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)