Greetings From Dallas

Hello from Dallas, just arrived with the rest of the traveling Cauldron for tomorrow's Wizards game against FC Dallas, and the big news of the day is the fact that Dallas forward, Kenny Cooper will not be playing. Cooper completed a transfer today to German club, 1860 Munich, the former club of Wizards forward, Josh Wolff. Meaning he will not be with the club for the game tomorrow against the Wizards. This is big news for Wizards fans, as Cooper has been Dallas' best player for much of the last few years, but has also been desperate to move back abroad after returning from Europe a few years ago. This changes the entire complexion of the game tomorrow with this move.

As for the Wizards, they have Davy Arnaud and Jimmy Conrad back from the Gold Cup, but word is that Conrad will not be playing this weekend due to him still suffering from his concussion issues. The question becomes how much playing time Adam Cristman and latest signing Zoltán Hercegfalvi potentially get tomorrow. The Wizards have been lacking scoring the past few weeks, so getting Cristman and Zoltan on the mark would be huge for the Wizards as they start the late season run. As for the lineup, here's a look at what we could see.

Hartman
Jewsbury - Hohlbein - McKenzie - Besler
Hirsig
Gomez - Arnaud - Lopez
Cristman - Wolff

Key Match Up - Aaron Hohlbein vs Jeff Cunningham - Cunningham now becomes Dallas' biggest offensive threat with the departure of Cooper, shut down Cunningham and the Wizards should be able to get the result out of this game.

PREDICTION - The Cooper transfer completely changes my thoughts on this game. With Cooper in the lineup, Dallas at least looks more dangerous on paper, but with him gone the team seems to lack some punch. With the lack of scoring punch now, the Wizards should be able to shut down the Dallas strikers based on the defense's performance lately. The question will be if more match fitness will see Cristman start to round out his form. If the Wizards get 1, they could easily go off for 3 or more if the confidence going.

KC - 2 (Cristman, Lopez)
FCD - 1 (van den Bergh)

No Call Up for Roger

Roger Espinoza appeared in all of Honduras' games in the Gold Cup recently, but he did not get himself a spot on the Honduran's World Cup Qualifying roster for the upcoming qualifier against Costa Rica on August 12th. While some people may be a little surprised since Espinoza has been a staple at least in camp for most of this round of qualifying, it's not incredibly surprising. With Espinoza missing almost a month while away at the Gold Cup, the Honduran coach could be looking to avoid burning bridges with Coach Onalfo by letting Espinoza stay with the Wizards for this round of qualifiers. I think Espinoza will definitely be back with the national team soon.

ZOLTAN!

As you most likely know by now, Zoltán Hercegfalvi was officially unveiled today by the Wizards at the weekly press conference.
photo courtesy of Thad Bell

Save of the Week

The Wizards have the chance to sweep the weekly MLS awards this week. Claudio Lopez has already won the MLS Goal of the Week award, now Kevin Hartman can get in on the act. Hartman is up for Save of the Week this week for one of his saves on Landon Donovan, see the highlight here.

All Stars Lose

The MLS All Stars loss to a foreign opponent for the first time tonight in Salt Lake as Everton defeated in penalty kicks. After Everton took the lead through Louis Saha, Brad Davis tied the game for All Stars. The second half stayed 1-1 and went into PKs. Tim Howard saved 3 PKs, including one by Wizards midfielder, Davy Arnaud, while Kasey Keller saved one and had one go wide. The final was 4-3 Everton in the PK shootout.

Arnaud came on in the 63rd minute for the All Stars and had a few good moments, including a diving header late in the second half that he probably should of done better with, as it had plenty of power but was right at Howard, who paried the shot away. In the PK shootout, Arnaud went 3rd for the All Stars. It put his shot high to Howards right, but Howard was able to get his arm up on his dive and touch the ball away. Not a horrible shot, but a good save by Howard on Arnaud.

Former Wizards Update

MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 3-2 loss to Columbus. Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 1-0 loss to Puerto Rico in the CONCACAF Champion's League.
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Did not dress in Seattle's 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Will Hesmer - Columbus Crew - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 3-2 win over Toronto FC.
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Came off the bench and played 21 minutes in LA's 1-1 draw with KC.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes, scoring 2 goals in RSL's 4-2 win over FC Dallas.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Did not dress in Chicago's 0-0 draw with Seattle.
Carey Talley - Chivas USA - Chivas had this week off.
Shavar Thomas - Chivas USA - Chivas had this week off.
Dave van den Bergh - FC Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes, scoring a goal in FC Dallas' 4-2 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Sasha Victorine - Chivas USA - Chivas had this week off.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle Sounders FC - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 0-0 draw with Chicago.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Started and played 65 minutes in Charleston's 2-1 win over Carolina.
Vicente Arze - Vancouver - Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Vancouver's 4-2 win over Puerto Rico.
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City Barons (PDL) - Started and played 85 minutes in Ocean City's 2-1 win over Ottawa to win their PDL region.
Ryan Caugherty - Austin - Came off the bench and played 6 minutes in Austin's 2-2 draw with Montreal.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Did not dress in Minnesota's 2-1 loss to Miami.
AJ Godbolt - Austin - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes getting a goal and an assist in Austin's 2-2 draw with Montreal.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh (USL2) - Came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Pittsburgh's 1-1 draw with Western Mass. Started and played 72 minutes in Pittsburgh's 3-0 win over Western Mass Sunday.
Andrew Gregor - Rochester - Started and played 90 minutes in Rochester's 4-1 win over Cleveland.
Pat Healey - Baltimore (USL2) - Started and played 90 minutes in Baltimore's 0-0 draw with Charlotte.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 2-1 loss to Charleston. Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 4-0 win over Miami FC.
Pete Marino - Treasure Coast Galleons (FESL) - Tied Orlando FC 0-0.
Ryan McMahen - Austin - Started and played 90 minutes in Austin's 2-2 draw with Montreal.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Did not dress in Portland's 0-0 draw with Puerto Rico.
Yomby William - Richmond (USL2) - Play Harrisburg tonight.
John Wilson - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 2-1 win over Carolina.
David Winner - Austin - Did not dress in Austin's 2-2 draw with Montreal.

International
Chris Konopka - Longford Town - Ireland - Did not play in Longford's 3-0 loss to Sporting Fingal.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesunds FK - Norway - Started and played 90 minutes in Aalesunds' 1-1 draw with Fredrikstad.
Antti Sumiala - FC Porin Palloilijat - Did not play in PoPa's 3-0 win over Klubi 04.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Did not play in Quindío's 2-0 loss to Cúcuta Deportivo.

Record at Home

The Wizards dropped two more points at home last Saturday night when they drew with the Galaxy 1-1. Compared to last year, the Wizards are struggling at home this year. The Wizards are 3-3-3 at home this season, earning them 1.33 points per game when they play at Community America through 9 games. Compared to the rest of the league at home, the Wizards are tied for the 3rd worst points per home game (PPHG) record so far this season, with Dallas and San Jose. Only New York (1 point per game at home) and surprisingly, Chicago (1.25 points per home game, but 5-1-4 on the road) have a worse record at home. Below is the current PPHG for each team along with their points and the number of home games they've played.

	points	Played	PPHG
New York	9	9	1
Chicago	10	8	1.25
SJ	12	9	1.33
Dallas	12	9	1.33
KC	12	9	1.33
LA	13	9	1.44
Toronto	18	11	1.64
RSL	18	9	2
Houston	18	9	2
Seattle	22	11	2
Colorado	18	9	2
New England	14	7	2
Chivas	19	9	2.11
DC	19	9	2.11
Columbus	22	10	2.2

Coach Onalfo has preached in weekly press conferences that he wants the team to average 2 points at home this season and 1 on the road. So far the team isn't even close to that total, and would actually need to win their remaining home games this season to average 2 points per home game this season.

The question is, why are the Wizards not doing as well this season as they did last year at CAB? There are probably a couple reasons. The first reason probably has to do with most teams now having played a game at CAB and knowing more of what to expect when they come to KC. The other issue has to do with how the team plays. From interviews that Thad and I have done with players they say that their style of play isn't really suited to the field dimensions at CAB.

My question in response to that, is why is the team not playing a style that is conducive to the place where you play most of your games? You would think that Onalfo would have created a game plan and style of play that would allow the Wizards to exploit their smaller field when playing teams that are used to a bigger field. The strategy worked well for the original San Jose Earthquakes when they played at Spartan Stadium. Sure, it's probably not as attractive a style of play, but it gets the results.

