Given the four changes in the lineup made by Kansas City Wizards coach Bob Gansler, it's understandable to point to that as the reason for the club's best performance of the season last Saturday, a 4-0 demolition of the Columbus Crew on the road.
But coming as it did after a 3-3 draw with FC Dallas when the Wizards gave up two goals in the final 20 minutes, the reason for the reversal of fortunes might be simply an attitude adjustment -- helped by the coach.
"Good teams take adversity as a bettering tool, and that's what our guys did," said Gansler. "I admonished them after Dallas -- that fire was burning in their bellies all week long. I think the biggest motivating factor was not rearranging but how our guys felt after piddling away a two-goal lead the week before."
Still Gansler knows that a change, or changes, no matter how tactical, can have other positive outcomes.
"As a coach sometimes you tweak things because you want an improvement in performance," Gansler said. "Maybe sometimes when we get a new mission, it increases the concentration level."
Gansler's adjustments concentrated mainly on what had gone wrong against FC Dallas.
"Against Dallas we allowed ourselves to be exposed because we gave them looks where they could knock the ball into [forward Carlos] Ruiz or [partner Eddie] Johnson for the combinations they were looking for," he said. "We wanted to make sure that [Columbus forwards Edson] Buddle and [Cornell] Glen or Buddle and [Ante] Razov weren't going to get those looks."
Thus Sasha Victorine, playing central midfield for the first time this season, Alex Zotinca, playing wide on the left, and incumbent center midfielder Kerry Zavagnin had their mission.
"Alex did decently [in central midfield] the game before and Sasha is extremely comfortable there. We needed to do better in terms of defending and holding the ball at midfield, and I think both of those guys contributed heavily to that," said Gansler. "Also, it allowed Zavagnin to stay a little more central and be the guy who plays into those passing lanes to the opponents' center forward. Kerry did well closing that down; Sasha and Alex did well [too]."
The last two of Gansler's maneuvers focused on the back line and revisiting an old combination and orchestration. Starting in central defense for the first time since September of last season was Jamaican Shavar Thomas, and returning to the position he has played most with the Wizards -- right back -- was Nick Garcia.
"We needed to shore up defensively a little bit and Shavar has been very good in practice and in the reserve games," Gansler said. "We decided that he needed an opportunity to go from the first minute on."
Garcia, the five-year Wizard veteran, was comfortable with the switch because of its familiarity.
"On paper, it's kind of a four-man back, sometimes it's three. I think we know each other well enough to shift and move; it's easy for us to pick up on," he said. "A similar situation is maybe in 2000, maybe a little bit last year, when we played three in the back. It's just a matter of mixing things up because it's no surprise what we do out there."
"Since 2000 (the year of the Wizards' MLS title and Garcia's rookie year), I've played on the left, I've played in the middle, I've played on the right, and now I'm back on the right and a bit in the midfield. For me, I enjoy the challenge. I think it keeps me sharp and ready to go," said Garcia.
"I don't think too much should be made of how we rearrange people on the blackboard. It was all about them having that right mindset, that 0-0 mentality for 90+ minutes," Gansler said. "It's basically the same guys, and they just might start five yards further to one side or another or a little forward or a little deeper. It's about the guys going out there and doing their job in a pretty admirable way. This is not about formations; this is about players, what players bring.
"Our guys didn't take the mentality of well, one won't hurt us ... somebody else will bail me out, so I'll just let him go. To their credit, they did extremely well."
Both Gansler and Garcia believe that consistency must come after the triumph against the Crew. Surprisingly, both also hinted that the seemingly magical lineup might not be consistent no matter the ending joy of its initial run out.
"I don't know. You think things out, but sometimes there's a gut feeling. Whatever it takes for us to be successful is what these guys are willing to do. That's what they tell me, and I believe it," Gansler said.
"Anytime you can score four goals and not give up any, I think -- world peace!" said Garcia. "We've taken a step in the right direction, now it's just a matter of taking this further on in the season."
Robert Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
