We Don't Like the Road

First a little history, 23 weeks ago, I was still waiting on my son to arrive, Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton were still fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillcrest Road was still scheduled to begin building in the summer, and the Wizards won their last road game. Who would have thought that with only 1 road game left this season, that the Wizards only road win would come in Chicago, a place they've notoriously had trouble winning at.

Last night, the Wizards fell to Chivas USA thanks to the work of the newest former Wizard, Sasha Victorine. Victorine assisted on Chivas' opener, and then scored what proved to be the winner in first half stoppage time. In the first half last night, the Wizards looked lost on the bigger field at the Home Depot Center, compared to the field they'd played on the previous two weeks at Arrowhead and Community America Ballpark. The team was getting to strung out, and allowing Chivas to pick them apart when they moved forward. Their first goal was an example of this, as Chivas spread the field, and Ante Razov played a ball over the top to Victorine, who crossed for Alecko Eskandarian, who had beaten his marker, Tyson Wahl to the ball.

The Wizards made one change at the half bringing on designated player, Claudio Lopez. In the second half, the Wizards were the aggressor, but were unable to get many good chances out of all that possession. They finally got on the board in the 70th minute, in dramatic fashion. After a corner was only cleared to the top of the box, Lopez deflected the ball back into the box, where it was headed right to Josh Wolff, who with his back to goal pulled off a bicycle kick that went off the post and into the net. The Wizards continued to pressure and looked to have pulled level, when Wolff turned Francisco Mendoza on the end line and played a ball across that was put in. Unfortunately, Wizards favorite referee, Michael Kennedy felt that even though, Mendoza was going down after Wolff beat him, that Wolff fouled the Chivas defender and called the goal back.

Wizards Man of the Match - Herculez Gomez - Gomez has been very good for the Wizards since he was acquired. He reminds Wizards fans of Davy Arnaud, which is never a bad thing to get that sort of comparison. In a lackluster first half, Gomez was the Wizards best player, testing Dan Kennedy in goal with a long range effort. He continued in the second half, causing many problems for the Chivas back line. Of the two acquisitions the Wizards made late, he's certainly turning into the better deal.

Honorable Mention - Josh Wolff