Hercegfalvi Official

The Wizards officially announced the signing today of Hungarian forward, Zoltán Hercegfalvi after the acquisition of his P-1 Visa. Hercegfalvi has been training with the team for a few weeks now, and the contract was even announced in Hungary press that the deal was done earlier this month. The Visa was the only thing left to get, and now with that, Hercegfalvi will be able to be on the field Saturday when the Wizards take on FC Dallas. To make it easier on everyone else in the league, Hercegfalvi will just have Zoltán on the back of his jersey.

Conrad an All Star Too

Wizards defender, Jimmy Conrad, will not be playing this Wednesday against Everton FC in Salt Lake in the MLS All Star game, but Conrad will be there. Conrad has been named an "inactive" All Star for the game. Basically, under the league's collective bargaining agreement, MLS still has to name 32 players as All Stars for bonus purposes. But since the 2003 All Star game (minus 2004 when the league couldn't get Real Madrid), MLS has played a foreign team in it's all star game, meaning only 18 players get to dress for the game. So today, MLS released the other 14 players who were named All Stars this year.

Bannister Stalled

Missed this a week ago, but there is currently a little trouble over at the Bannister Mall site. Due to the economy as a whole right now, which is scaring off banks from financing and businesses from expanding and moving, the entire project at the Bannister site is stalled, including the Wizards stadium. While the documentation for state tax credits that have been approved they have not been finalized. And Lane4 is talking with the city about how to move things along faster. The project isn't being shelved, and the plan is to still have the Wizards stadium there, but right now things are in a bit of a holding pattern.

KC city councilman, John Sharp makes a good point in the article saying that the Wizards stadium may have to be built first to help spur on the rest of the development as a whole. We'll see what happens, but I wouldn't start with the "Will the Wizards move?" talk just yet. This is going to be an issue anywhere in the US right now, places aren't wanting to spend money in this down economy and getting "fun" things built like stadiums aren't high on the priority list at the moment.

Lopez Up for Goal of the Week

Not surprisingly, Claudio Lopez is up for Goal of the Week this week for his long range bomb over the head of Donovan Ricketts in the LA net. It's probably also one of the goals of the year in MLS this season. If you haven't seen it, or even if you have, check it out again.

Embarrassing

That's the only word that can be used to describe the USA's performance today in the Gold Cup final against Mexico. The second half was just pathetic. First a quick note on the Wizards with the national team. There had been hope that Jimmy Conrad could have gone today but in the end they decided not to risk the Wizards captain. Davy Arnaud started once again for the US national team. Didn't play as poor as I thought he did in the semifinal, but didn't have a great performance. In the first half the US had multiple chances but couldn't finish them or didn't take their shots. That's what happened with Arnaud as he had 1-2 opportunities in the first half but didn't pull the trigger.

In the second half, things started to go down hill quick after what many saw as a questionable penalty kick in the 54th called against Jay Heaps. The floodgates opened after the PK, as the US pushed forward for the equalizer with Mexico doubling their lead in the 61st minute. Arnaud's day ended soon afterwards as he came out for Kenny Cooper, but things didn't get any better as Mexico scored 3 more times, in the 66th, 78th, and 89th minute to completely blow the US out in the final.

Yes the US team was their B-C team depending on who you talk to, but it still sucks to lose to Mexico. The defense as a whole was poor, Jay Heaps and Heath Pearce were abused on both wings during the game and the offside trap was not working at all. In the end, this failure has to fall on Bob Bradley. Bradley named the B-C roster for this tournament, which I don't entirely mind, because players needed to get rest and start training with their club. My problem with his roster selections had more to do with the B-C teamers he brought. He brought multiple players to the Gold Cup with early releases already guaranteed by Bradley so players like Freddy Adu, Charlie Davies, and Steve Cherundolo could all return to their club teams. So already before injuries the US were going to be knocked down to 20 players when those guys left. CONCACAF even gave Bradley 7 extra roster spots for players since they'd just played in the Confederations Cup. But Bradley made little use of those spots and using an opportunity to give the rest of the roster a break, because by the second half against Mexico, all the players that were starting were dead too many games in a short time without utilizing the depth of the team. When it came to the case of Cherundolo, he didn't even have a true right back on the team after him, so when he left, the US had to deal with converted midfielders, or Jay Heaps as the right back, not extactly your ideal situation. Overall this game falls on Bradley's poor coaching decisions in naming the roster and decisions during the tournament.

Sunday After Stats

Last night was Josh Wolff's 100th MLS start for the Wizards. He's the 15th player to hit that mark for the Wizards.

It was Wolff's 107th appearance for the Wizards in league play, breaking a tie with Sasha Victorine for 17th on the all time list.

Also Wolff's 113th start in all competitions for the Wizards, tying Sean Bowers for 14th all time.

Adam Cristman made his first appearance for the Wizards.

Claudio Lopez's goal was his 11th career goal in league play for the Wizards, tying him with Francisco Gomez and Paul Wright for 19th on the all time list.

It was also Lopez's 13th goal in all competitions for the Wizards, tying him with Chris Henderson and Jack Jewsbury for 18th on that list.

Kevin Hartman made his 77th start for the Wizards in league play, tying him with Chris Brown for 19th on the list.

It was also Hartman's 99th straight start in league play.

Not a Loss, but Still Winless

The Wizards took the early lead against the Galaxy, but couldn't hold on and stretched their winless streak to 8 games now. The Galaxy came out from the start and were the more aggressive team from the beginning. Kevin Hartman was forced to make a few early saves on Landon Donovan and a David Beckham cross to keep the game scoreless. In the 26th minute, Herculez Gomez cleared a long throw by Todd Dunivant to Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez around midfield. Gonzalez made a mess of his first touch which went right to Claudio Lopez. Lopez took a touch towards the middle of the field, saw that Donovan Ricketts was off his line and fired a shot that went just over the Galaxy keepers hand and into the net giving the Wizards a 1-0 lead. On the play, Ricketts hit the post and ended up having to be subbed out.

Less than 10 minutes after that goal, though, the Galaxy were level. Santiago Hirsig gave the ball away easily around midfield to Beckham, who immediately found Donovan. Donovan dribbled at the Wizards defense, cut in and put a shot just out of reach of Hartman and into the net. Late in the first half, Donovan had the chance to make it two after getting played in behind the Wizards defense, but Hartman came off his line quickly and was able to block the shot.

In the second half, the Wizards started early and tried to find a second, as Lopez forced a good save out of Josh Saunders on a free kick from the right side. Neither side created any great scoring chances as the half went on, but of the chances created, it was the Galaxy that seemed to get the better ones. In the 78th, Lopez once again was going for goal from a free kick, this time from out by the right side line. Lopez's shot rattled the cross bar came down and struck Gonzalez in the arm before it was cleared, but no penalty was called on the play. In the end, the Wizards had picked up the pressure in the second half, but were unable to get a goal or many dangerous chances other than Lopez's two free kicks.

Also during the game, Beckham once again got into a small confrontation with a fan, only this time, the fan didn't come onto the field to shake Beckham's hand after the guy made comments about his wife. Considering that he's played in some pretty hostile environments around the world, how he has such thin skin that it annoys him enough to call the guy a disgrace is just mind boggling.

Wizards Man of the Match - Kevin Hartman - Hartman came up big multiple times during the game making good saves mainly on Donovan but on other players as well.

Honorable Mention - Rauwshan McKenzie

Player Ratings - Hartman 7, Leathers 5, Hohlbein 5, McKenzie 6, Besler 5, Hirsig 4, Gomez 5, Jewsbury 5, Espinoza 4, Wolff 5, Lopez 6. Subs Cristman 5, Thompson NR

The Beckham Circus is in Town

The David Beckham circus has continued since his return to the Galaxy this season. His recent fine for his altercation between Beckham and an LA fan is proof of that. LA comes into KC on an impressive win streak, as they have won 4 straight MLS games. Only one of those wins have been with Beckham with the team. During the hot streak, the Galaxy have not just been scoring goals but not giving them up either, playing good defense during that stretch as well. The Galaxy are certainly one of the hottest teams in MLS.

With Adam Cristman's return from injury, the Wizards will be hoping to be breaking out of the scoring slump that they've been in since their 3-1 win over New England in early June. The lack of scoring has not been due to a lack of chances, but due to a lack of finishing. The Wizards have been out shooting their opponents, but have unable to find the net. The defense has been a bit of a surprise without Jimmy Conrad anchoring the the back line. The team will be without Lance Watson due to his red card, but the rest of the team should be similar to the team that played New England a few weeks ago.

