being the team that allowed Toronto to end their long winless run. This is a game the Wizards definitely have a chance to take. The Wizards should be able to put out their best starting 11 for this match.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Garcia - Conrad - Harrington
Zavagnin
Arnaud - Marinelli - Burciaga
Sealy - Johnson

Prediction
The Wizards need this game more then New York does, New York is in the playoffs, and while a win will put the Wizards over the Red Bulls for the third seed, the Wizards HAVE to want this more. In the end, I think the Wizards are going to get a point and have to take that one baby step towards the playoffs.

KC - 1 (Sealy)
NY - 1 (Angel)

Be Gentle Angel

This picture has been making the rounds in soccer circles, from the Daily News. About Jimmy Conrad's mom telling Red Bull New York striker, Juan Pablo Angel to take it easy on her son Jimmy tomorrow in New York. In reality, this probably isn't a bad request from Momma Conrad, in two games so far this season, Angel has scored 3 of New York's 5 goals against the Wizards. So asking him to be gentle may be a good idea.

Course in the end, this looks like Jimmy being Jimmy. Making jokes like he always does. Frankly I thought it was hilarious.

New Addition to Website

I have just added the Wizards fan Vortex to the page, just under the stats for this season. Personally I think it's a fairly cool application, it gives Wizards news from MLSnet, along with some videos.

What do all of you think of the it? Is it worth it? Should I dump it? Let me know what you think.

Kansas City Witches?

The screaming pre-teen girls may be coming back to a local soccer stadium near you. On Goal LLC is apparently interested in having a women's soccer franchise in Kansas City, once the Wizards get their new stadium built. The team would join the new league that is being formed currently in the US, with plans to start play in either 2008 or 2009. The Kansas City franchise would not start play until 2010 at the earliest, because that's likely the earliest that they could get the stadium completed by.

Is this a smart move for KC and On Goal? The US women drew well here in their hey day, after the 1999 World Cup, but one off events like friendlies are not indicative of how attendance for league games would be. Personally, I'd be at a few of the games, especially if they were double headers with the Wizards, but I likely wouldn't be a full time season ticket holder.

Bannister TIF Decision Delayed

I was all ready to post this link from Baine's Thought Collective, about the agenda for the TIF meeting on the 10th, when the Three Trails project, aka the Wizards project, was to be discussed. Unfortunately it looks like his link may be a little bit off, as this article was also released tonight.

The article from the KC Business Journal states that the proposal for the Bannister site has been tabled for another month. The article gives no reason as to why the proposal was tabled for another month. Was it to allow more time for discussion? Was it because the plan is lacking something? Is it because the council doesn't see this deal as being viable? Or is it for some other reason that I am forgetting? We'll find out in another month. Such is the pace of government.

Wizards fans now have another month of waiting and wondering what will come of this situation. At least they know where they are playing next year.... oh wait, they don't know that yet either...

Wizards Control Destiny

The Wizards have complete control of their own playoff destiny. This weekend they will control their own ability to make the playoffs. Last weekend the Wizards could have made it into the playoffs, but they would have needed help to make it last week. This week, a win, and the Wizards are into the playoffs for the first time in 3 years, since the Wizards made MLS Cup 2004. There are also two other scenarios that will put the Wizards in the playoffs.

The first involves the Wizards tying New York. If that happens, then the Wizards need both LA and Colorado to fail to win. If that happens, then the Wizards are in. The other, is if the Wizards happen to lose. If the Wizards lose, they need CO to not win, and LA to lose this weekend. That would put the maximum points those teams could get, at 36, one point behind the Wizards current total of 37 points.

With two games remaining, the Wizards remain in a good spot to end their playoff drought.

OTHER NEWS
Check out Jimmy Conrad's latest effort.

Morsink for National Team?

Thanks to a poster on bigsoccer, I've found this article about Wizards midfielder, Kurt Morsink. Morsink, holds dual citizenship in both the US and Costa Rica. The article is about Morsink possibly one day playing for either the US or Costa Rican National team. From my rough translation of the article, Morsink says that he'd love to represent Costa Rica on the world stage, but would play for whichever country calls him up first. Apparently US coach, Bob Bradley, inquired about Morsink to Coach Onalfo recently about his play. The question that comes to me about that, is whether that was for the Brazil game or not? If it was, then I'm not surprised. The Wizards were the one MLS team off for that weekend and it would have made sense for Bradley to look at bringing in KC players to help fill out his roster.

Now the question is, is there really a race to get Morsink on the national team? Morsink has had some bright moments and looks like a very capable squad player, but right now looks nothing like a player that will eventually be a national team player, at least for the US, there is too much talent at the midfield position for him to honestly compete for time. With Benny Feilhaber and Michael Bradley being the first choice central midfield pairing of the future, and guys like Ricardo Clark and other central midfielders, I just don't see Morsink really being able to break into the team. Unless he turns into a late bloomer like Jimmy Conrad he's gonna have to hope that Costa Rica calls him up.

Wizards Close in on Playoffs with Point

So I did a fairly good job of predicting last night. Not only did I predict the lineup pretty much exactly correct, I also predicted the draw and DC's goal scorer Gomez. Go me.

As for the game itself, it wasn't the greatest performance from the Wizards, but it was enough to get part of the job done. The Wizards came out slow early, and DC almost made them pay a few times, but El Gato, Kevin Hartman, proved tonight why he was brought in to take Bo's place. Bo doesn't make all the saves that Hartman made tonight, and the Wizards likely lose this match if Bo is in net.

