Did the Wizards do enough to win the game today? Probably not, but the way the team played, they didn't deserve to lose today in Seattle. KC was only a few minutes away from getting out of Seattle with a 0-0 draw when Pablo Escobar and Matt Besler fell asleep on a throw in while Brad Evans moved about 10 yards down the line to throw the ball in and Michael Fucito finished the chance.
Overall it wasn't the pretty attacking game many people thought we'd see, although it started pretty well for Seattle as Pat Noonan went just wide, and Fredy Montero had a shot well saved by Jimmy Nielsen. From there KC started to get more of the possession, but with much of that possession they didn't get very many good scoring opportunities, the best came when Davy Arnaud picked off a hospital ball from Peter Vagenas, Arnaud fed Ryan Smith who broke in behind the Seattle defense, but Jhon Kennedy Hurtado made a very nice challenge late that knocked the ball out for a corner. Also in the first half, KC lost defender Jimmy Conrad to an injury, as he was replaced by Matt Besler.
KC continued to hold the possession in the second half as well and had another great chance to take the lead through Davy Arnaud who was played in on a nice through ball by Josh Wolff after a 1-2 with Jack Jewsbury. Kasey Keller was quick off his line, cut down Arnaud's angle, and knocked the ball out for a corner. As the game wore on, it looked less and less likely that a team would pick up a goal for the win, but then came the late goal by Fucito. After the goal, KC almost responded right back as Chance Myers got played in behind the Sounders defense, but his shot was well saved by Keller to preserve the win for Seattle.
Wizards Man of the Match - Jack Jewsbury - Did well in the midfield, holding the ball and playing simple balls for players, some good passing by Jewsbury set up a few of the chances that the Wizards did had. Until the goal was scored I was thinking Pablo Escobar on his debut or Michael Harrington were man of match, but their lack of communication on the goal lost them both a little bit.
Player Stats - Nielsen 6, Harrington 5, Escobar 5, Conrad 5, Espinoza 5, Jewsbury 7, Auvray 5, Arnaud 6, Smith 6, Wolff 5, Kamara 5. Subs Besler 5, Bunbury 5, Myers NR
man was this a tough loss to swallow. We weren't pretty but deserved a point playing in a tough place (35,000 plus fans!) on a CRAPPY surface. Dang....
ReplyDeleteThings still looking up though.
That was a tough one to lose. The Wizards should have came out of there with at least a tie.
ReplyDeleteWhile we beat up on DC Unitied - it has turned out DC stinks and everyone is beating up on them. We've only scored 1 goal since then. Our guys need to put it in the net. The defense may prevent you from losing, but the offense wins it.
Some might not count the US Open game - "a lot of non-starters" - but those guys need to be able to score when the starters are not able.
The Wizards are really going to have to step up when the Galaxy come to town.
I was still encouraged. On the road, in that environment, we dictated long stretches and were at least trying to go forward instead of what we did last year.
ReplyDeleteThe chances we created weren't the greatest, but we still had a couple good ones, and limited theres to 3 brain farts from Escobar. Espinoza was for the most part good. Only one or two glaring errors.
Let's hope it's not too serious for Jimmy.
terrible mental lapse there at the end...
ReplyDeleteThough subs came on kinda late, Wolff and Kamara looked gassed 10 mins before they came out.
Center of the field has to pass better, with the formation that we are playing its bad when the CM's pass the ball to the wrong team...