Hartman
Leathers - Hohlbein - McKenzie - Besler
Hirsig
Gomez - Jewsbury - Harrington
Lopez - Wolff

Key Match Up - Hirsig vs Beckham - Beckham has been playing centrally for the Galaxy so far this season so his match up against Hirsig should be a big part of the game. Hirsig will need to shut him down while also having to keep an eye out for Landon Donovan as well.

Prediction - These two teams are at almost complete opposites of the form spectrum currently and that's not a good thing for the Wizards who have not scored a league goal in their last 2 games (and only 2 in the last 5 games not counting the open cup). If form is any key, this won't be a pretty game for KC. I'll be hoping for the best, but I have my doubts.

KC - 1 (Lopez)
LA - 2 (Donovan, Gordon)

Here's a news segment from NBC Action News, about Beckham's game here, including quotes from yours truly talking about the game.

Cristman Ready to Play

Today the Wizards announced that forward Adam Cristman has been removed from the team's disabled list and is available to play this weekend against the Galaxy. Cristman has missed time since breaking his fifth metatarsal in the Wizards preseason. He's been practicing for the past few weeks getting more and more time in contact games. From practice earlier this week, it looks like Cristman is ready to get on the field tomorrow against the Galaxy.

Wizards in US-Honduras Part 2

Tonight the United States advanced to the Gold Cup final, taking out Honduras for the second time in the tournament by a 2-0 score line. The US will now play the winner of Costa Rica-Mexico on Sunday. For the United States, Jimmy Conrad was out due to his concussion that he suffered in the quarterfinals. Davy Arnaud started for the United States for the third straight game. Arnaud I thought had a poor game by his level the previous two games. His first half as a whole was poor, with him not being really involved in the play and seeming a step slow. His second half was better, but still not to the level he'd played earlier in the competition. With his substitute the last two games, Kenny Cooper scoring for the second straight game, Arnaud could possibly find himself on the bench for the final if Bob Bradley goes with the hot foot.

The Wizards Honduran representative, Roger Espinoza started on the bench for the first time in the Gold Cup. Espinoza came on in the 80th minute for Honduras and actually looked pretty good in the limited minutes he got. He almost had an assist when it was still 1-0 as he played through Carlos Costly, but Costly was well saved by Troy Perkins.

Former Wizards Update (UPDATED)

It's been a fairly slow week for Wizards news, not a whole lot of interesting stuff, but here is your weekly former Wizards update. As has become routine now, there will be an update, as 3 former Wizards teams are competing tonight in the PDL playoffs.

MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 1-1 draw with Houston.
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Did not dress in Seattle's 2-1 win over Houston in the US Open Cup.
Will Hesmer - Columbus Crew - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake.
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Came off the bench and played 5 minutes in LA's 3-1 win over New York.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in Salt Lake's 3-1 loss to Columbus.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Dressed but did not play in Chicago's 2-0 win over San Jose.
Carey Talley - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 2-0 loss to New England.
Shavar Thomas - Chivas USA - Dressed but did not play in Chivas' 2-0 loss to New England.
Dave van den Bergh - FC Dallas - Dallas did not play this week.
Sasha Victorine - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 2-0 loss to New England.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle Sounders FC - Started and played 84 minutes in Seattle's 2-1 extra time win over Houston in the US Open Cup.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Started and played 70 minutes in Charleston's 0-0 draw with Cleveland. Dressed but did not play in Charleston's 1-1 draw with Rochester.
Vicente Arze - Vancouver - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Vancouver's 2-1 loss to Carolina.
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City Barons (PDL) - Started and played 45 minutes, scoring 2 goals in Ocean City's 3-0 win over New Jersey. Started and played 76 minutes scoring 1 goal in Ocean City's 2-0 win over Long Island to advance in the PDL playoffs.
Ryan Caugherty - Austin - Came off the bench and played 22 minutes in Austin's 1-0 loss to Minnesota.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Came off the bench and played 1 minutes in Minnesota's 1-0 win over Austin.
AJ Godbolt - Austin - Dressed but did not play in Austin's 1-0 loss to Minnesota.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh (USL2) - Started and played 90 minutes in Pittsburgh's 1-0 loss to Harrisburg.
Andrew Gregor - Rochester - Did not dress in Rochester's 1-1 draw with Charleston. Started and played 90 minutes in Rochester's 2-1 loss to DC United in the US Open Cup.
Willy Guadarrama - Austin Aztex U-23 (PDL) - Did not dress in Austin's 1-1 draw with El Paso. Did not dress in Austin's 2-1 loss to West Texas in the PDL playoffs.
Pat Healey - Baltimore (USL2) - Started and played 90 minutes in CPB's 2-1 loss to Richmond.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 2-1 win over Vancouver.
Pete Marino - Treasure Coast Galleons (FESL) - Started in Treasure Coast's 2-0 win over Palmeiras FC. Did not play in 2-1 loss to Miami Haiti Int. SC.
Ryan McMahen - Austin - Started and played 90 minutes in Austin's 1-0 loss to Minnesota.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Started and played 45 minutes in Portland's 1-1 draw with Miami. Did not dress in Portland's 3-0 win over Miami on Sunday.
Eric Quill - Houston Leones (PDL) - Did not play in Houston's 2-1 loss to El Paso or in Houston's 4-3 loss to DFW. Houston's season is now over.
Michael Todd - Long Island Roughriders (PDL) - Came off the bench and played 37 minutes in Long Island's 2-1 win over New Hampshire. Started and played 90 minutes in Long Island's 2-0 loss to Ocean City in the PDL playoffs.
Yomby William - Richmond (USL2) - Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 2-1 win over Baltimore. Plays Wilmington tonight. Started and played 90 minutes in Richmond's 3-2 loss to Wilmington.
John Wilson - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 0-0 draw with Cleveland or 1-1 draw with Rochester.
David Winner - Austin - Did not dress in Austin's 1-0 loss to Minnesota.

International
Chris Konopka - Longford Town - Ireland - Longford Town defeated Athlone Town 5-2 yesterday.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesunds FK - Norway - Aalesunds did not have a game this week.
Antti Sumiala - FC Porin Palloilijat - Came off the bench and played 1 minutes in PoPa's 2-2 draw with Klubi 04.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Did not play in Quindío's 1-1 draw with Millonarios.

The Beckham Experiment

Everyone in American soccer has been talking about Grant Wahl's book, "The Beckham Experiment" and everything involved with it. I was given the chance a few weeks ago to get a copy of the book and review it. With the game against David Beckham and the Galaxy coming up I figured it was the perfect time to get my review of the book out.

Wahl gives a view into not just the LA Galaxy front office, but gives a great look into MLS as a whole in the book. The best part about the league as a whole was the look into the lives of the players on the other end of the pay scale, mainly told through Alan Gordon. Unlike Beckham, Gordon played on a non guaranteed contract, lived in an apartment with 2 other players, and eventually borrowed money from his girlfriend so that he could move into a different apartment. Wahl does a great job of showing the contrasts between the life of Beckham and the lives of most of the rest of his teammates. He regularly throws out the paltry developmental player salary that players make and how those players are working extra jobs just so that they can make rent payments.

Still, the best insight in the book is into the Galaxy front office and the craziness not just from the Beckham signing in general. One of the more interesting things in my mind, was that former Galaxy GM, Alexi Lalas turned down a trade that would have brought Kyle Beckerman to LA for Peter Vagenas and a draft pick, because Lalas and Vagenas were good friends. In Beckham's first season, the issues with Beckham come from all sides as Lalas, 19 Entertainment, Tim Leiweke, the CEO of the Galaxy ownership, and even Beckham himself. Playing when his ankle was clearly well below 100%, playing 3 games in 3 time zones in 6 days as he traveled from New York to London to LA to continue his England career.

In his second season, the "villainy" for the problems with the Galaxy switch to mainly being the meddling of Beckham's handlers, mainly 19 Entertainment and best friend Terry Byrne. Lalas goes from being a villain himself to being undercut by the work of Beckham's handlers. Reading the process that led to the hiring of Ruud Gullit, it was amazing how that hiring was all on the back of Byrne and 19 Entertainment as Lalas was left entirely out of the situation. Wahl almost makes you feel sorry for Lalas about that situation and much of the 2008 season.

Most people have read Landon Donovan's comments made about Beckham that has caused the whole media situation around those two, but Donovan's disagreeing with Lalas in the 2007 season was just as interesting. First the whole issue with Donovan giving up the captain's arm band to Beckham after being pushed by Lalas (who was first pushed by Beckham's handlers). Then later in the season when Lalas goes against the media vote for team MVP and gives the award instead to Chris Klein. Issues that make Donovan seem like a victim of Beckham while at the same time, making him come off as a whiner and every bit of the Landycakes persona that people give him crap for.

