All season long, the Kansas City Wizards mantra circled around getting into the playoffs. No seed or home-field advantage was mentioned -- just get into the playoffs. Underneath that simple goal was something more detailed: the Wizards knew what the playoffs would demand, knew they could answer the call.
Their 2-0 win against FC Dallas on the final day of the regular season gave them a chance, and during their hard-fought 1-0 victory against Chivas USA in the first leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Series last Saturday night, the Wizards felt right at home.
"Thirty fouls. One goal. A few busted lips, and a few bruises are no surprise," said center back Nick Garcia.
The match's scrappiness was evident from the beginning as was the "revved up" intensity, according to center midfielder Kerry Zavagnin.
"That's the playoffs. There's a little different feel to it. Having experience in these kinds of games definitely helps, and we have up to five guys who have won a championship before," said Zavagnin, a veteran of two MLS Cup Finals. "So we understand how the game is a little bit different. Maybe it's not as attractive; maybe it's not as pretty."
The learned composure of the Wizards champions -- Zavagnin, fellow midfielder Sasha Victorine, defenders Garcia and Jimmy Conrad, and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman -- combined with their core of playoff-experienced veterans like Davy Arnaud and the exuberance of their young players like back Michael Harrington makes for a dangerous mix to their opponents. When that mix takes their lumps -- as the Wizards did in accumulating a sub-.500 record in the regular season -- but comes out still achieving its goal, you have a team that knows itself well.
"When we go to Los Angeles, we have to understand [Chivas] strengths and what types of things we can do to really find success for ourselves," said Hartman. "It's going to be difficult. We're not really going into it with this belief that we were head and shoulders above the team we played against. But ... we do have a goal lead."
Even though the Wizards surrendered 45 goals in 30 games during the season, their defensive performances in shutting out FC Dallas in the season finale and then Chivas USA in game one were not a surprise to them.
"We were talking throughout the course of the year about how many goals we were leaking. [But] we really showed tonight that we have the capability to shut teams out, and we've known that for a while," said Zavagnin.
Firm evidence of shutout capability is certainly an encouraging sign going into the lion's den that has been The Home Depot Center for Chivas USA. There, as the home side, Chivas outscored opponents 28-8 during the season. But don't count on the Wizards bunkering or even playing for a tie, even though a tie gets them through to the Western Conference Championship.
"We're not going to play for a tie. If you play for a tie, you don't win," said head coach Curt Onalfo. "So we're going to be smart in our approach to the game. ... We're not going to sit back and just defend. We're going to try and take the game to them, and see if we can't get an early goal and move on from there."
The Wizards are fully aware that an early goal or no goals for Chivas will force their opponent's hand.
"The sooner [we score] the better. But we know that if they don't get a goal right away, they're going to continue to press and press and throw more numbers forward," said Garcia.
Kansas City also knows that any game plan the Wizards have could go awry during the match.
"We know what kind of team we are. We maybe didn't get as many points as we wanted in the regular season, but we knew if we got into the playoffs that we're capable of winning games," said Arnaud. "Having said that, Chivas is a very good team, and they've been tough at home all year. We know it's going to be difficult, but we put ourselves in a good position to go to L.A. and get a result."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
