KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Jimmy Nielsen endured a 17-game winless streak between the pipes before earning his first professional victory. Then Nielsen hit the 17-game mark again last season with now-relegated Vejle in Denmark.
Those skids make the nine-game winless stretch in Kansas City seem almost brief in comparison.
If Nielsen’s professional experience has taught him anything, it’s that there’s no secret to ending the rough stretch in which the Wizards find themselves now.
“There’s no magic to getting out of it,” Nielsen said. “It’s just hard work.”
Kansas City turned to a time-honored ritual in professional sports – the team meeting – on Tuesday to discuss where the season stands after nine games and the plans in place to push forward from here.
In losing six of their last eight in league play and seven of nine overall, coach Peter Vermes’ side is trying to rediscover the swagger and confidence it exuded early in the season. More than anything, the Wizards have gone from the aggressors in victories against D.C. United and the Colorado Rapids to allowing their opponents to drive play and dictate tempo while making silly mistakes of their own in the process.
“It’s just getting the mentality back that we had at the beginning of the year,” midfielder Jack Jewsbury said. “I think we had a mentality that no matter what, we were going to come out and impose our will on teams. That has changed over the past month or so.”
As the attitude surrounding the team changed, so did the results.
Houston, D.C. United, Columbus and Real Salt Lake all took advantage of the drop in confidence and form to hand Kansas City four defeats in five games, beginning May 1.
Even the Wizards’ 2-2 draw against Chicago was minutes away from ending in another loss before two second-half goals by Kei Kamara prevented the Wizards from walking away completely empty handed.
When the streak started in early May, the Wizards could point to some questionable refereeing decisions and their positive play in defeat as a sign that things would get better. But with the games between victories mounting and the gap widening between Kansas City and the Eastern Conference elite – the Crew hold a 13-point advantage –Vermes said the time had come to let actions do the talking.
“I think you can do all the talking you want,” Vermes said, “and I think it’s healthy. But at the end of the day, it’s what you do on the field.”
Through March and April, the Wizards right on track on the field even while integrating a crop of new signings and draft picks into the team. They claimed two convincing victories against United and Colordado, were unlucky to lose at Seattle and drew a Los Angeles side that remains the hottest team in the league.
But that was then, and now the pressure is on the Wizards to produce results regardless of the level of each performance. They’ll look to break the streak Saturday on the road against Toronto FC.
“Now, it doesn’t matter how good we play or how bad we play,” Nielsen said. “It’s all about getting some points now. It will be like playoffs now.”
