Although a bit beat up, the Kansas City Wizards head to Chicago for an early-season Eastern conference showdown with their rivals the Fire on Sunday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois.
The two sides sat atop the conference before the Columbus Crew's win over D.C. United Thursday evening. Both have seven points on the young season on two wins and a draw.
Aiding the Wizards' cause is the fact that two important Fire players will be on the sidelines in attacker Chris Rolfe and perennially solid defender CJ Brown.
Out for the Wizards is dynamic midfielder Davy Arnaud after returning to the field for the first time last Saturday against Houston as a second-half substitute. Arnaud is hobbled by a hamstring strain in his effort to recover from off season knee surgery. In addition, playmaker Carlos Marinelli, who left the Houston match in the 26th minute with a groin strain, did not train early in the week and is listed as "doubtful" for the match with the Fire.
But these Wizards can cover with a roster that is more versatile, more talented, and deep than in years past.
Young guns Roger Espinoza and Kurt Morsink will likely man the spots Arnaud and Marinelli might normally fill after performing well in their appearances thus far despite their relative inexperience.
"In this profession, it's all about performances, and their performances were both very, very good... I'm extremely pleased with their progress," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo about Espinoza and fellow rookie Chance Myers before he gave kudos to Morsink and backs Michael Harrington and Tyson Wahl.
The match with the Fire is the first of six straight road matches in a span of two months for his team, but Onalfo is confident in his their ability to come out better on the flip side.
"We feel that we're a team that possesses the ball better than we did last year, and that helps when you're on the road," he said.
The increase in ball-keeping capability stems much from the talent of the aforementioned players, as well as his team's adaptation to Onalfo's style of play over the past year and a few months of Onalfo's tenure.
However, Sunday's result will also have much to do with the inevitable defending that will come when they do lose the ball. Hopefully, that possession will not often end up on the foot of Chicago's Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco. A wizard himself, Blanco already has two goals and one assist to his credit in three games.
Kerry Zavagnin, K.C.'s defensive midfielder who is mostly over a painful contusion just above his right knee, is fully aware of what Blanco brings.
"If you give Blanco time, space, any opportunity, he's going to capitalize. If you look back to their last game against San Jose, while he didn't have a lot of touches in the game, the [goal] they scored came off of what he created," said Zavagnin, referring to the Fire's 1-0 win over the Earthquakes last Saturday. "Those are sometimes the more difficult players to play against throughout the course of a game because you feel like you have him well-contained, and it's that one moment when they do something special."
Especially important to neutralize Blanco's threat and the rest of the Fire's danger will be the "active defending" that has been a big topic in training for Kansas City.
"When we're in possession of the ball, throughout the back four defenders and in the defensive midfield, we need to be active in knowing where he is at all times," Zavagnin explained. "He's a guy that drifts around, and that's what makes him dangerous."
And while he gave respectful service to Justin Mapp, Chad Barrett, and Tomasz Frankowski, Onalfo put it simply.
"Limiting [Blanco's] impact on the game positions a team to be more successful," he stated.
Onalfo is confident whoever the Wizards have on the field and whoever they are facing that his side will fare well on their six-game road journey, all which occur with a week between them.
"I'm not worried about it. We play well on the road," he said. "I like the fact that we now have six weeks to work on things we need to do to get better as a group. That's important at this time of the year."
On Sunday, the team that wins will continue their season odyssey at the top of the Eastern conference.
