SB Nation Kansas City - Kansas City Wizards Draw Defending MLS Champs Real Salt Lake, 1-1https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48935/kc-fave.png2010-08-09T22:36:48-05:00http://kansascity.sbnation.com/rss/stream/13706782010-08-09T22:36:48-05:002010-08-09T22:36:48-05:00Three Answers: Kansas City Wizards Vs. Real Salt Lake
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<p>Before every Kansas City Wizards upcoming game, I do my own version of the three keys for a Wizards victory. I call it “Three Questions.” It occured to me that I was asking the questions, but leaving them unanswered. I know how much it irritates me when I ask someone a question, but to no response.</p>
<p>Therefore, starting now, I’ll be answering my own Three Questions following every game.</p>
<h4><strong>1. What will the different effect of having both starting full backs against RSL make compared to the first matchup?</strong></h4>
<p>In short, it made a world of difference. As I mentioned <a target="_blank" href="http://thedailywiz.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/three-questions-wizards-vs-real-salt-lake/">when posing the question</a>, where Real Salt Lake killed the Kansas City defense in the first matchup was predominantly on the right side of the defense with regular right back Michael Harrington playing left back in place of Roger Espinoza, who was training for the World Cup with the Honduran national team.</p>
<p>This time around, Alvaro Saborio found far less room to roam and minus the complete gaffe on Robbie Findley’s goal (which was a handball, admitted by Findley), the defense was nearly airtight. It was, of course, the center of the defense with the momentary lapse of focus that lead to the goal, which Wizards fans have become accustomed to.</p>
<p>The defense as a whole was above their average performance level and did a fairly good job of minimizing the necessity of Jimmy Nielsen heroic saves. Actually, Nielsen may have been so well protected this week that he may not have had opportunity to create an entry into the MLS Save of the Week competition. Well done, backline. Shavar Thomas and Jimmy Conrad played a passable center tandem for the third game in a row; while Harrington and Espinoza were great, as usual, both in defense and pressing forward out wide. They pick and choose their spots so well. That went a long way in picking up the result against arguably the best team in the league.</p>
<h4><strong><span id="more-267"></span>2. Does Craig Rocastle have another overachieving performance in him?</strong></h4>
<p>Games are often, if not always, won and lost in the midfield. Rocastle’s recent rise from mediocrity and its correlation to the team’s much-improved play has been well-documented at <a href="http://thedailywiz.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Daily Wiz</a>. While he wasn’t quite as good as he was against Toronto FC last week, Craig came with another high work rate performance and did a good job of winning the ball back early and often.</p>
<p>I’ve said that his partnership with true holding midfielder Stephane Auvray has been the real spark to the recent run of results. Again on Saturday, Rocastle could be found winning the ball in the KC half of the field, then also pushing into the final third feeding of forwards Teal Bunbury and Ryan Smith all in the same counter attack. Rocastle and Auvray have formed a nice partnership and chemistry that one of them always covers back in defense while the other is the fourth or fifth man forward in attack.</p>
<p>For all the flack (deservedly so) Rocastle received early in the year for his rash behavior on the field, he has toned himself down and gotten himself to a level of fitness where he can be a regular contributor. Also, after listening to Dave Borchardt’s sit-down <a target="_blank" href="http://kctv.neulion.com/mlsvp/console.jsp?catid=960&id=7704">interview with Rocastle</a> on Monday, I can’t help but really start to like him and get a little excited about his prospects.</p>
<h4><strong>3. What is the status of Wizards winger Ryan Smith for Saturday’s game?</strong></h4>
<p>Smith was in the starting XI on Saturday and boy, was he ready to go. It was vintage (can you call something only months old, vintage?) Ryan Smith.</p>
<p>He was to the Wizards what Saborio was to Salt Lake in the two sides' first matchup of the season. For my money, I’d say no one in MLS has the shifty ability of Smith, or his ability to go, stop, go quite as quickly. When he is at full effort and not jawing with opponents, (and being carded for it, as he was on Saturday) he’s nearly imposible to defend.</p>