There are even mentions of the two games in the 2008 season against the Wizards. During the game in LA, Wahl talks about Gullit calling out Donovan during the half time speech and Donovan becoming pissed about the situation and Beckham not coming to his defense as the captain. After the home game against LA, Wahl talks about Bruce Arena's preceived mistake of playing both Donovan and Beckham so soon after an international break.

Overall, I absolutely loved this book and the insight it gives. Wahl does a great job of capturing everything that seemed to be going on with the team at the time. My one complaint isn't about the writing, but more about how the book ends. Throughout Wahl talks about whether the "Beckham Experiment" will work or fail, but in the end you get no answer. This, though, is mainly due to the fact that the entire experiment isn't over yet, although from the quotes from players in the book, they believe it will end after this season.

Either way, if you have not gotten this book and read it yet, do yourself a favor and get it.

Arnaud an All Star

MLS All Star coach, Dominic Kinnear has named his 6 additional players to be added to the MLS All Star team that will play Everton July 29th in Salt Lake. The Wizards will have one representative in that game, as Kinnear has named Wizards midfielder, Davy Arnaud to the team. Arnaud is second on the Wizards in goals, with 5, and currently has 1 assist. Arnaud has recently been showing good form as a forward for the US in the Gold Cup, scoring one goal and assisting on another. The call up is a much deserved and over due call up for Arnaud, as he's regularly been one of the more underrated players in the league.

Is Onalfo's Seat Hot?

It's a question that a lot of Wizards' fans have been asking lately. Is Coach Onalfo's seat getting hot with the current slump the Wizards are in? Kansas City has not won a game since their 3-1 win over New England back on June 13th (the open cup win is officially a draw). That's over a month that KC has gone without a win. Taking out the Wizards 3 goals against Minnesota, the Wizards have only scored 2 goals in that time frame, one an own goal and one a Claudio Lopez free kick. Since May started, the Wizards have only won 2 games, a span of 14 games. While the team had a busy stretch in parts of June and July, that's still a pathetic number of wins for KC. Two wins in almost 3 months of play is going to get you no where in any league, including the parity driven MLS.

So is Onalfo's seat hot? It probably should be, I mean look at the results. That's a poor performance for any team to have. The good news is that even with this poor run of form, the Wizards are surprisingly not out of the race to make the playoffs. After last night's results, the Wizards are 8 points out of first place with a game in hand, and 7 points out of second with 2 games in hand on DC. So winning those two games in hand would put KC back in the race. Such is MLS and it's parity, even with this poor run of form KC is not out of it.

In the end, Onalfo is likely feeling some pressure with the lack of results lately and I'm sure his seat is getting a little hot, but no where near hot enough for him to be concerned about losing his job during the course of the current season. Onalfo's past performance on taking the Wizards to the playoffs in his first two years (no matter what you think about how they got in the previous two seasons) has probably bought him at least 1 seasons grace should the Wizards miss the playoffs this year.

Wizards in the Gold Cup

Two of the three Wizards playing tonight in the quarterfinals of the Gold Cup in Philadelphia had a good night tonight, but Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad did not. First, Wizards midfielder, Roger Espinoza once again got a start of Honduras as they faced off against Canada. Espinoza went 90 minutes as Honduras knocked off the Canadians 1-0.

The Hondurans will now face the United States in the semifinals. Both Jimmy Conrad and Davy Arnaud started the game for the US. For the second straight game, Conrad wore the arm band for the US. Unfortunately late in the first half, on a corner kick, Conrad got hit in the head by a Panamanians head. Conrad didn't look all there at all after the collision. Conrad had trouble getting up and looked like he wasn't there at all. He had to be helped up and helped to the back, with his night ending before half time. Conrad picked up a concussion, but word is he is doing well at the hospital after the incident. Arnaud got his second start for the US tonight. Once again up top, Arnaud helped to create a few chances, especially in the second half as the US pushed forward. In fact, Arnaud assisted on the game tying goal from Kyle Beckerman as Arnaud touched a ball back towards the top of the box that looked like it was meant for Stuart Holden, but Holden over ran it. Beckerman was there, though, and hit a great shot inside the post. The game went to over time, and Kenny Cooper (who came in for Arnaud) sealed the win for the US from the penalty spot in the first half of extra time.

Honduras and the US will not meet again Thursday at 6pm in Chicago.

Red Cards

With there being no game this weekend for the Wizards, I figured I'd use this time to throw a few stats out on red cards this season.

If it seems like there have been more red cards in Wizards games than in previous seasons, that's because it's true. Combined, the Wizards and their opponents have received 13 red cards in games in all competitions this season. That's a new record for combined red cards for a season. The previous record had been 12 set in 1998 and equalized in 2001 and 2002. For the Wizards part in this, they've received 6 red cards in all competitions this season, the most since the team received 8 in 2002, the highest total in team history. The 7 red cards that Wizards opponents have received this season ties the record for the most red cards Wizards opponents have seen in a season. That record was set in 2001. With all the time left in the season, this record seems likely to fall.

Almost 40% of those red cards have occurred outside of league play, with the Wizards receiving 2 in SuperLiga and 1 in the Open Cup, while Wizards opponents in SuperLiga picked up 2. The other 8 red cards occurred in league play. The 8 red cards in league play, though, is tied for 5th in Wizards league history with the 2004 season. The highest total in league play was in the 1998 season when 12 red cards were issued in league games. The Wizards will have trouble setting a team record for league red cards as the record is 7, set in 2002. Wizards' opponents, though, could set a new record, as they've already had 5 league red cards, tied for third place with 1999, 2000, and 2005. The record is 6 set in 1997 and tied in 1998.

In matches where a red card has been issued, the Wizards are 3-3-5 (W-L-D) in those games (two games saw 2 red cards issued). In league play, the Wizards are 3-1-3 when a red card is issued, the only loss coming in a 2-0 loss to the Crew. When it's the Wizards receiving a red card, the team is 0-2-3 in all competitions, going 0-0-2 in league play when they receive a red card. When the Wizards are up a man, they are 3-2-2, going 3-1-1 in league.

Former Wizards Update (UPDATED)

Here's your weekly update on former Wizards around the world. One former Wizard was competing in the Gold Cup this week, as Shavar Thomas appeared for Jamaica in the Gold Cup against El Salvador. There will be an update to this with stats for tonight's SuperLiga game, Rochester's USL game tonight and a few PDL games.

MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Started and played 90 minutes in Toronto's 3-1 win over San Jose.
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Out with a broken leg.
Will Hesmer - Columbus Crew - Started and played 90 minutes, earning the shut out in Columbus' 0-0 draw with Chicago.
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Came off the bench and played 12 minutes in LA's 1-0 win over Chivas USA.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - RSL did not have a league game this week.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Did not dress in Chicago's 0-0 draw with Columbus on the weekend. Did not dress in Chicago's 2-1 win over the Revolution in the SuperLiga semifinal.
Carey Talley - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 loss to LA.
Shavar Thomas - Chivas USA - Was called up by Jamaica for the Gold Cup. Started and played 90 minutes in Jamaica's 1-0 win over El Salvador.
Dave van den Bergh - FC Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes for Dallas in their 1-0 loss to Colorado.
Sasha Victorine - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 in Chivas USA's 1-0 loss to LA.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle Sounders FC - Started and played 90 minutes in Seattle's 2-1 win over Houston.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Came off the bench and played 20 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Carolina.
Vicente Arze - Vancouver - Came off the bench and played 7 minutes in Vancouver's 4-0 win over Minnesota. Came off the bench and played 24 minutes in Vancouver's 2-1 loss to Miami FC.
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City Barons (PDL) - Started and played 68 minutes in Ocean City's 0-0 draw with New Hampshire. Started and played 90 minutes in Ocean City's 3-1 loss to Brooklyn.
Ryan Caugherty - Austin - Came off the bench and played 19 minutes in Austin's 2-1 loss to Portland.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Came off the bench and played 10 minutes in Minnesota's 4-0 loss to Vancouver. Came off the bench and played 5 minutes in Minnesota's 3-0 win over Montreal.
AJ Godbolt - Austin - Dressed but did not play in Austin's 2-1 loss to Portland.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh (USL2) - Started and played 65 minutes in Pittsburgh's 2-1 loss to Real Maryland.
Andrew Gregor - Rochester - Started and played 60 minutes in Rochester's 0-0 draw with Puerto Rico. Started and played 57 minutes in Rochester's 0-0 draw with Montreal.
Willy Guadarrama - Austin Aztex U-23 (PDL) - Did not dress in Austin's 2-1 win over Houston and 2-1 loss to DFW.
Pat Healey - Baltimore (USL2) - Started and played 90 minutes in CPB's 2-0 win over Harrisburg.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Started and played 90 minutes in Carolina's 1-0 win over Charleston.
Pete Marino - Treasure Coast Galleons (FESL) - Started and had a goal an an assist in Treasure Coast's 6-3 win over Juventus of St. Lucie.
Ryan McMahen - Austin - Started and played 71 minutes in Austin's 2-1 loss to Portland.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Came off the bench and played 31 minutes in Portland's 2-1 win over Austin.
Eric Quill - Houston Leones (PDL) - Did not dress in Houston's 2-1 loss to Austin.
Michael Todd - Long Island Roughriders (PDL) - Started and played 90 minutes in Long Island's 0-0 draw with Westchester.
Yomby William - Richmond (USL2) - Missed this week's 7-2 win over Bermuda due to his red card suspension.
John Wilson - Charleston - Did not dress in Charleston's 1-0 loss to Carolina.
David Winner - Dressed or did not play in Austin's 2-1 loss to Portland.

