Yet Another Loss

At least if you look at the final result it doesn't look as bad as last year's game down in Dallas. KC lost another game, their 7th of the season, and 4th in their last 6 games. We can talk about how the penalty kick called on Roger Espinoza was a little soft as Marvin Chavez was already going down as he was attempting to try a bicycle kick on the play, but overall KC didn't deserve much of anything from that game. The first half was marred by some very poor play, some of the worst this season, as KC had trouble making it out of their own defensive half, turning the ball over constantly. Each player it seemed had 3 to 4 turnovers in the half. The Wizards got burned consistently down the line, with both Michael Harrington and Espinoza both struggling to deal with Brek Shea and Chavez down the wings. Due to some poor finishing and good saves by Jimmy Nielsen there were no goals allowed by the Wizards in the first half. With the team's inability to get out of the defensive end, former Wizards goalkeeper, Kevin Hartman was relegated to basically a spectator, as he touched the ball maybe 4 times the entire half, mostly to collect for goal kicks.

In the second half, the Wizards switched back to their 4-3-3 that they've used most of the season after starting in a 4-4-2 and KC all of the sudden started to have more possession of the ball and were finally able to make some threats on the Dallas as Chance Myers and Jack Jewsbury had some chances. The direction of play had tilted a little towards the Wizards, but in the 57th minute, Espinoza was judged to have pulled down Chavez in the box, even though Chavez was already going down to attempt a bike. David Ferreira converted the penalty, sending Nielsen the wrong way, and Dallas was up 1-0. KC continued to push the game after that and continued to create some decent chances. Second half substitute, Graham Zusi, should have done better after his was played in on goal with a flick on header, but Zusi could not get the ball down fast enough to control it, and Hartman was off his line to smother the opportunity. Zusi continued to be the Wizards best offensive chance, as he almost scored directly off a free kick with a little help from a deflection off of an FC Dallas defender, but Hartman did well to stretch and make the save. KC continued to push, but couldn't create many clear chances until very late when they had a penalty shout themselves. Once again off a Zusi free kick, he found Shavar Thomas in the box, and as Thomas tried to put his shot on goal, he was pulled down, but no foul was called and Dallas held on to win their third straight.

It's easy to get pissed at the referee for not calling that PK on Thomas and potentially salvaging a point for KC from the game, but KC was extremely poor yesterday. The first half looked like something you see in rec-ball, without the whole heard ball mentality. No one could complete a pass to save their lives, both Kei Kamara and Josh Wolff were completely cut off from the rest of the team due to the inability to string any passes together. The second half got better, but from a strictly fundamentals view, that was the worst half of soccer the Wizards have played in a long time.

Wizards Man of the Match - Jimmy Nielsen - Nielsen kept the Wizards in this game with his saves in the first half when no one could complete a single pass, in the second half he was strong again and controlled his area. Nothing he really could have done on the PK goal unless he knew exactly where Ferriera was hitting it, and even then he probably would have been standing there to get to it.

Player Ratings - Nielsen 6, Harrington 4, Thomas 5, Conrad 5, Espinoza 4, Jewsbury 4, Auvray 5, Rocastle 5, Myers 4, Wolff 3, Kamara 4. Subs Smith 4, Zusi 6, Bunbury 4.