Following a first offensive shutout for the season and riding a season-long three-game winless streak, the Kansas City Wizards are looking to convert a stretch of home cooking into points beginning with Sunday's game against Toronto FC.
Last Sunday's 1-0 loss to Houston Dynamo signaled the end of a stretch of three games in nine days for head coach Curt Onalfo's charges. But after a week to get things right on the training ground, the Wizards now have five of their next six games in the friendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium.
"We want to take advantage of our opportunities at home," Onalfo said. "The important thing is to improve on the things we haven't done well. We've created a lot of chances in the last couple of games. I don't think we've been as sharp in front of the goal as we should have, so the good thing is we're creating those chances and now we want to finish those chances."
The busy stretch dictated keeping players fresh, not allowing the club to focus on specific aspects of execution. The stretch also saw the Wizards head into a tailspin of two losses and a draw, something the Wizards need to straighten out beginning against TFC, whom Kansas City has defeated twice already this season.
"More than anything, it's concentration, having time to train," Onalfo said. "In between those games we haven't trained, we've just been regenerating. We have a week here where we can really concentrate on those things, so I assume it gets better on Sunday."
The Wizards attacking style has paid off in gaining an abundance of corners and free kicks, so getting players who serve balls on set pieces -- mostly playmaker Carlos Marinelli, and backs Jack Jewsbury and Jose Burciaga, Jr., -- and those who look to finish them -- midfielder Sasha Victorine and forwards Scott Sealy and Davy Arnaud, among others -- on the same page is imperative.
"We need to do better on attacking set pieces, so that's going to be a big point of emphasis through the rest of the season. Championship caliber teams are very good on set pieces, and right now, we're not," Onalfo said. "We haven't spent a lot of time on it; we've been spending more time on how we move as a team. There are a million things you need to cover, so that's going to be a point of emphasis for us now, and it will get better."
The Wizards have performed well in the run of play during their recent downturn, but those performances have not paid the dividends they did when the Wizards won six of their first nine.
"At the very beginning of the season, teams are still trying to figure you out. Now you get to a point where teams have seen you play; now they start getting a better idea of what you want to do, so they start changing their style of defending," said Victorine. "It's just us finding small adjustments and the holes where we need to still be successful."
Adding some new wrinkles to their tactics will need to pay off for the Wizards to be lethal again, especially as Sunday begins another stretch that will see them play three matches in seven days. The first two at home are followed by their first trip to Los Angeles on the season, but then the Wizards return home for three in a row with the All-Star break in between.
"The key is that [many are] at home, and we need to set a better stamp at home trying to make it a little harder to come in here and play," Victorine said. "It's important to get points because we lost the last two games and had a tie before that, so [we're] trying to get back in the winning streak."
The Wizards know all too well the importance of their training and the stash of home games in the next month.
"We can't afford at this time of the season to let points slip away at home because we don't want to be like we were the past two years at the end of the season trying to get points on the road," said Sealy. "Anything could happen, so we want to make sure we secure some points at home now."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