International
Chris Konopka - Longford Town - Ireland - Longford Town's game with Athlone Town was moved to the 21st.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesunds FK - Norway - Came off the bench and played 29 minutes in Aalesunds' 1-1 draw with Lillestrøm.
Antti Sumiala - FC Porin Palloilijat - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in PoPa's 4-0 win over PS Kemi.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Did not play in Quindío's 4-1 win over Deportes Tolima in the opening game of the Clausura.

Hercegfalvi Signed

Word out of Hungary is that the Wizards' rumored new forward, Zoltán Hercegfalvi, has signed with the team. The only thing that Hercegfalvi is waiting on is his work permit and then the deal shall take effect. According to the Hungarian media, the deal is an 18 month long loan, taking him through the end of the 2010 season. The Wizards also apparently have the option to buy him once the load deal is up.

Apparently the team will officially announce the deal once his work permit is through.

Allocation List

The MLS transfer window is about to open up and that means rumors of players coming to MLS or coming back to MLS. Today, Steven Goff had rumors of 3 former MLS players returning to MLS. Danny Szetela, DaMarcus Beasley, and Stern John are all being rumored to returning to MLS. With these 3 potentially returning, the MLS allocation list could see a shake up. Four teams have already used their allocation this season, Seattle used theirs on Kasey Keller, Toronto traded their spot to Houston so the Dynamo could get Felix Garcia, San Jose got Bobby Convey, and LA grabbed Gregg Berhalter. With these moves, the Wizards are likely in 4th on the list, and the full allocation list probably looks something like this now. So the Wizards potentially have the chance to grab one of these players if Dallas, DC, or Colorado pass on 1 of these players (if they sign with MLS).

Honestly if this all holds true, I'm not overly interested in any of the 3, except maybe Szetela. The Wizards have already done plenty of work on the offense lately and neither Beasley or John would help enough to make them worth an allocation. I'd rather see the Wizards use their allocation on a defensive player.

Cauldron News (Games and Roadtrips)

With the Wizards having this coming weekend off, there isn't a whole lot of Wizards news. There is, though, news coming from the Wizards supporter's group, the Hillcrest Syndicate. The Syndicate has news about the upcoming "Beckham game" as well as plans for a road trip down to Dallas to watch the Wizards play.

First, the Beckham game, coming up a week from Saturday.

Hillcrest Syndicate has some discounted Cauldron tickets available for the LA Galaxy game, on Saturday, July 25th. HS will be offering single game tickets, as well as a two game package which includes the August 29th game against Real Salt Lake. Anyone interested in more information can visit www.kccauldron.com/store or send the Syndicate treasurer an email at treasurer@kccauldron.com.

The other news is the road trip the Cauldron is playing for the weekend of August 1st down in Dallas to watch the Wizards take on FC Dallas. For more information on that trip, see this flier (click on it for a bigger image).

2009 Wishes Mid-Year Review

The year is over half over already, and that means time to look at my Wishes for 2009 and how they've done so far.

1. Ground breaking on the stadium - The mall is down now and we actually have some renderings, but we still have not seen an official ground breaking for the building of the stadium. Hopefully we see ground breaking soon, or 2011 is going to be a bigger stretch than it already is.

2. 10-15 goal scorer for the Wizards - The Wizards may actually pull this one off this year. Josh Wolff is the current team leader with 6 goals a little over half way through the season. Of course the majority of the Wizards goals have come from 3 players (Wolff 6, Davy Arnaud 5, Claudio Lopez 4). That's 15 of the Wizards 19 goals this season. Hopefully Wolff is able to hit the 10 goal mark, but hopefully the rest of the team picks up the scoring a little bit.

3. US qualifies for World Cup 2010 - The US is certainly in a good position to qualify. Currently in second place half way through the Hexagional with 10 points, the US definitely has an inside track to qualifying. Sixteen points will likely be enough for the US to be off to South Africa for the World Cup. That means in the US's remaining 5 games (@ Mexico, vs El Salvador, @ TnT, @ Honduras, vs Costa Rica) the US needs 2 wins to probably qualify for the World Cup. Not an easy task, but certainly doable, especially if the US play as they did in the last few games of the Confederations Cup.

4. US does well at the Confederations Cup - If you'd have told me at the beginning of the year that the US would finish second at the tournament, I would have been estatic. And while I am very happy with the performance in the second half of the tournament, seeing how the US finished second is disappointing. Sure it was Brazil in the final, but up 2-0 you would hope the US could hold on. Still, though, a big win over Spain in the semifinals, and a nice win over Egypt are two good things to take from the competition heading back into World Cup qualifying.

5. Some Silverware - The Wizards are out of SuperLiga and the US Open Cup, meaning their only chances for silverware is winning the Supporter's Shield or MLS Cup. Right now the Wizards don't look likely to win either of those, but hopefully the Wizards turn it around.

6. Lopez has a 2009 season like the end of the 2008 season - Maybe not exactly as I'd wanted. His stats have been decent enough, scoring 5 goals in all competitions and tied for the team lead in assists with 4. Still his actual play hasn't been the greatest. With the way the season is going, though, Lopez is on his way to 10 goals and 8 assits, which honestly wouldn't be a horrible season from the Argentine.

7. A blowout home win - Hasn't happened yet. We were close against New England at home earlier this season, when I honestly didn't feel like New England ever really threatened, especially after they went down a man. But I still want a blow out. I want to see at least a 3 goal win at home this season.

Sunday After Stats

We're a whole lot of stats at the midweek game against Seattle, but plenty of stats from last night's game against New England.

In the 54th minute, Josh Wolff went over the 10,000 minute mark in all competitions for the Wizards. He's the 14th Wizards player to hit that mark. He finished the game with 10,031 minutes played.

In the 42nd minute, Wolff moved past Sean Bowers into 14th place in minutes played in all competitions for the Wizards.

With his start tonight, Wolff tied Sasha Victorine for 17th place on the most league appearances for the Wizards with his 106th appearance.

Herculez Gomez started his 75th career MLS game.

With his 5 minutes of playing time last night, Abe Thompson hit the 5000 minute mark in all competitions in his MLS career.

With his start last night, Kevin Hartman broke his tie with Digital Takawira for 20th place on the list for the most MLS starts for the Wizards. It was Hartman's 76th straight start for the Wizards in league play.

In the 56th minute, Hartman passed Digital Takawira to move into 20th place on the list of most league minutes played for the Wizards. Hartman finished the game with 6840 minutes played.

Chances But No Finishes

The Wizards created numerous chances last night, tying a season high with 11 shots on goal, but could not beat Revolution goalkeeper, Matt Reis. The 0-0 result gave the Wizards a point, but with that many shots on goal, you would have hoped that KC could have put one of them away.

It was actually New England that started the game stronger, and almost capitalized. Less than a minute in, Kenny Mansally found himself free on the right side of the Wizards defense after a cross, but his shot was stopped by Kevin Hartman's foot and Hartman covered up the rebound. The game went back and forth for much of the first half. Michael Harrington had a decent look after a give and go, but couldn't get his shot over Reis. Claudio Lopez had a great opportunity to make it 1-0 KC when he took advantage of a poor back pass by New England, getting 1v1 with Reis, but Lopez couldn't lift his chip over the Revolution goalkeeper. Josh Wolff almost took advantage of a similar situation later in the half, but could not catch up to the header back by the Revolution defender.

