There's a saying about finding out someone's true nature. Paraphrased it says: "If you want to find out someone's true nature, observe him under stress."
Coming off a hapless 3-0 loss to the Columbus Crew in front of a sellout crowd at home, winless in their last six games, and the second-lowest scoring team in Major League Soccer, the saying fits the Kansas City Wizards. And now their true nature must raise them to fulfill their true potential.
"Everybody is still disappointed; we really let a good opportunity go," said midfielder Sasha Victorine of Saturday's loss to the Crew. "Everybody had to look at themselves all the way around and realize that we have a good situation here, and we want to win. We have to go out and prove it on the field. It starts with effort."
Said technical director Peter Vermes: "The key in these types of situations is you can't panic. You can't, all of a sudden, make these drastic changes. You have to be smart on how you approach them, and you have to have a real resolution to the problems that you have."
But perhaps the most significant perspective comes from Onalfo. "I've been through a lot worse things in my life than losing a 3-0 game at home," he said after Saturday's loss.
Some 15 years ago, on his 24th birthday, Onalfo learned he had stage three cancer -- Hodgkin's disease had invaded his lymph nodes, parts of his upper torso, and into his spleen.
A positive outlook -- certainly an Onalfo trait -- is key.
"I've always had a positive outlook. I'm the product of two very positive parents, and that's what I know. I see the glass half-full," he said. "But I think the only positive to take from last Saturday was that Sunday was a new day."
Now in remission, Onalfo knows a sense of humor helps as well. But through his experience, he knows where triumph over adversity must begin.
"The first step in success is believing," said Onalfo. Just as in his battle for his life, the Wizards' head man knows he and his team can rise to the challenge, and he knows no one else is going to help.
"I'm not a guy who is shy of challenges. I take full responsibility: it's my team, we're underachieving, and we have to do better," he said bluntly. "I asked the same of the players in a meeting on Monday, and they have responded well in training."
Onalfo and Vermes have always had a good working relationship, and they are unified in their take on the Wizards' fall from grace after a 3-1-1 start.
"What we do is performance-based. At the end of the 90 minutes, you've either won or lost. And you have to critique that. ... Sometimes you have to be willing to say, 'It wasn't good enough, and here are the reasons why. Part of it's my fault; part of it's your fault,'" Vermes said. "I believe that the approach has to be that we are moving to the next play."
Creating enough quality chances is the prime tactical concern of the Wizards at this point. Onalfo and his staff have been adjusting the Wizards' formation and patterns of play recently, but more bite is needed in both those changes and the results.
"We've adjusted some things for the last couple of weeks, which take time to implement ... [But] we have to worry about ourselves and get better," said Onalfo. " ... We have to have a more aggressive attacking mentality to put teams on their heels and create more chances.
"We're not breaking team's backs; we're not going for the throat. And that's what I'm all about, so those things are very frustrating. I've done a lot of soul-searching, and I feel that I have the solutions to make it better. But it takes time to re-implement those things. It's kind of a transformation, so we're working extremely hard to make sure things are better."
After a promising opening, there is no doubt the Wizards players, Vermes and Onalfo are attacking the team's drop to last place in the Eastern Conference and will stop at nothing to improve the club's standing.
"I'm not afraid to confront anything," said Onalfo. "When you lead a group of men, you have to stand up tall, hold everybody accountable, and that's what I'm doing. We're going to get it right. I have no doubt in my mind."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
