Vs the Top of the Table

The Wizards continue their fight to get into the playoffs this year tomorrow night when they'll take on the top of the table LA Galaxy out at the Home Depot Center. The Galaxy while still on top of the table have hit a bit of a skid, at least in terms of how the rest of their season has gone. The Galaxy have won only one of their last 4 league games. Even with that they still sit 4 points ahead of Salt Lake in the West and 3 points ahead of Columbus in the race for the Supporters' Shield.

Kansas City continues to work it's way back into the playoff race. The win over New England certainly raised spirits around KC, but as with the game against DC to start this season, KC capitalized on some poor coaching decisions by the opposing team. And while I have a lot of respect for Steve Nicol, I seriously doubt that Bruce Arena is going to make a similar mistake. KC will have to work to get points from this game. KC will have Teal Bunbury back with the team after serving his suspension, but does Peter Vermes go back to the rookie putting two goal hero Birahim Diop on the bench? I'm not so sure. I think we'll be seeing Diop starting this game and Bunbury coming in off the bench. Even if Diop only has 2 career shots on goal, and he scored on both, you go with the hot "foot".

Nielsen
Harrington - Conrad - Thomas - Espinoza
Arnaud - Auvray - Rocastle
Kamara - Diop - Smith

Key Match Up - Stephane Auvray vs Landon Donovan - It's likely going to become the main responsibility of Auvray to shut down the best player in the league. Not an easy task, but Auvray has done well this season at shutting down the play makers for opposing teams hopefully he can do it tomorrow.

PREDICTION - This game isn't a must win for KC, there are other ways that they can get points and it just doesn't feel like this is a game that the Wizards are going to get 3 points from. LA is still a very good side and at home are going to be very hard to beat. The Wizards are in form and at least have one player looking to redeem themselves after the first game these two teams played. It's just hard to see the Wizards pulling the 3 points tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't derail the decent run they are on.

KC - 1 (Kamara)
LA - 2 (Buddle, Donovan)