<p>What are you supposed to do with someone who can blow by you out wide, dance circles around or cut inside and dash past two defenders to the top of the 18-yard box? Ryan’s assist on Kei Kamara’s goal in the 21st minute was a direct product of his hustle tracking down an over-hit cross in the corner, using his trickery to wiggle free momentarily and putting the ball back into the box. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcwizards.com/news/2010/08/rsl-man-match">He’s got to be Man of the Match</a> as far as Kansas City is concerned, right?</p>
<p>Anytime you’ve got three key points like that coming into an important game and your players step up to the challenge and answer them like the Wiz did on Saturday, you’re going to get a result. Whether you feel you deserved the full three points or not, you have to be happy with the draw and move on to the next one.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/2010/8/9/1614766/three-answers-kansas-city-wizards-real-salt-lakeAndy Edwards2010-08-06T00:09:30-05:002010-08-06T00:09:30-05:00From The Opposing Blogger: Kansas City Wizards vs Real Salt Lake
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<p>With the impending move of The Daily Wiz to the SB Nation network, I decided it was as good a time as any to call upon manager of the Real Salt Lake blog of the network for this week’s version of the Opposing Blogger Interview. I reached out to Denzel Eslinger of <a href="http://www.rslsoapbox.com/" target="_blank">RSL Soapbox</a> and he was more than kind enough to fill me in a bit on the latest happening of the defending MLS Cup champions. We exchanged questions in either direction, so take the time to jump over there and see what he was interested in hearing about the Wizards, and fill him in on anything I may have neglected.</p>
<p><em>Without any further ado, on to the Q&A.</em></p>
<p><strong>1. With the US national team friendly against Brazil scheduled for this coming Tuesday and Robbie Findley being one of only three forwards named in the squad, one would expect him to not feature in Saturday’s league game. Are you at all worried about your side’s attacking fortitude on Saturday, given you’ll essentially be without a heralded substitute striker in the severe heat in the Midwest of late?</strong></p>
<p>A) Not at all, while I am not sure when Robbie will be heading out to join the USMNT, we know that RSL can score plenty of goals without him, he was gone almost all of May and June, during which the team was 6-0-2 in league play. RSL is one of the deepest teams in MLS with 12 different players having scored goals and 12 different players with assists, including Alvaro Saborio who has 8 goals and 4 assists. Sure I am hoping we can use Robbie for a half, he speed would be a huge advantage with the small pitch at CommunityAmerica, but I am confident we will be able to survive and continue to thrive.<br> <span id="more-254"></span></p>
<p><strong>2. With the successes of winning a league title comes the burden, if you will, of representing your league in the continental Champions League. As defending league champions, Salt Lake are automatically through to the group stage. Now that you’ve won an MLS Cup, how do you personally hope to see head coach Jason Kreis balance the two competitions going on at once? Is it a case of “we’ve won MLS, let’s try and win something else”? Any potential adjustments to the gameday roster to accomodate upcoming CCL games?</strong></p>
<p>A) If there is one thing people should know about Jason, it is that he hates to lose, at anything. He is very competitive and that nature has really translated itself to the team as a whole. I think Real Salt Lake is one of the deeper teams in MLS, as we showed in MLS Cup, when we lost two players before the start of the second half. So far this year we have adjusted to the loss of Ned Grabavoy for a month, Kyle Beckerman for two months, Robbie Findley’s time with the USMNT, and even Javier Morales missing several matches. We have 16 players with over 200 minutes of first team MLS action, and that depth will give RSL the ability to deal with the hectic schedule of 14 matches in 54 days. I think the number of players we had out on loan to get minutes will also help out, both of our backup keepers spent time in Charleston, we also had a couple players spend time with AC St. Louis in recent weeks to get some match conditions in. I do expect that as the CCL kicks in that you will see a lineup that will feature a number of different looks, we have 3 very good outside backs, 3 guys who can play d-mid, 5-6 who can play on the outside of the midfield, and 2-3 who can be that creative midfielder, and even at striker we have 3 top guys (Findley, Saborio, Espindola) and off the bench Pablo Campos who got the game winner against KC at CommunityAmerica for RSL last year.</p>
