Wizards vs. Fire game notes
August 15, 2006 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release
One Big Game Returning to Major League Soccer league play, the Wizards will be facing the Chicago Fire for the second time in three days when the two sides square off at Toyota Park on Wednesday, August 16th. Kansas City and Chicago faced each other on Monday night in the Fourth Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with both sides primarily utilizing reserve lineups. The Fire bested the Wizards 2-0, but Wednesday's contest will feature a Kansas City lineup that thumped the Columbus Crew 4-0 just five days ago in Arrowhead Stadium to role its unbeaten streak to three straight.
The Wizards find themselves in playoff contention once again having moved up to third in the Eastern Conference with 25 points (7-11-4), just three shy of the second place New England Revolution. Heading into this past weekend tied in the standings with KC at 22 points, Chicago (5-8-7) slipped to fifth in the East as it was unable to get a result against Chivas USA this past Saturday and they stayed at 22, two points short of the New York Red Bulls for the fourth and final playoff spot. Fortunately for the Fire, and the Red Bulls, they each have two games in hand on the Wizards which makes this Wednesday's final meeting between these two teams all that more important. A win for Kansas City would give it a six-point lead on Chicago, nullifying the two games in hand that the Fire have over the Wizards should the team from the Windy City win those extra two games. Also, as they enter Wednesday night's match, the season series stands at an even 1-1-1, meaning the winner of this final match also takes the season series and any postseason tiebreakers that come along with it.
When the Wizards and Fire first met this year in week six it kicked off Kansas City's disappointing month of May, drawing 1-1 after it opened the season at 4-1-0. Chad Barrett put the Fire up early in the 18th minute with a breakaway goal when he was played over the top on a pass by Chris Rolfe. The Wizards regrouped at halftime and quickly equalized in the second half on a goal by U.S. World Cupper Eddie Johnson. That May 6th match in Arrowhead also featured a pair of penalty kicks, one for each team, not necessarily noteworthy except that both goalkeepers successfully stopped both attempts. Chicago's Zach Thornton successfully saved Johnson's attempt in the 27th minute, and Bo Oshoniyi stopped Ivan Guerrero's PK in the 68th minute.
The second time the two met this season, Kansas City picked up its second consecutive win to open the month of June unbeaten in three straight. Forward Scott Sealy tallied a pair of come-from-behind goals in the match to earn Major League Soccer Player of the Week honors, and Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. tallied his third consecutive game-deciding goal with a long-range blast in the 89th minute.
The Fire evened the season series in the last meeting thanks to Andy Herron's second-half bicycle kick that went up for MLS Goal of the Week and a 1-0 Chicago win. Kansas City ultimately outshot the Fire 12-11 in the Fourth of July match, including a 4-3 mark in shots on goal, but it was unable to tip the scale in its favor. Third-year man Will Hesmer took to the pipes for KC, making two saves in what was his most recent regular season start.
Conrad Out Defender Jimmy Conrad is expected to miss the next three-to-five weeks with the Wizards due to his jaw being broken by the elbow of Clint Dempsey in last Wednesday's match. Conrad went up for a head ball early in the second half and had position Dempsey when the Revs midfielder went up with his left elbow, catching the KC defender flush on the right side of his jaw. The Wizards' team captain has started 11 matches for Kansas City this season having missed nine games overall prior to his injury, six while he was with the United States National Team, two while he was recovering from a sports hernia surgery, and one for a red card suspension. 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. This season the Wizards are 3-6-3 with Conrad in the lineup and 4-4-1 when he has not appeared, however three of their five shutouts in 2006 have come when the three-time all-star is on the pitch.
