The Kansas City Wizards face a difficult task when they visit the Chicago Fire at their Toyota Park home on Saturday, and they know it. It's difficult to beat a good team in back-to-back games, and it's often difficult to learn from your own mistakes.
"We're playing on the road, and we're playing against a very good team. I'll say it again, an extremely well-coached team," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. "We have to be smart, make sure we regenerate fine, and get ourselves ready for another battle."
In the Wizards' 3-2 victory at home Wednesday evening, they beat a team that has been strengthened by the addition of Mexican international Cuauhtemoc Blanco and focused by the recent hiring of Juan Carlos Osorio as head coach. But Kansas City didn't make it easy, absorbing extensive pressure in the first half and falling behind just before halftime.
Blanco freely put speedy winger Justin Mapp into dangerous positions many times in the first half -- one drawing a penalty -- and eventually fed forward Chad Barrett for a stoppage time goal that could have been a dagger to the Wizards morale.
But the Wizards learned from the opening 45 minutes -- learning they failed to use the available width appropriately -- and came out in the second half with a change in ideas. Those lessons will have to be heeded if the Wizards are to repeat the performance in the Windy City.
"We play very well against [Chicago's 3-5-2 formation]. The whole dynamic is how you defend the three guys in the middle. The way they play, you can define it as a 3-5-2, but Blanco has a free role. So sometimes it looks like a 3-4-3, other times a 3-5-2," said Onalfo. "The important thing is to try to get around [Blanco]. As you see, every time he touches the ball, something happens. He's an outstanding player."
Though they were able to produce quality chances in the first half, the Wizards failed to capitalize. The seven shots (four on goal) were ample, but controlling the flow of the match more astutely and adding variety in the attacking balls played in will also serve Kansas City well on Saturday.
"They're going to have a big home crowd supporting them, and we always have a tough time playing down there," said forward Scott Sealy. "So we need to roll up our sleeves, just like we did tonight and play better than we did tonight and get a result."
Sealy, midfielder Sasha Victorine, and left back Jose Burciaga Jr. were beneficiaries of low crosses and quick service in the second half as the Wizards widened their attack.
"We have the forwards with speed that if we just put it in front of the goal, they'll get to it," said Burciaga. "We have good forwards who can put the ball away -- we just have to put it in the right position."
History has put the Wizards in a tough position already as they have won only once in Chicago -- in 2005 at Soldier Field. But they can control their own destiny in the important late-season conference matchup if they are attentive to Wednesday's experience.
"You have to take these games and do what you will with them. For us, hopefully, that's winning," said K.C. goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. "The only way you can get better is to take lessons from the first game and use them to your advantage in the next game and hopefully get another three points on the weekend."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