<p><strong>3. Amidst the recent wave of Designated Player signings across MLS, two of the few teams that have not made a significant splash in the summer trasnfer window are Salt Lake and Kansas City. Why no signings, and is this worrisome on your part with fellow league contenders making such noise?</strong></p>
<p>A) I think KC is in a boat where they have a lot of money invested into the building of their new stadium, and with limited income of a small facility it is hard to spend big dollars on a player. That may change for KC next year as they look to fill a new stadium. For RSL, I think it is two-fold, first is that we are the smallest market in the league and while we draw well, we are still as an organization turning the corner to being profitable and able to start paying off our stadium. Second is that I don’t think Jason, Garth(GM) or Bill (president), are convinced that we need to bring in a big name player. We are 10-4-4 with our current roster, we did bring in Saborio in the offseason to fill the shoes of Yura Movsisyian who headed off to Europe. I do believe that we will end up the year with at least one DP, if not two, but I believe it will be new deals for Robbie Findley and/or Alvaro Saborio as RSL look to keep their core of players together.</p>
<p>I am not convinced that big name DP’s make a huge difference in MLS, one only has to look at the loaded LA Galaxy team that RSL beat last year in the MLS Cup. Even with the new rules, having 15-18 solid players is going to be better than having 2-3 stars and only 5-6 solid players to play with them.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/2010/8/6/1608432/from-the-opposing-blogger-kansas-wizards-real-salt-lakeAndy Edwards2010-08-05T09:00:09-05:002010-08-05T09:00:09-05:00Three Questions: Kansas City Wizards vs Real Salt Lake
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<p>Seven points from three league games. I’m not going to beat around the bushes with some long-winded lead-in to my three questions for Saturday’s home game against <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/mls/teams/REA" class="sbn-auto-link">Real Salt Lake</a>. This team is on a hot damn roll and we owe this Salt Lake side a little consideration of payback for the 4-1 thrashing they put on our <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/mls/teams/KAN" class="sbn-auto-link">Wizards</a> back on May 29 in Utah. This is a really big game in context of the 2010 season.</p>
<p>This team is full-steam ahead, so I’ll be the same. They are, after all, <a target="_blank" href="http://thedailywiz.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/the-daily-wiz-announcement-and-a-guarantee/">going to the playoffs</a> <i>this </i>year.</p>
<h4><b>1. What will the different effect of having both starting full backs against RSL make compared to the first matchup?</b></h4>
<p>Where the game at Rio Tinto was lost was on the wide part of the right side of Kansas City defense. If you think back, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/fifa/players/110347/Roger_Espinoza" class="sbn-auto-link">Roger Espinoza</a> left the team in the previous week and a half leading up to that game to train with the Honduran national team before the World Cup. Subsequently, regular right back <span>Michael Harrington</span> was shifted from right to Espinoza’s spot on the left and started in Harrington’s spot on the right.</p>
<p>Not only did the Wizards lose Espinoza’s great skill and defending on the left (Harrington is more than capable of playing either side), but Harrington is, in my mind, an elite level MLS right back. When you have to shift his position, a gaping hole is left for exploitation. And, exploit that weakness RSL did. <span>Alvaro Saborio</span> and <span>Fabian Espindola</span> ran loosely down the right side of the KC defense and each scored first half goals. Poor Jonathon Leathers, put in an impossible position, was left hung to dry for 90 minutes. Perhaps leaving Harrington on the right to play the speedy pair would have been better, but that’s months ago and water under the bridge. April, May and June weren’t exactly head coach Peter Vermes’ claim to genius.</p>
<p>Fast forward to August 7, and the full compliment of Harrington and Espinoza will be in the starting XI. What exactly does that do for KC’s chances Saturday? To put it frankly, a hell of a lot. At ages 24 and 23, respectively, the fullback duo of Harrington and Espinoza have to be considered an elite MLS pairing and a real gleam of hope for the future.</p>
