This Week with the Wizards - Headlines for Week of May 31, 2006:
This Week's Training Schedule
Red Bull & Wizards
The Wizards will be facing the New York Red Bulls for the "first" time this
Saturday, June 3rd at 7:30 p.m. at Arrowhead Stadium. Known as the
MetroStars for the first ten years of its existence, the team was bought by
Red Bull and was renamed Red Bull New York just prior to the start of this
season. Currently 1-2-5 on the season, the Red Bulls are sitting in sixth
in the Eastern Conference, but a win could vault them into the hunt as third
place New England is only four points ahead with 12 after the first nine
weeks of play. After suffering their third consecutive loss last weekend to
conference front-runner D.C. United, Kansas City will need to pick up some
points this weekend if it wants to hold onto second place. The Wizards lead
over the Revolution for second is just one-point as they currently have 13
points with an even 4-4-1 record on the season. Kansas City is 12-11-5
against New York all-time, however, they have only won twice in the last
nine meetings. The Red Bulls' lineup features a number of big names, but
none bigger to Kansas City fans than goalkeeper Tony Meola who played for
the Wizards from 1999 to 2004, leading them to their MLS Cup Championship in
2000.
Meet Three U.S. Soccer Legends
The Kansas City Wizards are proud to invite Harry Keough, Gino Pariani, and
Frank Borghi, members of the United States' legendary 1950 World Cup team,
to Arrowhead Stadium this Saturday, June 3rd. As part of the Wizards
halftime ceremony that is serving recognition to all of the former World Cup
participants who will be in attendance at the Wizards/Red Bulls match,
Keough, Pariani, and Borghi will also be signing autographs before the game.
In addition to the autograph signing that will take place on Soccer Street
between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m, they will also be appearing on Kansas City
Live on KSHB (NBC) channel 41 on the morning of Friday, June 2nd. The
Wizards are lucky to have these legends of American sport who were part of
what most soccer historians deem to be the biggest upset in World Cup
history when the United States defeated heavy-favorite England at the Cup in
1950.
Three Players With Three Stripes
Kansas City fans will get a great chance to meet a trio of Wizards this
Friday, June 2nd, at the grand opening celebration of the new adidas Store
at the Legends Shopping Center at Village West. Wizards players Kerry
Zavagnin, Sasha Victorine, and Davy Arnaud will be on hand from 6:00 to 7:30
p.m. to sign autographs and greet fans. The adidas Store will be offering
free adidas visors autographed by Kerry, Sasha and Davy to the first 300
fans in attendance. Village West is located at the western junction of
Interstate 435 and Interstate 70 in Kansas.
Kansas City's Voices Suit Up
The First Annual Media All-Star Challenge Match will be coming to Arrowhead
Stadium this Saturday at approximately 8:20 p.m. Thanks to AT&T, Kraft, and
adidas, the Kansas City Wizards will be hosting a mini-game during halftime
of this week's Wizards/Red Bulls match featuring some of Kansas City's
favorite media personalities. Scheduled to play this weekend's match
include Mix 93's Rocket, DA and Josh Klingler from 610 Sports, Star 102's
Dave Fogel, Danni Boatwright from Survivor, 810 WHB's Todd Leabo and Steven
St. John, Metro Sports' Brad Porter, Nick Vasos from Fox 4, and former
Wizard Sammy Ekeme. On the sidelines for the match will be Kansas City
Chiefs offensive lineman Will Shields.
Wizards on the Air
If you are looking for your favorite Kansas City Wizard on the air this week
be sure to catch defender Nick Garcia this Friday, June 2nd, on 810 WHB.
Garcia will be appearing on The Border Patrol, which airs between 6:00 and
9:00 a.m., with Steven St. John and Bob Fescoe. St. John is one of the
media members who will be playing in this weekend's Media All-Star Challenge
at halftime of the Kansas City/New York match.
U.S. National Team Update
The United States National Team closed out its "Send-Off Series" this past
weekend with a 1-0 victory over Latvia to go into next month's World Cup in
Germany with a two-game win streak. The Wizards' three representatives on
the squad have made their presence felt for the Red, White & Blue since camp
began in the second week of May. 2005 MLS Defender of the Year Jimmy Conrad
was given the honor of wearing the captain's armband in the U.S.'s 2-0 win
over Venezuela. Conrad started both the Venezuela and Latvia matches, both
shutouts, playing the full 90 in each. Forward Josh Wolff started the first
two matches for the U.S. in the "Send-Off Series" against Morocco and
Venezuela, but it is Wolff's Wizards linemate, Eddie Johnson, has been one
of Bruce Arena's offensive workhorses. Johnson has played 196 minutes in
the series, second only to Landon Donovan and DaMarcus Beasley who have each
played 205 minutes on the offensive end for the U.S. in its three most
recent games. Johnson appeared in all three games, starting two, and
assisted on Clint Dempsey's goal in the 2-0 win over Venezuela. The U.S.
kicks off its World Cup on Monday, June 12th vs. the Czech Republic at 10:55
a.m. CT. The Wizards will be hosting watch parties for every game the
United States play at the World Cup. Be sure to visit www.kcwizards.com
for more information on their adidas World Cup
watch parties.
