Fresh off a scintillating performance in Saturday's season-opening 4-2 win at D.C. United, the Kansas City Wizards will be in Salt Lake City on Wednesday to take on Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium in hopes of taking the first of two steps to become one of the eight MLS squads to qualify for the knockout stages of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
Recently acquired Argentinean playmaker Carlos Marinelli will make the trip, and the Wizards will likely field a mix of starters and a few players currently on the fringe. Assistant coach Chris Henderson, a veteran of MLS and the Open Cup battles, and the rest of the coaching staff feel their roster is balanced enough to give experience to some younger players without giving anything away.
"Our depth is pretty good on this roster. I look at the teams I was on the past couple of years and the depth on this team is so much deeper, by five or six players. If we do make any changes, it will be players who are ready and willing to step on and the level hopefully won't drop," Henderson said.
Henderson said the Wizards want to do well in the Open Cup, but they must look at the big picture of the MLS season, so any changes made will be because of a guarded approach to some players coming back from injury or offseason surgery. But there is also a pervasive feeling throughout the Wizards camp that the young charges -- midfielders Kurt Morsink and Michael Harrington, defender Aaron Hohlbein and forward Yuri Movsisyan, just to name a few -- can play.
"If you watch, you can't tell they are rookie players. You can't always find that when you're going to a draft pick," Henderson said. "The confidence of some of these guys from playing with the youth national teams has really helped. They're confident in their abilities. Of course, they need to learn some things about being a pro and pacing themselves, but talent-wise they're right there."
For Harrington, being around experienced MLS players like Henderson, head coach Curt Onalfo and assistant Kris Kelderman on the staff, as well as the veterans on the team, is something he relishes.
"They give us a hard time every once in a while just because we're rookies, but they give us information every day. They're not just being hard on us, they're actually giving us things we can work on and put into our games to make us better players," Harrington said. "We have a big veteran base on our team, so it's like having 10 coaches out there helping you get through the game and just get better. That's been great for me."
But there is no better training than being on the field when it's do or die, when every action and reaction impacts the result, like it will be Wednesday. That's when the lessons mean the most.
"Choosing the right times to be aggressive, what to do when you are fatigued and where to be in certain situations comes from experience," Henderson said. "Also, how you shape your body. [These are all things] that can make a difference at the end of the game."
The winner of the match will next take on the Colorado Rapids at a date to be announced (before May 28). If Real Salt Lake win, they will travel to Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Denver. If the Wizards win, they will play host to the Rapids.
Wednesday's match is a big one. Not just for the desire to move on or the inherent intensity, but for the opportunity it might afford a player to make a lasting impression.
"The semifinals were the farthest I ever made it in 11 years of being in the Open Cup. Three-fourths of the time, the reserve team would play," Henderson said. "But there were times when you had to put in starters because you were chasing the game against some lower division team and the crowd was right on top of the field and you find yourself down and they're packing it in. Back then, the first 11-13 players were solid, then there was a huge dropoff. Now it's getting deeper where there are 15-16 really solid players. Now it's a little bit easier to bring in players [12] to 15 and there's not really a dropoff; they're hungry and fighting for a starting spot."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
