After three wins and a draw in their first four matches of the 2008 season, the Kansas City Wizards likely looked at the Eastern Conference standings of Major League Soccer with a gleam in their eyes. After two losses and a draw in their last three, the view isn't so glamorous as five sides block the view of the top.
Now the in-sync Los Angeles Galaxy stand as imposing hosts for Saturday night's encounter at The Home Depot Center. David Beckham, Landon Donovan, and now Edson Buddle (with his hat trick last week against FC Dallas in a 5-1 rout) have fashioned the league's highest scoring attack with 19 goals in eight games, although they are tied for the most goals allowed per game as well.
But despite the Galaxy's second-place sitting in the West, the two sides sport identical 3-3-2 records. The Wizards certainly aren't star-struck as they head into what is sure to be a challenge -- they're healthier and smarter.
Veteran midfielder Sasha Victorine started his first match of the season after battling injury and fellow midfielder Davy Arnaud saw time in only his second match of the season after offseason knee surgery and a subsequent hamstring strain in last Saturday's 1-1 draw at New York. The game itself, despite the road point gained, was not all positive though.
Up one goal and one man with just 13 minutes left after former Wizards midfielder Dave van den Bergh was sent off for throwing an elbow at Arnaud, the Wizards were primed to take the full three points back to K.C.
"We did a very poor job of managing the last portion of the game," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. "We were very disappointed in not getting three points. Like every team in the league, we have to learn from those circumstances and get better as we head into L.A."
Defensively, Kansas City had repeated trouble with throw-ins into their penalty area. Offensive possession can cut down on those occurrences.
"Our biggest problem at times in that game was just making the right decisions when we had the ball," said Victorine. "We had times where we connected five, six passes and had our space, but the next pass we played the ball through or over the top on that [artificial turf] that a guy isn't going to catch. ... We need to make sure we know that sometimes the simple pass to keep the ball moving and keep making them work a little bit defensively is [important]."
"With any team in Major League Soccer, if you are able to possess the ball well and move the ball efficiently, things are going to open up and you can have success," added Onalfo.
On the expansive Home Depot Center field, the Wizards should be able to prolong their possession and the wisdom of Victorine and Arnaud's experience should serve them well. But slowing the Galaxy's multi-pronged arsenal will, of course, be imperative.
Victorine, who might encounter the feeding machine that is Beckham often on Saturday night, knows that his job is best described as containment as the English winger will find his space outside or inside.
"You're never going to shut them completely down because the way Beckham is it just takes one free-kick outside your 18-yard box, either right in front or out wide, [for them to score], and he serves such great balls," said Victorine.
"But you have to limit the opportunities you give them. We want to make sure we're smart with our tackles, where we make them, and defend set pieces well. You want to keep Beckham from playing balls that he wants because he can definitely put the ball wherever he wants too whenever he wants to, so you try to make him make a pass he doesn't want to make. We just need to concentrate and focus on playing our game there, keep possession of the ball."
"They're a very good team, but so are we," said Onalfo. "We look forward to the challenge of dealing with great attacking players in Beckham, Donovan, [forward Carlos] Ruiz and Buddle, and we're ready for the challenge. It's just a matter of making sure you have a good game plan to neutralize that. Having said that, you have to be able to exploit their weakness as well."
If the Wizards, who have scored just four goals in their last six games, can take advantage of a slowly maturing L.A. backline and find the Galaxy's scoring touch, they can bring joy back to Kansas City.
"We have a smart game plan going into the game this weekend, we feel very good about the fact that we're getting our veterans healthy and getting a cohesive starting unit -- at least moving toward that, which we haven't been able to do all season -- and look forward to what will hopefully be a very good game on a big field that is a good surface and a great atmosphere," said Onalfo.
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
