MLS Sporting Kansas City

Wizards vs. Red Bulls Game Notes

June 2, 2006 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Have A Drink

The Wizards will be facing the New York Red Bulls for the "first" time this weekend. Previously known as the MetroStars for the first ten years of its existence, the team was bought by Red Bull and renamed Red Bull New York just prior to the start of this season.

Kansas City is 12-11-5 against New York all-time, however, they have only won twice in the last nine meetings, but one of those wins came last season in Arrowhead. In fact, the Wizards lost just once to New York last season, 1-0 in Kansas City on September 10th, finishing the season series 1-1-2. They were 1-1-0 in Arrowhead and 0-0-2 in Giants Stadium. Forward Davy Arnaud scored an early second half goal on assists from Sasha Victorine and Chris Klein in their 1-0 win at Arrowhead on May 25th.

Currently 1-2-5 on the season, the Red Bulls are sitting in sixth in the Eastern Conference, but a win could vault them into the hunt, as third place New England is only four points ahead with 12 after the first nine weeks of play.

After suffering their third consecutive loss last weekend to conference front-runner D.C. United, Kansas City will need to pick up some points this weekend if it wants to hold onto second place. The Wizards lead over the Revolution for second is just one-point as they currently have 13 points with an even 4-4-1 record on the season. The Revs go up against United this weekend in D.C.

The Red Bulls' lineup features a number of big names, but none bigger to Kansas City fans than goalkeeper Tony Meola who played for the Wizards from 1999 to 2004, leading them to their MLS Cup Championship in 2000. Meola is Kansas City's all-time leader in games played in goal with 125 and goals against average with a mark of 1.22.

If you look farther down the New York roster you will find another noteworthy Wizard, Red Bulls head coach and Kansas City resident Mo Johnston. Johnston is third all-time in Wizards' history with 31 career goals scored and fifth all-time with 149 career games played in a Kansas City uniform. Johnston played for the Wizards from 1996 to 2001.

Thank Goodness It Is June

Unfortunately the Wizards closed out the month of May winless when they suffered a controversial 3-1 loss at the hands of D.C. United last weekend, their second loss to the Eastern Conference leaders in a three-week span. Kansas City opened up the month of May with a 1-1 tie against the Chicago Fire, but the results failed to come after that and they lost 2-1 at D.C., fell 2-1 at Real Salt Lake, and then came last weekend's setback. Two of Kansas City's losses during its current four-game winless streak have not been come without questions, both of its losses to D.C. have been the result of the referee's whistle. Both of United's game-winning goals have come off of penalty kicks, in fact, only one of D.C.'s five goals scored against the Wizards this season has come during the run of play, Alecko Eskandarian's game-opening goal in D.C. United's remaining two, both last week, were scored on set pieces from just outside Kansas City's penalty box.

Jaime Moreno opened the game, slipping behind the KC defense on Christian Gomez's free kick to give D.C. the early 1-0 lead. Then came Moreno's previously mentioned penalty kick strike that went on to be the game-winning goal later in the first half. Scott Sealy brought the Wizards within one in the 28th minute, knocking in the rebound after Sasha Victorine's shot was cleared off the goal-line by Freddy Adu. United added one more goal in first half extra-time when Bobby Boswell headed in Adu's cross, marking the first time this season that Kansas City has given up three goals in a game, let alone a half. Not once last year did the Wizards allow three goals in a half.

The Magic Number: 1

If you were a betting person, you should put you money on the Wizards scoring one-goal this weekend vs. the Red Bulls. Since scoring three goals and two goals in their first two games this season, respectively, Kansas City has scored exactly one goal in each of its last seven contests. The Wizards have picked up two wins in that span, shutting out the defending Eastern Conference champion New England Revolution in Arrowhead, and blanking the Crew in Columbus in week five. But if you are the Wizards, you are going to want to score more than one goal because Kansas City is 2-0-0 when it does so, as opposed to 2-4-1 when it doesn't. On the flipside, the Wizards have yet to be shutout this season, which boils down to if they allow no more than one goal against they will pick up some points. Their four losses have come when they given up two goals, three times, and last week's three goals against vs. D.C.

Man Of The Month

Veteran midfielder Sasha Victorine is one of four players up for the Wizards' Player of the Month. In conjunction with the fans from the Cauldron, the Wizards' player of the month will be presented with a special scarf signifying the honor. Also up for the award this month are goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi, defender Nick Garcia, and midfielder Kerry Zavagnin. Victorine currently leads the team with six points off two goals and two assists. Both of his goals have been game-tying goals and both of his assists have come on game-winning goals, tops in the league. The winner is determined by an online poll at www.kcwizards.com and will be announced approximately one hour before kickoff. Last month's winner was forward Davy Arnaud.

Wizards World Cuppers

The United States National Team closed out its "Send-Off Series" this past weekend with a 1-0 victory over Latvia to go into next month's World Cup in Germany with a two-game win streak. The Wizards' three representatives on the squad have made their presence felt for the Red, White & Blue since camp began in the second week of May. 2005 MLS Defender of the Year Jimmy Conrad was given the honor of wearing the captain's armband in the U.S.'s 2-0 win over Venezuela. Conrad started both the Venezuela and Latvia matches, both shutouts, playing the full 90 in each. Forward Josh Wolff started the first two matches for the U.S. in the "Send-Off Series" against Morocco and Venezuela, but it is Wolff's Wizards linemate, Eddie Johnson, has been one of Bruce Arena's offensive workhorses. Johnson has played 196 minutes in the series, second only to Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley who have each played 205 minutes on the offensive end for the U.S. in its three most recent games. Johnson appeared in all three games, starting two, and assisted on Clint Dempsey's goal in the 2-0 win over Venezuela. The U.S. kicks off its World Cup on Monday, June 12th vs. the Czech Republic at 10:55 a.m. CT. The Wizards will be hosting watch parties for every game the United States play at the World Cup.

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