In the second half, KC continued to threaten, as Jack Jewsbury had a couple chances that were both saved by Reis. New England had the best chance of the second half in the 75th minute when Edgaras Jankauskas touched a cross back across the face of goal to Nico Colaluca. Hartman had been pulled to the far post, so Colaluca had the full net to shot at, but put it wide of the near post. In the 79th, Wolff forced Reis into a good save after he flicked a cross on net. In the 81st, the game changed when Lance Watson was given a straight red for a tackle on Colaluca. The tackle didn't seem to be a red card worthy tackle, and even the Revolution announcers (who are notoriously bias for the Revolution) thought the tackle should have only warrented a yellow.

In the end, neither team found net and the teams each settled for a point. For the Wizards, they now earn a nice week off after having played 7 games in the last 20 days, 5 of which were on the road. The rest will give them time to work out the small knocks and hopefully get some of the injured players back to health.

Wizards Man of the Match - Aaron Hohlbein - Hohlbein did a good job yesterday of shutting down the Revolution attack. Hartman only had to make 3 saves, and outside of the first, the saves were routine. Hohlbein was able to Jankauskas fairly well in the second half as well, limiting him to really only one dangerous opportunity.

Player Ratings - Hartman 6, Watson 4, Hohlbein 6, McKenzie 6, Besler 5, Harrington 5, Hirsig 5, Jewsbury 4, Gomez 4, Wolff 5, Lopez 5. Subs Kraus 4, Morsink NR, Thompson NR.

Arnaud and Espinoza Score in Gold Cup

The Wizards couldn't score last night in their game against the Revolution, but two Wizards players did score last night. Davy Arnaud scored the United States' first goal in their 2-2 draw with Haiti, receiving a pass from Stuart Holden that Arnaud put away to the Haitian goalkeeper's near post. Roger Espinoza also scored, scoring the second goal of the night for Honduras in their 4-0 win over Grenada. Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad also played for the US last night, going the full 90 minutes as captain for the US team.

So 2 goals and a captaincy for the Wizards 3 Gold Cup players last night, not a bad night individually for those players.

Hercegfalvi News

I stopped by practice today, but was a little late to see Zoltán Hercegfalvi practicing for the Wizards today, but Thad over at The Back Post was earlier and got some photos of Hercegfalvi practicing with the team in a small scrimmage. As you can see by the photo below, Hercegfalvi will be wearing number 20 for the Wizards. And as Thad mentions he was headed in to get his photo taken in uniform, which means that a deal is likely done. photo courtesy of Thad Bell

Again Against the Revolution

For the third time in less than a month, the Wizards will take on the New England Revolution tomorrow afternoon as part of a triple header with the Gold Cup. The Wizards game kicks off at 3pm central time. New England is starting to get healthier, as they may have Steve Ralston back for this game. The Revs though, will still be without forward Taylor Twellman and midfielder Sharlie Joseph.

Kansas City comes into this game winless in 7 games in all competitions (the Open Cup game against Minnesota is officially a draw). Their last win was against New England at home on the 13th of June, the team's last league game before SuperLiga started. The Wizards, though, have usually done well when they travel up to Boston. Since 2000, the Wizards are 8-1-5 (W-L-D) in New England. That includes the Wizards recent SuperLiga draw up there. As for the Wizards lineup, I'd expect the lineup to be what we saw against Houston last weekend. It doesn't seem likely that the Wizards will make any changes. After this game, the Wizards have 14 days off before their next game.

Hartman
Watson - Hohlbein - McKenzie - Besler
Hirsig
Harrington - Jewsbury - Gomez
Wolff - Lopez

I am still holding out some hope that if either Davy Arnaud or Jimmy Conrad aren't in the US 18 for their game later in the day that they'll play for the Wizards and help the team get out of the funk they've been in recently.

Key Match Up - Jack Jewsbury vs Jeff Larentowicz - Jewsbury is likely to play the more advanced midfield role tomorrow meaning he'll be matched up against Larentowicz, who has become a fairly good player over the last few years. It should be a good match up to watch.

PREDICTION - The Wizards have a decent history at New England over the years and hopefully they can continue that tomorrow. With the way the team has been playing though, it could be a long day, especially with the Revolution starting to get healthy and Ralston likely to return to the lineup. A draw seems the likely result for the Wizards tomorrow.

KC - 1 (Lopez)
NE - 1 (Ralston)

Dive-Gate Continues

The fall out from the Wizards departure from the US Open Cup continues. Today at the Wizards weekly press conference, Coach Onalfo made his feelings about the game and the deciding penalty known. Onalfo pulled no punches in the discussion either calling Seattle striker, Fredy Montero a punk and said "it was devastating to get the penalty call in the 90th minute. It was a blatant dive. For me as a MLS coach, it was the worst I've felt in terms of being cheated of a game."

The quotes have been picked up over in the Northwest and not surprisingly, Sounders fans are taking exception to the comments. The debate picked up with the release yesterday of this photo of the penalty call by Rick Morrison. Thad over at The Back Post gave a good break down of this photo and what it could and couldn't mean in his write up on the game, giving his break down from the perspective of someone who has taken many action photos. I have to agree with his comment that Montero was already on his way down by the time the contact was initiated. In the photo linked above, Montero has already gone airborne to do his swan dive. If he was running his trailing leg would have been moving forward in a running motion.

There's also the question of whether or not Montero would have actually reached the ball anyways before it went out of bounds. Watching the highlights again I don't see how, even at full speed, Montero was going to reach that ball before it went out of bounds.

In the end, the play and Onalfo's comments should serve as bulletin board material for both sides when the two teams meet in Kansas City in October. As Onalfo said, "I was furious after the game and I told the guys to use that energy or anger down the road." This result (along with the first game against Seattle earlier this season) will only add to the competitiveness on the field in October.

Juniors Win Final Youth Cup Game

The Wizards Juniors team pulled off a win in their final game in Colorado as part of the MLS Youth Cup. The Juniors defeated the Colorado Rapids Juniors team 5-1 yesterday. For a full recap of the tournament, check out the Rapids official blog, Undercurrent.

New Player for KC Part 2

So I have been doing a little research since I posted about Thad's post on a potential new player for KC. I ended up checking the Wizards wikipedia, and on the current roster, there is a new player listed, Zoltán Hercegfalvi out of Hungary, someone updated Hercegflavi's wikipeida page yesterday with the information that he was joining the Wizards. Finding that information I went and googled for articles about Hercegfalvi joining KC. I came across this one from the first of July about Hercegflavi coming to Kansas City for a medical. It appears that the deal maybe some sort of loan, although google translate isn't always helpful. Either way it looks like it's a year and a half contract according to that article. It also says that Hercegflavi had other interest from Germany and Greece. Hercegflavi has spent the last few years playing for Budapest Honvéd FC, where he appeared 51 times, scoring 13 goals, according to wikipedia.

We'll see if this is the same player once it's made official, if it is.

New Player for KC?

I was unable to make practice today due to other commitments, but Thad over at The Back Post was and has news of a new player out at practice for the Wizards today. No news on who the player is, but could it be the lower division Spanish player or the Hungarian player mentioned in a Star article recently?

Espinoza in the Gold Cup

Wizards midfielder, Roger Espinoza was the only Wizards player that dressed tonight for his national team as Espinoza's Honduran side played the United States. Espinoza once again started for Los Catrachos tonight, playing 70 minutes before being subbed out in the USA's 2-0 win. US Wizards' players, Jimmy Conrad and Davy Arnaud did not dress for the game.

Former Wizards Update (UPDATED)

First update for this week's former Wizards update. There will be some updates as Michael Todd and Long Island play tonight, as well I'll try to get the minutes that Antti Sumiala played in his team's Finnish Cup game today. Huge week for former Wizard, Byron Carmichael, who scored 6 goals in his team's 3 games this week.

MLS
Nick Garcia - Toronto FC - Toronto was off this past week.
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Out with a broken leg.
Will Hesmer - Columbus Crew - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 1-1 draw with DC.
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Came off the bench and played 26 minutes in LA's 1-0 win over New England.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - Started and played 90 minutes in RSL's 1-1 draw with San Jose. It also came out this week that once Movsisyan's contract is up this winter, he'll be going to Denmark to play with Randers FC.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Did not dress in Chicago's 2-1 win over Colorado.
Carey Talley - Chivas USA - Chivas had this week off.
Shavar Thomas - Chivas USA - Chivas had this week off.
Dave van den Bergh - FC Dallas - Started and played 90 minutes, recording an assist in Dallas' 2-1 win over New York.
Sasha Victorine - Chivas USA - Chivas had this past week off.
Tyson Wahl - Seattle Sounders FC - No league game this past week, but Wahl did start and play 90 minutes in Seattle's 1-0 win over KC in the US Open Cup.