<p>As for this game, if Espindola and/or Saborio have games anywhere near the first matchup against the regular duo, not to mention the smaller CommunityAmerica Ballpark field, I’ll be shocked and fully accept the blame for jinxing the team.</p>
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<span id="more-243"></span><b>2. Does <span class="sbn-auto-link">Craig Rocastle</span> have another overachieving performance in him?</b>
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<p>Over the span of the last four games in all competitions, Rocastle has unquestionably the most surprising player in the Wizards squad. He was less than awful the first half of the season – much like the entire team as a whole – in picking up nearly a yellow card per appearance. Over time, though, Rocastle has caught the eye of Vermes, won himself a starting XI spot against Columbus, performed admirably, started against Colorado, repeat cycle twice over.</p>
<p>Much of his improved play can probably be attributed to the return to lineup and health of holding midfielder <span>Stephane Auvray</span>. When Auvray missed near all of May and June, the squad was left without a true holding center midfielder. Rocastle was given a chance to fill the role, but he’s not a true holding mid. As the chief winner and distributor of the ball, he struggled mightily and often found himself in risky situations, which often spelled trouble for the Kansas City defense.</p>
<p>However, with the return of Auvray, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.downthebyline.com/2010/08/july-player-of-month.html">Down The Byline’s Player of the Month for July</a>, Rocastle is free to play more of a "roamer" role, allowing him to play from box to box and sideline to sideline, rather than strictly in the center of the field. Results have been near stellar. Rocastle played a beautiful ball to <span>Davy Arnaud</span> for a goal against Colorado and has often found himself in the middle of many attacks into the opponent’s final third. His combination of size and aggressive play make him and ideal ball winner.</p>
<p>When it comes to RSL, Rocastle will need to be a key player once again. Along side Auvray, they will be charged with the task of halting the creative force in the Tmiddle that is <span>Kyle Beckerman</span>. If there were a time at all this year when Salt Lake struggled, it was during Beckerman’s extended injury period. Kyle Beckerman is so good that he can miss more than half the season, yet still make the All-Star roster. That’s something. (Or, at least that’s what MLS will have you to believe. <i>The All-Star voting isn’t a joke at all.</i>)</p>
<h4><b>3. What is the status of Wizards winger <span class="sbn-auto-link">Ryan Smith</span> for Saturday’s game?</b></h4>
<p>Perhaps more than any one player on the Wizards roster, Smith can create duck stew out of pigeon crap and create goal-scoring opportuinties out of nothing with a sudden darting run inside. And, for that reason, it goes without saying that could do for having a healthy Smith in the gameday 18, whether it be in the starting XI, or on the bench.</p>
<p>As far as status on Smith’s injury, the only mention since the Toronto game is this line from the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.kcwizards.com/">kcwizards.com</a> postgame article:</p>
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<p>Kansas City was dealt a blow in the 56th minute when left winger Ryan Smith pulled up lame as he grabbed at his right hamstring. He was removed for Wolff two minutes later with a hamstring strain.</p>
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<p>As of this moment, there’s no new, real news of yet. Expect to hear something official come Thrusday afternoon at the weekly press conference. Check back with either Down The Byline, or<a target="_blank" href="http://www.backpost.net/"> The Back Post </a>later in the afternoon. The potential of not having Smith in the lineup for such a crucial game against such a worthy opponent can’t be overstated. If Smith is unable to go Saturday, Vermes might be forced to go back to <span>Josh Wolff</span> in the starting XI. That strategy didn’t exactly work like a charm the first half of the season. Is it too late to hold <span>Sunil Chhetri</span> back from joining the Indian national team? No, I’m totally not kidding…</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/2010/8/5/2318889/three-questions-kansas-city-wizards-vs-real-salt-lakeAndy Edwards