The Kansas City Wizards are whole again.
Team captain Jimmy Conrad and league leading scorer Eddie Johnson are back at training after missing two and six games respectively for international duty with the United States. While many MLS teams are recouping players who were absent for the CONCACAF Gold Cup and Copa America, having gone six games without a win makes the Wizards are especially excited to see their comrades.
Not only will Johnson and Conrad complete coach Curt Onalfo's ideal starting 11 for the first time this season, but they'll bring back their experiences of playing in several significant matches against some of the best teams in the world with them.
Johnson won his first trophy as a professional at his first Gold Cup tournament, and although he wishes he had played more, he realizes more opportunities will come. Copa America, held in Venezuela, where the U.S. team fell in all three matches against traditional South American and world powers Argentina, Colombia, and Paraguay, was a growing experience for the 23-year-old, even though the defeats were certainly disappointing.
"If you can go into the game with the perspective that we're all human, it makes it easier at the end of the day," said Johnson, alluding to his "extreme" nervousness in past international games. "I can be the first to say that when I played in the Argentina game, I wasn't nervous at all. It was just soccer to me at the end of the day. I had peace of mind. Once you go against [Argentina back Javier] Zanetti and you beat Zanetti, you're like, 'Man, I can do this.'"
The Wizards scoring sensation also learned what it takes for a team to succeed in even the most challenging contests. For example, Johnson's penalty kick goal gave the U.S. a ninth minute lead, one that was all but forgotten as Argentina went on to a 4-1 win in each team's first game in the Copa America.
"As [U.S. national team head coach] Bob Bradley says, ... if we can, for 90 minutes be sharp with the mental thing as far as staying in tone with the game and be difficult to play against for 90 minutes... we'll be all right." said Johnson, paraphrasing. "Talking with [Argentinean Juan Sebastian] Veron, (whom Johnson encountered while taking a required drug test) he said we made it difficult for them in the first half, we were hard to play against, but in the second half, he could tell we started to get tired... They have been playing at the professional level since they were young. They know how to manage games. Playing more games at that level is how you get better."
Eight-year MLS veteran Conrad also took away from the match an appreciation for what the tournament meant for the U.S.'s future.
"In the short term, it's going to look like, 'What a disaster,'" he said. "But in the long term, we got a good gauge of where we stand, how deep we are as a pool, and what guys we can look at going forward. We're going to take our lumps, myself included, but you pick yourself up and move on."
And both Johnson and Conrad are glad to be moving on to the rest of Wizards' MLS season. With Johnson playing a monumental role in the first nine matches, the Wizards sat in first place with six wins and only one loss. The slide sans Johnson has put the Wizards in a two-way tie for third, but has done little to temper the two recently named all-stars' enthusiasm for their club.
"No concerns whatsoever. I think we have a good team. We're at full strength now, and really it's just a matter of creating that atmosphere again that we're unbeatable. We had that swagger a little bit," said Conrad. "Every team goes through a patch where chances just aren't falling... Here we're getting 20 shots a game. That's impressive, whether Eddie and I are here are not. As long as we continue to do the little things and work hard, things will start to fall our way."
Conrad's leadership and well-honed soccer instincts will benefit Kansas City, but can Johnson alone lift up an attack that scored a modest seven goals in six games (five of those in two matches) on a monstrous 98 shots?
"I can't say one guy, but the competitiveness that I have week-in and week-out here helps drive and push the defenders and especially my partners up top. I think they missed a little bit [when I was gone]," Johnson said. "I could tell today just joking around, 'Yura [Movsisyan], how many goals did you score? [Scott] Sealy, how many goals did you score? [Ryan] Pore, ...' just that little competitiveness.
"Just being back and being positive, and just telling the boys it's going to take us four forwards to win this championship for this team offensively [will help]. We know we're good defensively, but offensively it's going to take us to put goals in the back of the net. That's what we get paid to do. Whenever you're around the boys and you're speaking positive, positive things happen."
Clearly, Conrad and Johnson's excitement for and confidence in their Wizards' mates fostered a palpable increase in the aura of excitement and confidence at training this week, and it may for the rest of the season.
"This year is going to be a special year for us. I'm happy to be back; I could see the energy in training today. Everyone's excited for me to be back; I'm excited to be here," Johnson added. "When you are around positive people, positive teammates, positive organization, positive coaching staff, it doesn't matter how tired you are on the field, you'll puke for those guys... I feel like I have a commitment here, like this is my destiny. All the goals I've set for myself and the team, I'm ready to fulfill them. I'm aiming for stars here in Kansas City."
Whether Johnson and Conrad can bring the Wizards to those heights will be seen. But they know they will all need each other along the way.
"That's not to say we aren't going to hit another tough patch. It's important to [navigate a down turn], that way you can lean on each other when things are bad," said Conrad. "It's how you pick yourself up; it's how you figure out how to solve things that is going to make you a champion. How we weather this so-called storm is probably going to dictate how we look at ourselves the rest of the season."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
