The Kansas City Wizards will travel to Ohio to face Eastern Conference foe the Columbus Crew on Wednesday. This marks the middle game in a three-game in eight-day stretch for Kansas City. On Saturday, the Wizards traveled to New York and fell behind 2-0 before rallying to take a 3-2 lead. After a 90th minute penalty kick, KC left the Big Apple with a tie and one point.
The club will return home to Arrowhead Stadium to face reigning MLS champion Houston Dynamo next Sunday. After the game this Wednesday, Kansas City will play six of the next seven games at home, but the club has been equally impressive home (3-1-0) and away (3-1-2) as they possess the best winning percentage in MLS (.700).
One-third through the 2007 campaign the Wizards find themselves in 2nd place in the competitive East, just one point behind New York, who have played two more games. Kansas City has been an offensive powerhouse thus far, as scoring around the league overall has increased. The Wizards have scored 22 goals in 10 contests, leading the league in goals per game (2.20). This club has never led MLS in goals per game at season's end, as the closest was finishing second in 1997.
Wizards Head Coach Curt Onalfo, who currently leads the pack of MLS coaches to be at the helm in the All-Star game July 19th, has made all the right choices and his coaching style and philosophy has been embraced by Kansas City's players and fans. He will square off against Crew Head Coach Sigi Schmid, who coached the LA Galaxy (1999-2004) and current Wizards starters Kevin Hartman and Sasha Victorine.
In the teams first meeting this season, Kansas City earned a tough 1-0 win at home on May 5th when Jose Burciaga netted the game-winner in the 91+ minute. Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto made his MLS debut in the loss, but the Argentine has been playing very well since, culminating with a goal and assist in last Saturday's 3-3 draw at the Revolution. Columbus will either start Andy Gruenebaum (Blue Valley North) or Will Hesmer (2004-06 with the Wizards) in goal. Although Columbus is 0-4-3 in its last seven games, they have ties against New England, Chivas and Toronto and three one-goal losses. At Crew Stadium, Columbus is 1-1-4 this season.
Kansas City will counter with a balanced roster, as nine different players have scored at least one goal and 10 have tallied an assist. Coach Onalfo has dealt with injuries and National team duty extremely well, mixing up the formation and positions on the field and utilizing his subs masterfully. Kansas City should have every player available, besides forward Eddie Johnson who is still with the U.S. as they compete at the Gold Cup. The United States will face Canada on Thursday (6pm CT in Chicago on Telefutura) in the semifinals. The Wizards also have their own Argentine, as midfielder Carlos Marinelli made his fourth start of the season last Saturday and again displayed his incredible ball skill, which garnered him the nickname "Majia" or "Magic".
Kansas City will look to come out strong, as they have fallen behind 1-0 in each of the last five games, although they are 2-1-2 in that span. No lead is safe against the relentless Wizards attack, as KC can beat teams out wide or up the middle, with long balls or sharp interior passing. They also have the luxury of getting numbers forward, as the back line is anchored by Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Jose Burciaga, Jack Jewsbury and Kevin Hartman in goal.
