Please excuse Kansas City Wizards' head coach Curt Onalfo for not paying too much attention to David Beckham's arrival in Major League Soccer. He has his team's own landmark event to celebrate.
"I have a depth chart that I put together at the beginning of the season of what I wanted as my starting lineup, and for the first time, God willing, we'll be able to play that against Real Salt Lake going into the second half of the season. That makes me feel very, very confident," said Onalfo.
With the return of Jimmy Conrad and Eddie Johnson from Copa America duty with the U.S. national team and the hopeful recovery of Jose Luis Burciaga, Jr., from injury (he will be evaluated Friday), the Wizards arsenal is fully stocked for Saturday's match, and, hopefully, the rest of the season. As a result, some players who have been seeing significant time on the pitch will have to give way.
Assuming Burciaga is recovered from a hamstring strain, rookie Michael Harrington will move back up to left midfield. Harrington, who filled in for Burciaga at left back the last two matches, is ready for the switch.
"I'd be happy about that. It's good to get Eddie back and Jose and get back to playing left mid," said Harrington, scorer of three goals from the midfield. "I was successful there the first half of the season, and I would like to get back up into the attack and start scoring some goals."
Harrington's attacking speed and aggressiveness fit right in with Onalfo's attacking focus, and so does competition at the all-important forward position. With Johnson sure to start, the battle to be his partner is on.
"The beauty is we have enormous competition, and that breeds really great things, especially in that position," Onalfo stated. "Our options are [Scott] Sealy, [Yura] Movsisyan, [Ryan] Pore, and Davy [Arnaud]."
Soon another name will likely be added to that list.
"We're going to look to try to add a player to our team that can help us," said Onalfo, referring to recent trialist Argentinean midfielder/forward Eloy Colombano.
The pacy addition is designed to add another bon a fide finisher to keep the attack consistent, although the 23-year-old Johnson has been a one-man wrecking crew, especially in his last two outings when he scored a hat trick in each. Johnson's return after six matches away is expected to turn the ties and one-goal defeats the team produced in his absence into wins.
"It's really difficult to put that much faith in one guy," said Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, "But, at the end of the day, he is the one who scored two hat tricks in two games before he left. He has that ability.
"We're a team that really believes that tactically we can be successful and we can find ways to win without him..., but I don't necessarily feel that there are very many players in the league that have the talent to score a hat trick in two straight games... So I do see it as a group thing, but at the end of the day it takes a classy finisher to take care of it."
Real Salt Lake's Saturday visit to Arrowhead is the first of a series of three games at home on consecutive weekends for the Wizards. In a similar series before their 2-2 tie in Los Angeles last Saturday, the Wizards gained only one point out of nine.
"We have to capitalize on those [home games]," said Onalfo. "We've missed some opportunities; we know that. We need to continue to improve every day like everybody else is and make a push now that we're at the halfway mark during the season."
Currently the Wizards are tied for fourth with the resurgent Columbus Crew, each with 22 points. But they are only three points away from the top of the Eastern Conference. The surge to make the playoffs and be on top of their game going in begins Saturday.
"When you think of the playoffs as a whole, you have to be nails at home, and that's something we want to create again," said team captain Conrad. "We need to make sure that we have the right attitude and mindset that every time we step on the field at Arrowhead, we get three points. You have to take care of business at home."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
