The big games just keep coming for the Kansas City Wizards.
A week after playing in the raucous whirlwind that is Toronto FC's BMO Field and two weeks after heading to Chicago to battle the Fire for first place in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the Wizards will once again play in a match where a win means a perch atop the standings.
This time the opponent is the high-flying Columbus Crew who stand tall atop not only the Eastern Conference, but all of MLS, with 12 points as the only team in the league with four wins.
Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad played for Crew head coach Sigi Schmid at UCLA for two seasons, winning the national championship in 1997, and knows what a Schmid led team is like.
"Sigi has the guys he's wanted, and everyone is buying into Sigi's philosophy. When that happens, he always has a very good team," said Conrad.
Conrad used Alejandro Moreno, the Crew's leading scorer, as a symbol of what Schmid preaches.
"[Sigi] wants guys who are hard to play against. ... He's been battling and scrapping the whole way. He now has four goals and has found himself in a nice situation where the coach believes in him," Conrad said. "He has a good, hard-working team around him, and he's a scrapper. He has a nose for goal, and he makes it hard on you for 90 minutes. They're going to be tough."
The Wizards beat out the Crew for the last playoff spot in 2007 by a slim three points. The margin appeared even slimmer to Kansas City head coach Curt Onalfo.
"[Columbus] was outplaying teams last year when they needed points and just didn't get them," said Onalfo. "They've made some adjustments to make them a little better. [Gino] Padula makes them better going forward out of the back. They've decided to play [Danny] O'Rourke in the back, and that's working pretty well. [Adam] Moffat has done a good job in the midfield, and Alejandro Moreno is just having a great year to start."
The self-imposed pressure of wanting to start the season well, which they did with three wins in their first five games to go with only one loss, and having to accomplish that goal against traditionally strong clubs like D.C. United, Houston, and New England, started the Wizards in urgent mode. It's an attitude they have been forced to keep up throughout the first two games of their six-game road trip as they have battled for first in the East. Placing in the top two in the conference is another stated goal of the club this season, and it will require focus and execution.
"We sense that urgency. Players having urgency week-in and week-out only helps you in practice where there are people pushing you for a spot. Ultimately, it's healthy to have important games every week," said Conrad. "Anytime we can get ourselves into the situation where we have to play with that kind of urgency, it's better. It will only help us down the line."
Yet the constant pressure can take a significant toll on a club. Are the big games and an accompanying six-game road swing good for a team so early in the season?
"I think so," said Onalfo. "[But] the important thing is, we set a goal to start out the season well. We've done that. Now we want to keep that consistent."
Producing consistently strong performances will enable a team to reap rewards in the form of points that will keep it near the top.
"We know we have extremely difficult games ahead of us, especially in these next six games," said Onalfo. "We have five of our next six games on the road. ... It's not going to be easy, but we're up for the challenge. We have lots of depth and good game plans going into these games."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
