By Kurt Austin, special KC Wizards correspondent and President, Mizzou Soccer Club
The Kansas City Wizards will play their second game in five days, both on the road, when they take on the Columbus Crew tonight at 6:30 p.m. The two teams enter the game with their seasons headed in drastically different directions. The Crew are winless in their last seven and sit in last place in the Eastern Conference, while the Wizards are unbeaten in their last four and are just one point shy of first.
Making matters worse for the Columbus squad, several key players will be unavailable due to international commitments, injury, or suspension. Veteran Frankie Hejduk is with the U.S. Men’s National Team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and youthful contributors Tim Ward, Robbie Rogers, and Danny Szetela are with the U.S. U-20 National Team preparing for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Forwards Ricardo Virtuoso and Andy Herron are both listed as out on the injury report, and defender Rusty Pierce will miss his first game of the season with a yellow-card suspension.
While Kansas City will again be without MLS’ leading scorer, Eddie Johnson, on paper the match-up looks to be heavily in their favor. Columbus is tied for last in the league in goals allowed per game at 1.64, which should be music to the ears of a Wizards offense ranked first in the league in goals scored per game at 2.2. Add in the opportunity to regain first place with a game in hand and there should be little need for any more motivation from coach Curt Onalfo. Coincidentally, a win would ensure Onalfo is awarded the honor of coaching the MLS All-Star team against Celtic on July 19th.
Nevertheless, the last time these two teams met this season it was an extremely even affair with the Wizards prevailing 1-0 on a Jose Burciaga Jr. goal in the 91st minute – the first of what has turned into a trend of late-game dramatics both for and against the Wizards.
There are three keys for a KC Wizards win:
1. Get on the board first. Kansas City is 4-0-0 when scoring first. Columbus is 0-4-1 when allowing the opening goal. As of late the Wizards have taken the considerably more challenging comeback route, not having scored first in their last five games.
2. Control the second half. Many of KC’s comebacks have been possible thanks to superb showings in the second halves of matches. Kansas City is first in the league in second half goals scored per game at 1.4, a statistic the Crew ranks last in at 0.27 goals scored per game.
3. Don’t forget about defense. The Wizards have failed to record a shutout in five games, their last coming against the Crew on May 5th. And though Columbus struggled to score early in the season – being shutout five of their first eight games — they haven’t been shutout in the four games since and last week the Crew found the net three times in an away tie at New England. Columbus’ offense will be led by the dangerous duo of Boca Juniors legend Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Alejandro Moreno. Schelotto has an assist in three consecutive games and Moreno has been on the scoresheet in four straight, scoring in their last two.
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