Finishing the Busy Week

The Wizards finish up their 3 games in 7 days stretch tomorrow at Community America Ballpark when they take on FC Dallas, who is probably the only team in the league that's actually hotter than the Wizards right now. The Wizards have only lost one of their last 10 league games, but Dallas is unbeaten in their last 16 games after their 2-2 draw with New England on Wednesday night. Dallas is 8-0-8 during their run and have only lost 2 league games all season. Dallas though will be without two of their leading players for this game though, Kevin Hartman is still nursing his MCL injury from his run in with Thierry Henry last week, while Brek Shea will serve the second of a two game suspension for his red card and subsequent reaction after he received it in the same game. Still Dallas has plenty of talent on their team and will be hard for the Wizards to over come.

KC continues to get results and the in the game on Wednesday the Wizards finally showed that they can come from behind and get wins in their dramatic 4-3 win over the Dynamo. But this weekend, the Wizards can ill-afford a half like they had in the first half against the Dynamo. Dallas won't be so quickly to let KC back into the game. With the way that the team played in the second half I think we may have finally seen the end of the Birahim Diop experiment at forward. Even though the Wizards are unbeaten when he scores. Teal Bunbury offers much of the same skill set but also plays the forward position more like a true forward. The biggest question is probably whether Stephane Auvray is back in the starting lineup, or whether Jack Jewsbury steps into his place in the midfield.

Nielsen
Harrington - Conrad - Thomas - Espinoza
Arnaud - Rocastle - Jewsbury
Kamara - Bunbury - Smith

Key Match Up - Craig Rocastle vs David Ferreira - Ferreira has been one of the key players of Dallas' run, he plays just behind the Dallas striker, whether that's Jeff Cunningham or Milton Rodriguez. Shutting him down is where the Wizards need to start in their effort to end the Dallas unbeaten run.

PREDICTION - This is probably the match of the weekend. Even though the big name match up is tonight between LA and New York, form wise this is likely the best match up of the weekend. Dallas struggled at home against New England while KC did the same against Houston. It's going to be a rough game for both teams with their current busy schedule, but a win is basically a must for KC. Getting all 3 at home is the biggest thing the Wizards can control in their run to try to get to the playoffs. But avoiding a first half like against Houston is a must.

KC - 1 (Bunbury)
FCD - 0