KANSAS CITY, Kan. – All is not lost for the Wizards. Not yet.
Kansas City lost 2-1 to Seattle at CommunityAmerica Ballpark on Saturday night, but, mathematically speaking, manager Peter Vermes’ side remains in playoff contention by the skin of its teeth.
It’s certainly a long shot, but if the Wizards can win their final three games against Chicago, New England and San Jose and Colorado lose their final two, Kansas City would advance to the postseason by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker with the Rapids.
“The amazing thing is mathematically we’re still in it,” Vermes said.
And as incredible as it may be, the margin of error from here on out is nonexistent for Kansas City.
While Seattle celebrated their second-straight postseason berth with a cadre of dedicated traveling supporters at CAB, the home team was once again left to wonder what could have been.
The Wizards outshot the Sounders 18-8 and hit the post and crossbar, but simply couldn’t fight back from their fourth-straight deficit, leaving the team with a 1-3-0 record since collecting 21 of 30 points to roar back into playoff contention.
“We’re obviously very disappointed because, realistically, we knew that we needed a win tonight,” captain Davy Arnaud said. “Mathematically, we’re still in it and we’re going to push to win the last three games, but tonight’s loss hurts a lot.”
Faced with what amounted to a must-win, Kansas City played for three points but couldn’t find a way to break down a Seattle team that has used its own late-season renaissance to lock up another playoff berth.
Once again, the Wizards felt like they played well enough to win but didn’t execute when it mattered, leaving a sense of déjà vu among a side that has struggled to turn performances into results this season.
“It wasn’t enough on our part to get the three points,” Vermes said. “We didn’t deserve the three points. It wasn’t enough. Although we had chances and we hit the crossbar and we hit the post and all those other things you can say, it just wasn’t enough.”
Seattle, who were coming off winning a second-consecutive U.S. Open Cup title on Tuesday, would have qualified for the playoffs with either a victory or a draw and certainly played for the point in the early going.
Sounder’s manager Sigi Schmid made that mindset even clearer when he removed Fredy Montero for Nate Jaqua in the 65th minute, but Sanna Nyassi scored the opening goal a minute later and Alvaro Fernandez killed the game 12 minutes later with a second.
“Credit to those guys, they played a very sound, organized game,” Vermes said. “They did a very good job on the outsides against us where we have a lot of our danger in attack.”
And with San Jose’s 2-0 victory against D.C. United and Seattle’s victory, the playoff picture is now coming into focus and Kansas City increasingly is fading from view.
But, as the math attests, the Wizards aren’t quite dead yet, even if the odds are getting longer by the day.
“Anything can happen and we just have to focus on our game in Chicago,” Vermes said. “We don’t have anything but getting some points there, and that means three of them.”