What's The Starting XI? Second-year man Ryan Raybould became the 20th player on the Wizards' roster this season to start a match when he received the call one week ago at New England, it was his first ever MLS start and just his second-ever MLS appearance. He made his league debut last season, playing 11 minutes against Real Salt Lake on July 16th. Raybould followed his 2006 debut up with his second consecutive appearance, replacing midfielder/defender Alex Zotinca as the first man off the Wizards' bench against Columbus. In fact, there is only one player to have appeared for Kansas City this season who has not yet received a starting nod, midfielder/forward Sergei Raad. Raad made his MLS debut three-games ago, replacing Dave van den Bergh midway through the second half of their 1-1 tie with the Revs. Veteran Nick Garcia leads the team with 21 starts after Kerry Zavagnin did not start for the second consecutive game with slight groin strain. Prior to missing the last two games Zavagnin was the only player to have started the first 20 games for KC this season.
The Monkey Is Off The Back After scoring Kansas City's first goal of the season on just his second shot of the year against the Columbus Crew on Opening Day, 2006 started out grand for Wizards attack-man Davy Arnaud. However, the luck that is sometimes involved in the "art" of goal-scoring did not necessarily go Arnaud's way as he was held scoreless in 20 consecutive matches. Well Arnaud broke that 20-game streak this past Saturday when he reopened his goal-scoring bag with a 25-yard strike early in the first half against the Crew. Here is how the time in between his two goals breaks down (time of first goal - 21st minute of Game 1, time of second goal - 4th minute of Game 22): minutes played by the Wizards (excluding stoppage time) - 1,873; minutes played by Arnaud (excluding stoppage time) - 1,778; total shots taken - 42; total shots on goal - 16. Arnaud is currently sixth in MLS with 46 total shots taken.
Marathon Man It didn't happen until week 20 of the season, but now only one player has appeared in all 22 matches for the Wizards this season. Midfielder/Forward Davy Arnaud became the only player on the roster to don the blue and white 22 times in 2006 when teammate Kerry Zavagnin missed his first game of the year one week ago. Zavagnin had appeared in 41 consecutive games after starting the 2006 season with 20 straight showings in the lineup before missing last week's match against the Revs at Gillette Stadium. Arnaud, obviously, leads the team with 22 games played and Nick Garcia and Sasha Victorine are tied for second on the team with 21 games played. As expected, Arnaud leads the team with 1,885 minutes played and Garcia is second with 1,881 minutes logged.
The D's Gettin' It Done As much as last Saturday's offensive explosion has helped the Wizards continue to keep their ball rolling under the direction of new head coach Brian Bliss, it is their defense that has allowed them to go unbeaten in their last three contests. In their four games with Bliss at the helm they have given up just two goals, posting a pair of shutouts along the way. Kansas City has outshot its opponents in three of those four games, the lone outlier was a 16-14 advantage for New England in Arrowhead on July 29th, however KC did post a 7-5 upside in shots on goal in that match. Overall under Bliss the Wizards have a combined advantage in shots of 67-54, shots on goal of 30-21, and most importantly, a 5-2 advantage in goals scored.
Setting The Table Of the 28 goals scored against the Wizards this season, ten of them are the direct result of a set piece. The interesting thing is that all ten of those set piece goals have been scored by just three teams. D.C. United leads the way with six of its nine goals scored against KC this season coming off of set pieces: one was an own goal, two were penalty kicks by Jamie Moreno, and the remaining three were off free kicks. With their two two weeks ago, the Houston Dynamo ran their total to three set piece goals, of their four total, against the Wizards. Dynamo's came from a corner kick and two free kicks. The final set piece goal scored against Kansas City this season was netted by the New York Red Bulls, when Chris Henderson eventually finished off Mark Lisi's free kick in week ten. Minus those ten goals, the Wizards have only given up 18 goals in the run of play through 22 games, an average of 0.82.
• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board...
Major League Soccer Stories from August 15, 2006
- Wizards vs. Fire game notes - Sporting Kansas City
- Chivas USA Weekly Update - Club Deportivo Chivas USA
- MLS weekly preview & broadcast info - MLS
- United Drives to collect toys during August - D.C. United
- New England Revolution Midfielder Clint Dempsey Suspended and Fined - New England Revolution
- Rapids Weekly Notes - Colorado Rapids
- Rapids Sign Forward Melvin Tarley - Colorado Rapids
- Final Bob Evans Buck-A-Brat Night Is Wednesday, August 16 - Columbus Crew SC
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
