MLS Sporting Kansas City

Wizards at Red Bulls Game Notes

Published on October 13, 2006 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Kansas City Wizards at New York Red Bulls

Saturday, October 14, 2006

7:30 p.m. EST

Giants Stadium

Television: Metro Sports (Kansas City) - 30 minute pregame

MSG (New York) - 30 minute pregame

Satelite Coordinates: VYVX Circuit #TWCKCWV 1001 (Metro Sports) HTN Conf #1830-2230 (MSG)

MLS Direct Kick Package: DirecTV (Ch. 792) - Dishnet (Ch. 464)

It Doesn't Get Better Than This

2006 has proven to be a roller-coaster season for the Kansas City Wizards so the magnitude of this weekend's match at Red Bull New York is befitting. The scenario for both teams is simple entering this Saturday's regular season-finale, win and you're in...or you can tie if you are the Wizards. Kansas City holds a two-point advantage on New York heading into this weekend's match therefore in order for it to make the MLS Cup Playoffs a win or tie at Giants Stadium is all KC needs.

The last time that the Wizards visited Giants Stadium it was under unique circumstances as Brian Bliss made his MLS head-coaching debut just three days after former head coach Bob Gansler stepped down from his position. Kansas City lost 1-0 in the match on a spectacular finish by New York's Mike Magee, but since his debut the Wizards have lost just twice in the last three months with Bliss as the head coach.

Although KC is yet to post a victory over the Red Bulls this season, having tied twice in addition to the aforementioned 1-0 loss, remember that a tie is all that is necessary in order for Kansas City to advance to its eighth MLS postseason. If history has anything to do with it, a run at a third MLS Cup appearance in the last six seasons is something that Wizards fans can look forward to. Since 2003, Kansas City has gone unbeaten in 10 of 11 games played in the month of October, and since 2002, has lost just twice at Giants Stadium, including the 1-0 decision earlier this season. In fact, KC has never been defeated twice at Giants Stadium in the same season.

So after 31 final whistles, 2,790 minutes played, 41 goals scored, 50 yellow cards issued, one World Cup with three Wizards participating, two coaches, two owners, four MLS Players of the Week, and one MLS Player of the Month, the Wizards' 2006 MLS Cup Playoff hopes come down to this 90 minutes of soccer. Season finales don't get more exciting than this. Metro Sports, with Sean Wheelock on the call, will be broadcasting that match live to the Kansas City area and it will be preceded by a 30-minute pregame show. Kickoff for the season finale, pseudo-playoff match, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

KC vs. NY: 2006 Edition

Game One: In the first showdown of 2006 the Wizards rallied with a second half goal to tie the game at 1-1, kick-starting a string of three straight games in which they went undefeated. Kansas City outshot the Red Bulls 17-8 in that match, including a 7-3 advantage in shots on goal. Chris Henderson netted his first goal of the season in the 30th minute, finishing off a redirection from Steve Jolley on Mark Lisi's free kick to give New York the early lead at Arrowhead. The Wizards netted the equalizer in the 58th minute when Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. put away a penalty kick following defender Jeff Parke's clip of Scott Sealy from behind in the penalty box.

Game Two: In their second meeting Kansas City suffered a 1-0 defeat at Giants Stadium despite once again outshooting New York, this time it was an 18-15 mark. KC also posted a 13-3 advantage in corner kicks, dominating a majority of the possession, in what was Brian Bliss' first game as head coach of the Wizards. New York's game-winner came off the foot of Mike Magee in the 25th minute when he redirected a Seth Stammler cross from the right side to the near post.

Game Three: In the last match the Wizards struck first when Scott Sealy beat Tony Meola 1-on-1 in the 28th minute off of a feed from Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. The Red Bulls responded just two minutes later when John Wolyniec knocked home an empty-netter, finishing off an Amado Guevara pass that came when he beat Bo Oshoniyi along the endline. New York took a 2-1 lead early in the second half on a short corner between Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff in the 53rd minute. Todd Dunivant finished off the Djorkaeff cross redirecting it just under the crossbar. Josh Wolff netted what proved to be the equalizer for the Wizards in his 17th minute back from a 5-game injury hiatus, one-timing a Burciaga Jr. cross in the 71st minute. The all-time series currently sits at an even 12-12-7.

