Kansas City (9-8-5, 32 pts) at Real Salt Lake (2-11-6, 12 pts)
Wednesday, August 25 - Salt Lake City, Utah
Rice-Eccles Stadium - 8 p.m. CT
The Kansas City Wizards (9-8-5, 32 pts), entrenched in a tight Eastern Conference playoff race, head to Real Salt Lake (2-11-6, 12 pts) Wednesday in search of three points in the final 2007 match-up against the 2005 expansion club. Kansas City has split two decisions with Real previously, losing 2-1 at RSL in an April Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Qualifier and winning 1-0 at home July 14 behind an Eddie Johnson goal.
Kansas City currently sits in 4th place in the highly competitive East, one point behind 3rd-place Red Bull New York with eight games remaining in the 2007 regular season. Overall, the Wizards are 7th in the playoff picture, five points clear of the Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids who are currently deadlocked in an 8th-place tie. The top two teams from each conference automatically qualify for the 2007 playoffs, with the teams with the next four highest point totals, regardless of conference, rounding out the playoff field.
Real Salt Lake could field a drastically different team than the one Kansas City saw in either of its first two matches. Since the teams last met in July, Real has added three Argentineans to its roster. Defender Matias Mantanilla, midfielder Javier Morales and forward Fabian Espindola have been training in Salt Lake City for over a month but only recently received the paperwork necessary to join the squad officially. They should add technical ability and poise that will help new Head Coach Jason Kreis improve upon his roster.
Kansas City has controlled the series in Salt Lake's short existence, going 3-1-1 while outscoring Real 12-9 over parts of three seasons. RSL's only victory came May 20, 2006 in a 2-1 win at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Kansas City is 1-1-0 all-time at Real. Wizards forward Scott Sealy has a solid history against the Utah-based club, with four goals to his name against RSL. Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman has claimed the only shutout in series history, a 1-0 blanking July 14 at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Wizards will be without one attacking option against a Real Salt Lake defense that has allowed only three goals in its last three games. Winger Davy Arnaud will be forced to sit out Wednesday due to yellow card accumulation after picking up his 6th caution of the season Saturday at Chicago. Back, however, will be defender Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. who starred in a 3-2 midweek win over the Fire before missing Saturday's 2-0 loss due to yellow card accumulation as well. Arnaud is the third Wizards player to miss action this season to suspension due to cautions. Attacking midfielder Carlos Marinelli missed last Wednesday against the Fire for the same reason.
