Return to Dallas

Dallas was not a friendly place for the Wizards last year, the trip last year saw the team got destroyed 6-0 and it was the end of the line for Curt Onalfo as the Wizards coach as he was fired the next week. KC now returns to Dallas, again not playing well, with the added bonus of a former player in goal for Dallas. Former Wizard, Kevin Hartman, will likely be in net for Dallas, and former Wizards tend to do well in their first game against their old side. Along with Hartman, Dallas still has Jeff Cunningham who is usually a pain in the Wizards side. So even though he only has 4 goals so far this season he's someone that always does well against KC, even before his hattrick last year.

The Wizards have made their first move in their attempt to improve their poor performance this season bringing in Shavar Thomas and waiving Pablo Escobar. Whether that will give the team the boost they need or not is yet to be seen. The problems on the offensive end of the field are not going to go away just because the team brought in another central defender. I have a feeling we're going to see our sixth different central defensive pairing between Jimmy Conrad and Thomas. I also think that we could see the return of Roger Espinoza to the back line as well, with Espinoza back from the World Cup.

Nielsen
Harrington - Conrad - Thomas - Espinoza
Zusi - Rocastle - Jewsbury
Kamara - Wolff - Smith

Key Match Up - Jimmy Conrad/Shavar Thomas vs Jeff Cunningham - Cunningham scored a total of 4 goals against the Wizards last year, including a hattrick down in Dallas, the Wizards ability to shut him down will go a long way to helping the Wizards get something out of this trip.

PREDICTION - I think confidence of every single Wizards fan is at an incredibly low point, and I join them with that. My confidence in how this team is doing is at lower point than I think it was all of last season. After the trip last year to Dallas I wasn't too confident in this trip. Combine that with it being the first game against Hartman for Dallas. Things overall just aren't looking up for KC, and I don't see a trip to Dallas as the way to improve it as KC only has 1 win in the last 5 trips to Dallas. Maybe the team will surprise, but I don't expect it.

KC - 0
FCD - 3 (Cunningham 2, Ferreira)