El Capitan

Interim head coach Brian Bliss has officially righted the Wizards ship and now he has it steaming ahead having gone unbeaten in their last four games and ten of their last twelve. Since taking over the helm on July 22nd Bliss has guided Kansas City to a .538 win percentage, the fifth highest such percentage of any team in the league since that date, impressive considering that he did so with the same roster that had gone winless in the six games prior, minus one coach on the staff. Since that date the Wizards' coaching staff has consisted solely of Bliss and assistant coach John Cone. Under Bliss, Kansas City is unbeaten when scoring first and has twice come from behind to tie a match and earn valuable points.

Sometimes The Best Defense Is...

Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. made it two in-a-row for Kansas City when he was named MLS's Player of the Week one week off Josh Wolff's reception of the honor, once again proving that he is the most dangerous defensive player in MLS having led Kansas City's scoring chart for most of this season. With his assist and game-winning goal last weekend vs. Chivas USA he has registered points in seven of KC's last eight matches with three goals and five assists. His offensive onslaught began when he scored his first goal of the season in week two, netting the game-winner at Houston to move into a tie as KC's leading scorer, spending a total of four games there before Eddie Johnson became the first player on Kansas City's roster to net a second goal on May 6th. The lethal lefty moved back into a tie for the team lead four weeks later, against New York on June 3rd, scoring his second goal of the season on a game-tying penalty kick. He didn't waste much time breaking out of that tie, scoring a late game-winning goal in the Wizards' next game, a 1-0 win at Columbus June 10th. Since that game at Crew Stadium, Burciaga Jr. went on to maintain the team lead, or at least of share of it for 17 consecutive games until forward Scott Sealy surpassed the defender with his now team-high seventh goal of 2006 against the Rapids. So what did Burciaga Jr. do about being passed up, he tallied two assists later in that Rapids match to overtake the team's lead in assists, bumping his total to seven. After being held without a point two weeks ago at New England, Burciaga Jr. returned to the goal scoring column with his team second-best seventh goal of the season, the most among defenders in MLS. Then came last weekend's double performance that was capped by his eighth goal on the year, the most of any defender in the league. Total on the year he has been Kansas City's leading goal-scorer after 21 of its 31 games and his four game-winning goals ties him for 5th in MLS, also the most of any defender.

Hoping For One More

With their 2-1 victory over Chivas USA last weekend, the Wizards gave interim head coach Brian Bliss an unblemished home record in his first season as a Major League Soccer head coach, it also kept Chivas USA as the only winless team at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City has played seven games at home under Bliss and earned points in each one, going unbeaten with an overall goal advantage of 17-8. That positive trend at Arrowhead could prove to be very beneficial come October 21st should KC make the playoffs and host D.C. United in the first game of the postseason. Their streak of seven games stands as the longest active streak in MLS. Since being purchased by OnGoal, LLC on August 31st, the Wizards have scored a total of nine goals in their three games in front of their new owners.

Scott Sealy: adidas Alchemist

Forward Scott Sealy has been on an offensive onslaught since returning to the starting lineup on August 12th vs. Columbus. Two weeks ago vs. Real Salt Lake the Wake Forest grad netted his fifth goal of the last seven games to run his streak to three consecutive games. Although that string of consecutive games with a goal scored ended last week it still stands as the fourth (tie) longest such streak in MLS this season. His streak began four weeks ago when he retook the Wizards' scoring lead after tapping in an Alex Zotinca rebound for his seventh goal of the season against Colorado. Three week's ago Sealy finished off a spectacular series of passes with a half-volley into the upper-V to give KC a come-from-behind point on the road at New England. What ended up being the last of his streak came when he took a feed from Josh Wolff just inside the penalty box and netted what was a game-tying goal against Real Salt Lake. Sealy has now tied his rookie season total of nine goals and remains within one goal of the league's top ten, but what is most impressive is that of the 28 games he has appeared in this season he has only started 19 of them, less than any of the goal-scorers currently in the league's top ten. His total of nine are the most by any player with less than 1,800 minutes played.