USL
Stephen Armstrong - Charleston - Started and played 45 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Montreal. Came off the bench and played 26 minutes in Charleston's 4-0 loss to Houston in the US Open Cup.
Vicente Arze - Vancouver - Vancouver did not play this week.
Byron Carmichael - Ocean City Barons (PDL) - Came off the bench and played 35 minutes, scoring 3 goals in Ocean City's 5-1 win over Newark. Started and played 90 minutes, scoring 1 goal in Ocean City's 1-1 draw with Ottawa. Started and played 90 minutes for Ocean City and scored 2 goals in Ocean City's 3-2 win over New Jersey.
Ryan Caugherty - Austin - Came off the bench and played 27 minutes in Austin's 1-0 win over Cleveland. Came off the bench and played 28 minutes in Austin's 4-1 loss to Rochester.
Kevin Friedland - Minnesota - Dressed but did not play in Minnesota's 1-1 draw with Portland.
AJ Godbolt - Austin - Did not dress for either of Austin's games this past week.
Tom Gray - Pittsburgh (USL2) - Started and played 76 minutes in Pittsburgh's 2-1 win over Bermuda on Thursday. Started and played 81 minutes in Pittsburgh's 1-0 loss to Bermuda on the 4th.
Andrew Gregor - Rochester - Dressed but did not play in Rochester's 4-1 win over Austin. Started and played 90 minutes scoring a penalty kick goal in Rochester's 2-1 win over Wilmington in the US Open Cup.
Willy Guadarrama - Austin Aztex U-23 (PDL) - Did not dress for Austin's 4-0 loss to Laredo.
Pat Healey - Baltimore (USL2) - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in CPB's 3-1 loss to Harrisburg.
Amir Lowery - Carolina - Carolina did not play this week.
Pete Marino - Treasure Coast Galleons (FESL) - Did not play this week.
Ryan McMahen - Austin - Started and played 90 minutes in Austin's 1-0 win over Cleveland. Started and played 62 minutes in Austin's 4-1 loss to Rochester.
Ryan Pore - Portland - Came off the bench and played 33 minutes in Portland's 1-1 draw with Minnesota.
Eric Quill - Houston Leones (PDL) - Did not dress in Houston's 2-0 loss to West Texas.
Michael Todd - Long Island Roughriders (PDL) - Started and played 90 minutes scoring the lone goal in Long Island's 1-0 win over Brooklyn.
Yomby William - Richmond (USL2) - Started and played 43 minutes, recording two assists before being ejected in Ricmond's 3-0 win over Charlotte.
John Wilson - Charleston - Came off the bench and played 9 minutes in Charleston's 1-0 win over Montreal. Started and played 90 minutes in Charleston's 4-0 loss to Houston in the US Open Cup.
David Winner - Austin - On the bench for both of Austin's games this past week (1-0 over Cleveland, 4-1 loss to Rochester).

International
Chris Konopka - Longford Town - Ireland - Longford lost 2-1 to Waterford United.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesunds FK - Norway - Started and played 90 minutes in Aalesunds 3-2 win over Vålerenga.
Antti Sumiala - FC Porin Palloilijat - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Popa's 2-2 draw with FC Viikingit. Came on as a sub in Popa's 3-1 win over PK-35 in the Finnish Cup.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - The Clausura season has not started yet.

Sunday After Stats (Wednesday Edition)

Not many stats after last night's game against Seattle.

Jack Jewsbury's 175th appearance in all competitions for the Wizards.

This was the first US Open Cup game (or qualifier) since 2006 that has not gone to extra time for the Wizards, a span of 5 games.

One that I missed from last Saturday's game against Houston.

Josh Wolff against Houston started his 200th game in all competitions in his MLS career.

Wizards Bow Out of Open Cup

In a move that shocked me, the Wizards played mostly starters last night in Seattle against the Sounders in the US Open Cup. Unfortunately that was not enough, as the Wizards fell to the Sounders 1-0 on an 89th minute penalty kick. There was no video broadcast of the game last night, only an audio cast to follow online through the Sounders website.

Based on the broadcast, it sounded like the Sounders took the game to the Wizards for most of the night, creating many chances and half chances but not able to find the net until late in the game, when Kevin Hartman was called for bringing down Fredy Montero as he tried to round the Wizards keeper. Sebastien Le Toux stepped up and put the penalty kick away to give the Sounders the goal they needed. Kansas City on the other hand seemed to struggle once again to produce chances offensively. This issue can't continue if the Wizards hope to do anything in the league (the only competition left).

The Sounders goal was not without controversy though, as the Wizards protested at the time and after the game, with goalkeeping coach, John Pascarella having to be restrained by the fourth official as the picture below by Rick Morrison with GOALSeattle.com shows. Post game, Onalfo had some harsh words about the call made by Abbey Okulaja. Onalfo makes comments to the previous times that Okulaja has played a major role in a Wizards game. Also on the site I just linked with the quotes from Onalfo is some highlights of last night's game from the Sounders website, including the tackle that led to the penalty kick. You can make your own opinion on the call, but for me the call is iffy at best and at worse should have been a yellow to Montero for a dive. Montero takes the ball into the box and as Hartman comes out, Montero tries to touch the ball around him. His touch though goes well ahead of him, he had no chance to get to that ball before it went out of bounds. On top of it looks like there was little to no contact made by Hartman, backing up the statement he made that he didn't even touch Montero.

Wizards Man of the Match - Rauwshan McKenzie - It's hard to pick a man of the match in a game you can't see, but based on comments made by the Sounders broadcasters last night, McKenzie had himself a very good game, stopping multiple Sounder attacks throughout the night.

Player Ratings - Without seeing the full game I'm not going to do full ratings for this game.

Juniors Struggle

The Wizards Juniors have struggled at this year's addition of the MLS Youth Cup. According to posters on bigsoccer, the Juniors lost all 3 group games (the only team to lose all 3 games). The Juniors lost their opening game on July 4th to Houston 2-0. In their second game, the Juniors lost to FC Dallas 6-2 (FC Dallas is in the Championship game of the tournament). In their final group game, the Juniors lost 1-0 to DC United (United also made the tournament finals). The Juniors will now play Chicago tomorrow in one of the consolation games.

Back in the Open Cup

The Wizards continue their schedule of playing 2 games in a week again tomorrow night when they play the Seattle Sounders at Starfire Sports Complex outside Seattle. Seattle had this past weekend off from league play, so they come into the game tomorrow night more rested than the Wizards. The Sounders last game was their 3rd round Open Cup game against the Portland Timbers. The Wizards are likely to see a very similar lineup to that which the Sounders put out against the Timbers, which was a mix of starters and back ups.

As for the Wizards, they come off their 1-0 loss to the Dynamo on Saturday. With the game this past Saturday and a trip up to New England coming up next weekend, Coach Onalfo is likely to play a lineup similar to the one he put out against Minnesota last week. Once again, though, due to injuries and call ups, KC is going to have to play a few starters to help fill the numbers for the team.

Pardo
Watson - Leathers - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Harrington - Zusi - Gomez
Kraus - Thompson

PREDICTION - I want the Open Cup, I voted as such in the poll up on my blog. That said, I don't see KC getting the result tomorrow. Onalfo has decided to focus directly on the league and leave the Open Cup as an afterthought. It doesn't help the Wizards efforts that Seattle was off this past weekend, which will likely allow them to play more starters than the Wizards will. Also factor in that KC is the only team that has beaten Seattle at home this year and I just can't see KC pulling this one out.

KC - 0
Seattle 2 - (King, Le Toux)

Midseason Report

The Wizards season is now half over with their 15th league game last Saturday night against Houston. I wrote a break down of the first half of the season over on Bigsoccer that I'll repost here. The Wizards are 5-6-4 for a total of 19 points. This is one point behind last year's pace at this time (5-5-5). We've scored 19 goals while allowing 18. Good news is that we've scored 5 more goals than this time last year while allowing the same number. Also our leading scorer at this point in the season at least isn't a defender.

KC is 3-3-2 at home this season. They've already lost 1 more game at CAB than they did all of last season. Obviously CAB isn't as big a home field advantage as it was last year. .500 soccer at home is going to get you no where near the playoffs. KC has lost 13 points at home already this season (3 on a loss, 2 on a draw). They lost 14 at home all of last season. Currently the Wizards are 2-3-2 on the road, they've at least equaled their win total on the road from last season already and are only 3 points behind the team's road point total for all of last season (11 points in 08 on the road).

