While Major League Soccer kicks off Season 12 fresh with the promise of Toronto FC's entrance into the league, the opening of Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver, and an influx of new talent from rookies to former U.S. international Claudio Reyna, the Kansas City Wizards will be watching their televisions and scrimmaging against the Seattle Sounders of the USL First Division.
"It's a mixed emotion," said Wizards forward Scott Sealy. "You look at teams playing this weekend and you are anxious because you want to get into the thick of things."
Yet the Wizards have a lot to look forward to in the week before they kick off at D.C. United next Saturday.
For players like Sasha Victorine, Davy Arnaud, and Jose Burciaga Jr., all of whom had offseason surgery, they have one more week to prepare their bodies. For the team as a whole, they have another week to fine-tune their game and incorporate some recent returnees and a possible new addition.
Victorine and Arnaud, recuperating from hernia and knee surgeries respectively, can use the week to strengthen those areas and increase their fitness level for the grueling season to come. Others like Sealy (bruised foot) and Kevin Hartman (bruised elbow), as well as Burciaga (strained groin), can continue to nurse nagging ailments.
And it's only been a week and a half since vital center back Jimmy Conrad and hopeful offensive powerhouse Eddie Johnson returned from a successful 10 days of training and playing two matches with the U.S national team.
While Conrad cements the organization and communication of his backline, Johnson and likely forward partner Sealy will use the time to make their combination more intuitive.
"Certainly, Scott and Eddie are two very good forwards. They have a good understanding of each other," said head coach Curt Onalfo. "What we expect of them is to continue to get better and have good combination play so not only are they dangerous individually, but collectively and in tandem."
To Onalfo though, Sealy and Johnson are not the necessarily the starting forwards. The first-year head coach has been high on 19-year-old youth international Yuri Movsisyan all preseason. Explosive Davy Arnaud can also be pulled from his midfield spot.
"As of today, [Johnson and Sealy are the starters]. But we feel we have very good forwards," Onalfo said.
Still, there is a question of who will feed those forwards. The Wizards have been successful in past without a playmaker - most recently winning the U.S. Open Cup and making their way to MLS Cup in 2004. But all know the impact that a player with vision and passing abilities can have on a team's strike rate - such as that of former Wizards playmaker Preki.
"We need a player to come in who has the ability to break teams down," acknowledged center midfielder Kerry Zavagnin. "With the addition of someone with those qualities, I think the midfield will be a lot stronger."
All signs point to 25-year-old Argentinean Carlos Marinelli being that addition. Standing at 5-9, the once highly touted attacking midfielder came out of the legendary Boca Juniors youth system. His potential has not come to fruition though as he has bounced from club to club, scoring only six times in 86 matches, spending time at Middlesbrough in England, Racing in Argentina, Torino in Italy, and most recently with Braga in Portugal.
As Marinelli works into the Wizards system while contract details are ironed out, the club surely hopes he does not fizzle like recent foreign signings Dario Fabbro of Argentina, Jamaican Jermaine Hue, and Antti Sumiala (Finland). Indeed, they will need a full arsenal to navigate the difficult front their early schedule presents. Matches at D.C., Toronto, and Chicago present a challenge, but the Wizards are confident.
"We understand in this season the chips may be stacked against us from a scheduling standpoint. I don't think this is a team that many people are expecting to do well," Zavagnin said. "As we progress through the first 10 games of the season, it's important for us to have success. We have good players, a good team. We have a good staff. And that should give us confidence going into this stretch that begins pretty rough for us."
And what better way than to be prepared.
Robert Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
