Kansas City Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo is feeling good about his team as it heads into its second year under his guidance.
Last season's goal of reaching the playoffs achieved, the Wizards certainly didn't stand pat in the offseason. Gone are veteran defenders Nick Garcia and Jose Burciaga Jr., to San Jose and Colorado respectively. Gone is leading scorer and 2007 team MVP Eddie Johnson to Fulham of the English Premier League. Re-signed are Argentinean imports Carlos Marinelli and Eloy Colombano, and coming into the side soon will be forward Ivan Trujillo of Colombian side Deportivo Cali.
"Our mentality is that we have a very good team. We enhanced that team tremendously with what we figure was a great [2008 MLS SuperDraft]. We have a year under our belts of developing players that are now ready to step in and contribute," Onalfo said. "So we feel very good going into the season having added Trujillo, having re-signed Marinelli after having invested a year in him, and also with the idea that we are going to change our formation to better suit the needs of our team and some of the weaknesses that I felt we had as a team last year."
The formation switch would be from a 4-4-2 setup to a 3-5-2, an alignment that will also serve to accentuate the Wizards' strengths.
"Towards the end of the season we didn't do a good job of building out of the back and keeping possession of the ball," said Onalfo. "Having that extra midfielder is going to help us do that, and it also gives us another body in the midfield where, at times, we were a little bit susceptible in the middle part of the field in terms of having a little bit more bite and giving up chances."
The switch will likely mean that second-year midfielder Kurt Morsink, who earned his way into the lineup at the tail end last season, would pair with wily veteran Kerry Zavagnin in defensive midfield roles. That tandem should give playmaker Marinelli more chances to enter the final third and divide and attack opposing defenses.
But with only three backs and Onalfo's desire to get his wing players "up the field as much as possible", the outside backs and midfielders will get a lot of work. Enter the Wizards' top two draftees -- No. 1 overall pick UCLA product Chance Myers and 11th overall pick Ohio State product Roger Espinoza.
Their ability and mobility on the outside, combined with that of Davy Arnaud and 2007 rookie starter Michael Harrington specifically, mean the Wizards will have plenty of options on the field and for the lineup.
"If Chance progresses at the rate we think he will, that means we can play Davy as a forward as another option up top," Onalfo said. "We have a lot of options going into the season. I feel really good about this team and where we're going."
Two days into his professional career, Espinoza is gunning to turn the potential seen by Onalfo and his staff into reality.
"I'm very excited to be in camp with the team, and I'm very excited to show Coach [how I can play] soccer," said the 5-foot-11, 160-lb. midfielder. "I want to play for the team and be able to play in the games."
An increase in team depth, in youthful athleticism, and a change in formation are all designed to score goals and win more games, even without Johnson. The Wizards are confident the goals will come without the explosive scorer.
"We're not going to rush into signing a replacement for Eddie. We're going to make sure it's the right guy. ... We're constantly looking to add players to our team, but I feel extremely confident with the group we have right now," Onalfo said. "We're going to step in and have a great season. Are we going add someone to our team to replace Eddie? Of course. But whether it happens right now in this short window that we have or it happens in June is to be seen by the players that come available to us."
Proud of last year's Western Conference championship finish, the Wizards aren't looking behind. It's full steam ahead.
"[In] year two the bar has risen a little bit; we don't want to just make the playoffs. We want to be a team that is competing to come in first or second in our [conference] so we qualify for those international tournaments," Onalfo said. "That's the goal of this group, and that's what we plan on doing."
And the plan is right on track.
"We now have a very different team than we had a year ago. But the beauty is [the change has] been subtle," Onalfo said. "We signed Marinelli and Colombano. We traded for [goalkeeper Kevin] Hartman. We did a good job in our draft last year of getting Harrington and Morsink, and those guys are now starters for us.
"If you look at the makeup of our team, it's changed a lot. ... But it hasn't been these crazy changes... We feel like we're set up to be successful in 2008, but even more so in the future."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