Fab Four

With Jose Luis Burciaga Jr.'s MLS Player of the Week honors this week, the Kansas City Wizards have now had four players recognized by the Professional Soccer Reporters Association this year, the third most of any team in the league. Burciaga Jr. won the award one week off forward Josh Wolff receiving the same accolades for his performance in KC's 3-3 draw against Real Salt Lake two weeks ago, scoring one goal and tallying two assists. Wolff opened the scoring in the 5th minute of play when he took a through ball from Arnaud and drilled a shot into the upper right corner of the goal to give KC an early 1-0 lead. After Real Salt Lake took a 2-1 lead, Wolff helped get the Wizards back in the game with an assist on Scott Sealy's goal in the 54th minute to tie the game 2-2. He then began the attack and recorded an assist on the Wizards's third goal, a Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. tally in the 63rd minute. The accolades were Wolff's fifth such award in his MLS career. Wolff received the honor just four week's off teammate Davy Arnaud's MLS Player of the Week award. Scott Sealy is the one other Wizards player to earn player of the week accolades this season when he did so in week 12.

Settling In

Defender Jimmy Conrad has settled back in after making his first start in eight matches two weeks ago after missing seven games over a six-week period with a broken jaw that he suffered when Clint Dempsey elbowed him in Kansas City's match at New England on August 9th. Conrad made his return with the full team three weeks ago, coming in as a late game sub of Kansas City's 1-1 tie at New England, he then put in a full 90 performance in the Wizards' 3-3 tie vs. Real Salt Lake before last week's complete game in KC's 2-1 victory over Chivas USA. The Wizards' team captain has started 13 matches for Kansas City this season, appearing in 14, having missed ten games overall prior to his injury and seven after. With such a chaotic season this year the defending MLS Defender of the Year has not played more than five games in-a-row for the Wizards, and that happened only once (7/8 - 8/9), this weekend's match will tie as his second longest streak with four. Conrad has scored two goals in 2006 for the Wizards, including the game-winner in Kansas City's 1-0 week three victory over New England.

Texas Twofer-Twofer

Having broken out of a scoreless streak that spanned 21 games and 1,778 minutes played following his first goal of the year less than five minutes into this season, forward Davy Arnaud has really caught fire in the last third. In KC's last four games, Arnaud has scored two goals and assisted on two others to bump his season totals to four in each category. Arnaud is currently just outside of the top ten in MLS with 57 total shots taken, bumping his career total to 195, the fifth most in Wizards' history. Leading the team with 24 shots on goal this season, he is also seventh all-time in Kansas City history with 82 career SOG.

Leaders Of The Pack

Entering this weekend's season finale forward Davy Arnaud is the only Wizard, and one of only ten players in the league, to have appeared in all 31 games. Arnaud was joined by Kerry Zavagnin until week 20 as the only two players on the roster to have appeared in every match before Zavagnin missed KC's first game at New England with a groin strain, Sasha Victorine is second on the team with 30 games played. Career wise, defender Nick Garcia and Zavagnin are third and fourth all-time in games played in a Wizards uniform with 196 and 191, respectively, Preki holds the all-time record at 199. Arnaud currently sits just outside the top ten with 112 career matches played as a Wizard. As expected Arnaud leads the team with 2,695 minutes played, seventh most in MLS, and Victorine is second with 2,611 minutes logged, the 14th most in the league. With one match remaining in the regular season, Garcia is on pace to become Kansas City's all-time minutes leader (17,651) should KC make the playoffs, needing just 167 to equal Preki's career total of 17,818 minutes played. Zavagnin is third all-time in KC history with 16,836 career minutes played.

D.C.'s Got Next

If Kansas City does indeed make the playoffs with a win or tie this weekend, they will play a home-and-home series with D.C. United, the first game of which will kickoff at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, October 21st will be at 7:30 p.m. CT. The second leg will be played at RFK Stadium in the Nation's Capitol on Sunday, October 29th at 5:00 p.m. CT and will carried live on ESPN2. The Wizards unveiled a special "Bury 'em In Blue" ticket package for that potential home playoff match that consists of four Sideline Reserved tickets and four blue Wizards t-shirts beginning at just $56 for Outer Sideline seating and $64 dollars for Midfield seating. Ticket packages for the potential Wizards/United match can be purchased at this time by calling 816-920-4730. Individual seating will be available for the match, however, a minimum of four tickets must be purchased in order to receive the complimentary Wizards t-shirt. Individual ticket sales will be available for purchase next Monday, October 16th at 10:00 a.m. CT by visiting www.kcwizards.com or calling 816-931-3330.

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