Both the players and coaches of the Kansas City Wizards believe that, on the field, the club has underachieved and that the current seven-game losing streak in MLS games is more than ample evidence of that.
To break out of that skid, the Wizards will have to defeat a New England Revolution team that might feel much the same about their season. The two meet at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday three places apart in the Eastern Conference standings, but just five points apart.
Wizards interim coach Brian Bliss said the Revolution will be tough opponent to overcome if the Wizards are to break out of their losing streak.
"By their own admission they have underachieved this year as well," Bliss said. "Any Steve Nicol team will fight you tooth and nail. They haven't quite hit on all cylinders, but they have a lot of good players who are dying to break out."
Bliss just hopes that it is the Wizards who break out instead. The race in the Eastern Conference seems to be more about second place with D.C. United holding a 20-point lead on second-place New England.
The attitude in training this week has not waned, Bliss said, and neither have the signs that the Wizards have the ability to break out their slump.
"The signs have been there all along," Bliss said. "They were there in a couple of practices leading up to the New York game (last week). And they have been there in a couple of practices this week. The guys played with a lot of energy and lot of commitment. I'm not saying they were not doing that before because they were."
More goals are needed to bring the Wizards back to the winning side and forwards Eddie Johnson and Josh Wolff have showed signs of solidifying their partnership this week in training.
"One encouraging thing was the play between Eddie and Josh," Bliss said. "It was best I've seen since they both have been here."
The results did not match the effort and effectiveness of the Wizards play once again against the Red Bulls last week in New York, a 1-0 defeat.
"Even though we came into locker room at New York with a loss, we outplayed our opponent. Even our opponent said we outplayed them, not that can we take much away from the game since we didn't win," Bliss said.
Midfielder Dave van den Bergh, who played 61 minutes at New York in his club debut, could make his home debut Saturday. Selecting the players who will sit on the bench is becoming more and more difficult for Bliss. The Wizards have won six of eight reserve division games.
Bliss said midfielder Sergei Raad is moving closer to more minutes on game day and been practicing a little more with the first team this week.
"Even though may have four guys along the back performing well, we can't dress all four of them. We have to balance that out," Bliss said. "We are not going to have seven subs on the bench and five of them be forwards. We always continue to evaluate what those guys do in reserve league and continue to evaluate them in training."
Robert Whitman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