Just before half time, the Wizards grabbed the lead. Kerry Zavagnin played in Eddie Johnson over the top, who drew 2 defenders and then laid the ball off to an on rushing Scott Sealy who blasted it into the net from about 19 yards out. The Wizards were able to hold on to the lead until the 56th minute, when Christian Gomez took advantage of the amount of space that Tyson Wahl gave him, turning at the top of the box, and beating Hartman to knot the game at 1-1.

Overall, while the point won't put the Wizards into the playoffs this weekend, it does make things very hard on the chasing pack that have hopes of making the playoffs. The Wizards are now 6 points clear of 9th place Columbus. It means Columbus has to go on a 3 game unbeaten run here at the end of the season to possibly knock the Wizards out of the playoffs, as KC owns the tie breaker on Columbus. For LA to catch the Wizards, they need to continue their 3 game unbeaten run to close the 10 point gap between them and KC. Colorado has the hardest path of the 3, they'd have to win their 3 remaining games to have a chance at catching KC.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Kevin Hartman - KC - Without him, this is another loss for the Wizards, his big saves are what got the Wizards the point tonight.
2. Christian Gomez - DC - With Nick Garcia having to cover Emilio, Gomez got to have his way with Wahl for most of the night, and he finally made the Wizards pay when Wahl gave him too much space.
3. Scott Sealy - KC - A great finish from Sealy, his 5th of an injury shortened season. Sealy has been the guy keeping the Wizards in the playoffs right now, and was very deserving of the September Man of the Month.

Wizards Close Out Home Season

The Wizards will close out their home season tomorrow night against DC United. The two teams have split the season series so far. The Wizards opened the season with a 4-2 win at DC, and loss 1-0 in KC on the Fourth of July. This match will decide the season series between the two teams.

This weekend allows the Wizards a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs, but they need to take care of their match against DC first. For the Wizards to clinch a playoff spot, they first need to beat DC on Friday night. If that happens, the Wizards will then need two other results to go their way on the weekend. The first is that Columbus has to not win at home against Dallas on Saturday night. The other result that has to go KC's way is LA can not win at Houston on Sunday. Of the two results, LA not winning is the safer beat.

Back to Friday night and the Wizards. Both Davy Arnaud and Jimmy Conrad are out for this game due to red cards against LA last Thursday. With those two out, the Wizards will have to shuffle their lineup for the game.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Garcia - Wahl - Harrington
Zavagnin
Morsink - Marinelli - Burciaga
Johnson - Sealy

PREDICTION
A win would be huge for the Wizards both in regards to breaking out of their funk, and going a long way to help them get to the playoffs. While the other results may not go the Wizards way, a win would basically put the Wizards into the playoffs. DC is coming off a game on Tuesday against Chivas de Guadalajara in the Copa Sudamerica and may be a little tired from the trip.

KC - 1 (Johnson)
DC - 1 (Gomez)

Wizards Stadium a Racial Issue

You might think that the TIF issue coming up later this month has nothing to do with race. That is, unless you think like Woody Woodruff, whose editorial reply was posted today by KMBC. From Woodruff's reply, he looks to be making this a race issue, where if you're for the stadium you are racist, because Bannister Mall reopening would be the best thing for the "black community." I'm gonna go through Woodruff's reply tonight with a rebuttal.

A better approach would be to better manage the 40 existing good buildings, simply cut the grass, and add to what is already there.

Would this really help the area? Most of the 40 buildings in the area of the proposed redevelopment are too big for most local businesses that would use that area now. And many larger, national chains have already moved in and later left that area. I mean what company would move into the former Montgomery Ward building that hasn't already at one time been located out at the Bannister Mall area? Would those businesses really be interested in returning to that area without MAJOR redevelopment done? I doubt it.

The interests of the black community and Kansas City, for good jobs, tax revenues, and economic development would be better served by reopening the mall now.

This is where Woodruff plays the race card. He makes it seem that if you're for this development, then you're against the betterment of the black community. It seems like he's trying to make this issue into an argument between the local black community around the mall, and the white soccer moms who would come to the stadium.

Good jobs? Wouldn't the black community be better served by having some new development in the area? Bringing in some new business and some old businesses that moved out of the mall area in the past? Maybe it's me, but I would think the redevelopment of the area would stand a better chance of bringing in new jobs then to just reopen the mall.

Economic development? As with the jobs, wouldn't more economic development come if there was some major redevelopment to spur on that economic development? I wouldn't think that the current standing of the area would allow for that much economic development in the area.

...and by investing time in getting the state permission to build a casino in the future.

Unless Mr. Woodruff has a grand plan to move the Missouri or Mississippi, he's gonna have a rough time getting the city and state to work on getting this done. That's because for this to even be possible, the state would have to amend the state constitution, because right now, the state only allows gambling within 1000 feet of either the MO or MS River. Trying to get the amendment changed has been tried once before, when there was an attempt to make riverboat gambling possible on the Lake of the Ozarks. That plan failed miserably if I remember correctly. Would things be much different this time? I doubt it.

The mall has only been closed for four months. Kansas City should allow more time for other ideas and proposals to emerge.

Yes, the malls only been closed for 4 months, but the mall and the surrounding area has been basically deserted for years now. The area has seen store after store leave the Bannister area. Would these same stores come back to the area? I doubt it

Yes, I have a bias view on the topic, I'm a fan of the Kansas City Wizards and would very much love to have the stadium in a central location like Bannister. Mr. Woodruff, though, is just as bias in the other direction. He's a Bannister businessman, he'd stand to benefit from the area remaining the way it is. The benefits he suggests would happen by the area just being cleaned up seem far fetched and dream like.