Half way through the season, we've also already lost 2 season series against conference opponents, losing the season series to both Toronto and Columbus with our early meetings. As for the other conference opponents, we hold the advantage on NY and Chicago for winning at home and drawing on the road respectively. We currently have the advantage on New England, although we still have to play them twice in New England, where we have technically done historically well. With DC we're probably trailing in that series, because they're our "rivalry game" that's at home, meaning we play them twice at CAB. We already gave that up with our home draw to them.

And here are my midseason grades for the Wizards players.

Davy Arnaud - B - Davy is second on the team in goals with 5, he's shown an ability to strike from distance regularly now which is something the Wizards always seem to lack. But his one assist this year is concerning for a player who's spent plenty of time this season as an attacking midfielder.

Matt Besler - B+ - The Wizards first round pick has adjusted well to the level of play at the pro level and is showing well since taking over the left back slot. No major mistakes that have cost the Wizards games and has shown an ability to get forward from time to time.

Jimmy Conrad - B+ - Conrad is having another solid, if not unspectacular season this year, no goals, but has been a rock in the middle of defense. His grade got a bump from a B to a B+ after seeing how much his lack of leadership in the middle effected the defense against Houston.

Adam Cristman - INC - Almost back from his injury, but still has no played since moving from New England.

Roger Espinoza - C+ - Espinoza has shown continued improvement this year, he's smarter with his play and able to keep his cool better as well. He's also another player that's willing to take a shot when it comes up.

Herculez Gomez - C+ - Gomez has had a good season so far in the midfield, but his contribution on offense hasn't been what most people expected out of him after having a full preseason to train.

Michael Harrington - C- - Harrington lost his starting spot at left back due to injury and has been unable to get it back. Since then, Harrington has played on both sides of the midfield. He continues to not look extremely comfortable on the right side of the field.

Kevin Hartman - B+ - Early in the season there were a few goals that I thought Hartman could have done better with, but overall this season Hartman has probably been the Wizards most consistent players, continuing to prove that he is one of the best goalkeepers in league history.

Santiago Hirsig - B - Has been a calming influence in the midfield for the Wizards. While he might not contribute as much offensively as people would like, his ability to control the ball and slow the game down is a nice skill to have.

Aaron Hohlbein - B - Hohlbein has taken the starting role next to Conrad and has done a decent job with it. Still, without Conrad, Hohlbein showed to struggle with leading the middle of defense.

Jack Jewsbury - B- - Jewsbury has been consistent this year, he has scored yet, but he is tied with Claudio Lopez for the team lead in assists with 4.

Michael Kraus - C+ - After making his first MLS appearance for the Wizards in the playoffs last year, Kraus has been a late game sub for much of this season, scoring his first goal against Colorado early in the season.

Eric Kronberg - INC - On his way recovering from shoulder surgery, will likely not get any first team matches this season though.

Jonathan Leathers - D - Leathers started the first two games this season, both Wizards losses, and hasn't played in a league game since. He played in the Open Cup last week in his first first team appearance since then.

Claudio Lopez - B - 4 goals and 4 assists for the former DP. Lopez has shown flashes at time and at times been frustrating. Lopez himself has shown his own frustration many times when players don't see the same thing he does on plays.

Matt Marquess - INC - Only minutes so far this season was last week in the Open Cup.

Rauwshan McKenzie - D+ - Struggled greatly against Santos Laguna in the SuperLiga when he replaced Conrad. Looked ok against Minnesota in the Open Cup. And had some moments against Houston. Will get plenty more time to prove himself the rest of this month.

Kurt Morsink - INC - One league minute played and 120 in the Open Cup not enough to grade the midfielder.

Chance Myers - INC - The closest of the Wizards long term injury issues to returning, Myers still hasn't played yet.

Boris Pardo - INC - Looked decent enough in the Open Cup against Minnesota, but one game is not enough to earn a grade.

Nelson Pizarro - INC - Was waived back in May.

Kevin Souter - INC - Has only played 61 minutes so far this season, and is now out with injury after a sports hernia surgery.

Abe Thompson - C- - Finally scored for the Wizards in the Open Cup last week, but still struggles when in league games. He is still the Wizards only target striker option currently healthy though.

Lance Watson - B+ - Watson has been a pleasent surprise at right back. While he might not be the long term answer there, he's certainly shown that he belongs on the team and has earned his starting spot.

Josh Wolff - B - Wolff has cooled off since scoring 6 goals in 6 games around the middle of the first past of the season. He's still the Wizards leading scorer but hasn't found net since getting that red card against Chivas USA.

Graham Zusi - C- - The Wizards other rookie had a very good preseason for the Wizards, but his play during the season has left a little to be desired. He shows plenty of skill and potential, but he's struggled at times during his rookie season.

June Player of the Month

I'm a little late on getting this out, but with the month of June over, it's time to look at who won the man of the month award for the month of June. June was not a great month for the Wizards, as they only technically won one game (US Open Cup game officially goes down as a draw). Kansas City scored 8 goals in the month, while conceding 10 goals.

Davy Arnaud, Aaron Hohlbein, Claudio Lopez, Michael Kraus, Abe Thompson, and Rauwshan McKenzie all scored for the Wizards in June, along with two own goals. Lopez and Jimmy Conrad both picked up an assist in the month.

When it comes down to it, this wasn't a great month for the Wizards and picking a player of the month was fairly difficult. In the end, I this month's award is going to a player that was involved directly in at least 3 of the goals for the Wizards in June but didn't get credit on any of them. That player is Herculez Gomez. Gomez had a good month, playing both as a starter and a substitute in different games. He helped start the play that led to Arnaud's goal against New England, along with setting up the own goal in that game with his strong run. His crossing in the New England SuperLiga game changed the game completely once he'd come on, again playing in the ball that led to the own goal. In a month that was lacking a real stand out performer, Gomez is getting the nod.

Sunday After Stats

Rauwshan McKenzie's first MLS appearance.

Kevin Hartman's 75th league appearance and start for the Wizards.

With his 75th start, Hartman ties Digital Takawira for 20th on the list of most MLS starts for the Wizards.

From Hillcrest Road, Hartman made his 318th regular-season appearance in MLS play, moving into 2nd place behind only New England’s Steve Ralston.

Jack Jewsbury's 111th start in league play for the Wizards, breaking a tie with Jose Burciaga for 10th on that list.

Josh Wolff's 98th start in league play for the Wizards, breaking a tie with Sasha Victorine for 15th on that list.

It was also Wolff's 121st appearance in all competitions for the Wizards, breaking a tie with Sean Bowers for 16th place on that list.

Another Loss

It's been almost a month now since the Wizards won a game (the game against Minnesota technically goes down as a draw), and against opponents not from USL-1 they've managed to score a grand total of 2 goals in that time period. Last night's performance against Houston was just the latest in this current trouble for the Wizards. Unlike some previous games, the Wizards actually had some good opportunities to at least salvage a point.

In the first half, KC created some decent chances, with Josh Wolff going close on a header and just missing on a low cross. Unfortunately it was the Dynamo that struck first blood when Kei Kamara got away from Rauwshan McKenzie and headed home a cross to give the Dynamo an early 1-0 lead. KC got their feet back under them, and McKenzie almost made up for the defensive mistake later in the half, but his header from a Claudio Lopez free kick went just wide of the net.

Into the second half, the Wizards still pushed the game, but were struggling to get good chances. Houston should have caught the Wizards on the counter early in the half, but Dominic Oduro shot right into Kevin Hartman's gut and it stayed at 1-0. KC continued to attack with Michael Harrington, Wolff, Lopez, and others all get at least half chances to score the goal. Michael Kraus had a great opportunity off of a corner but couldn't get high enough to direct his header on goal. The best of the chances probably fell to Wolff when his header bounced up and hit the elbow of the of the goal before bouncing away. Lopez had one last chance to salvage a point for the Wizards in second half stoppage time from a free kick. Unfortunately Lopez hit the outside of the net and the final whistle was blown seconds later.

Once again the Wizards struggled to score a goal, since the New England league game, the Wizards two goals outside the Open Cup have come from an own goal and a free kick, during the run of play they're not finishing their chances. They can't rely on the odd free kick every time they go out, they need to convert some chances.

Wizards Man of the Match - Santiago Hirsig - I thought Hirsig had a strong game in the middle containing Brad Davis who was playing in the center of midfield. Whether it was because Davis is normally on the wing or Hirsig's play, but Davis did a lot of drifting out to the wings last night.

Player Ratings - Hartman 5, Watson 4, Hohlbein 4, McKenzie 4, Besler 5, Harrington 4, Hirsig 5, Jewsbury 5, Gomez 4, Wolff 4, Lopez 4. Subs Thompson 5, Kraus 4