Robb Heineman is one of the five principal partners who make up OnGoal, the ownership group of the Kansas City Wizards.  Heineman is the CEO of Ongoal and the chief spokesperson for the organization.  Today Heineman posted the following statement on the Wizards official blog, Hillcrest Road:

So one of the hardest aspects of all this is determining what’s “politically correct” to say about your team when they’re in a slump. Obviously, it’s not like we’re oblivious to the fact that we haven’t been very good lately. I’ve tried to do my best to read the blogs, boards, etc. and try to get a sense for what people are thinking…..and largely it’s pretty tough to disagree with the sentiment.

I guess at this point the only plea I can try to offer is the fact that we WANT to win badly. Right now that’s not translating all that well….obviously. What may seem to be a haphazard approach is anything but. Our mentality is win now, win later….at the present time “win now” isn’t going as planned.

What I want to make sure we don’t do is BS our fans. We need to make sure our narrative is matching what you’re seeing on the field. Our mantra of attack, attack, attack isn’t what we’ve delivered and we’re aware of it. Our veterans are incredibly committed to this team and this town and we’re spending the time and effort to fix this.

You don’t have any reason to, but I’m going to try to ask you to believe in the program….sleep hasn’t been much of an option lately, and i’ve shot my mouth off that this town is dying for a winner. it is…..we’re going to get this program positioned to deliver a first class product…..please feel free to put me in the crosshairs up until the point u feel necessary to pull the trigger….

Most fans will appreciate Heineman’s honesty and transparency.  How many owners blog? How many owners even know what a blog is?  Heineman hired Peter Vermes and Curt Onalfo to build and guide a team to wins, playoffs, and eventually championships.  This tandem is in their first full season to carry out Heineman’s mission and the Wizards have regressed.  There have been flashes of the attacking vision they have touted, but since the first half of the Chivas game in early August the Wizards play has been horrible.  The Kansas City midfield, particularly in the center positions, is utterly punchless managing no consistent final third penetration.  The midfield has provided extremely poor service to the army of players who have taken a turn at forward this year.  The latest moves to acquire forwards Josh Wolff, Abe Thompson and Herculez Gomez will not translate to goals or wins if the KC midfield continues its dismal play.  Carlos Marinelli has been a bust,  judging by his play, Kerry Zavagnin seems to have retired well before his announced official retirement at season’s end, Sasha Victorine can’t stay healthy (and can’t really play center mid anyways),  and Kurt Morsink is hardly the answer either.  Vermes and Onalfo are responsible for the success or failure of this season since they are the soccer minds tapped to construct and guide the team.  Still, Robb Heineman in very commendable fashion takes the blame squarely on his shoulders. 

It is unlikely the Wizards will make the playoffs this year, but it is equally unlikely that Robb Heineman will let the status quo linger for much longer.  

The Kansas City Wizards find themselves locked in a four way tie for the last playoff spot in the East.  There are several factors that have allowed them to be playoff contenders this season, but none probably figures more prominently than the play of veteran goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.  Despite being unduly snubbed by the all-star popularity contest, Hartman’s statistics are very respectable again this year, his 12^th in the MLS.  He has a 1.32 goals against average having played every minute of the Wizards’ 19 league games thus far.  Yes, his stats are sound, but they don’t tell the whole story. 

Obviously there are all sorts of variables that lead to the outcome of 90 minute matches; however a good case can be made for Kevin Hartman being the reason Kansas City has 25 points instead of 17.  There were five games where Hartman was the key reason Kansas City won or drew.  Their ties against Houston, New York, and Toronto should have been losses, plain and simple.   Their win against Chicago should have been a tie, but easily could have been a loss.  Their win against Chivas this past Saturday should have been a draw.  Kevin Hartman made monster saves in each of these games or they would have 17 points, not 25.  He has allowed a few weak goals this year, but none resulted in a loss of points (i.e. the second Columbus game he botched the Rogers goal, but they lost 3-0).  He has made key saves in every game.

To appreciate Hartman’s value to Kansas City this season it must be noted that he is playing with only one consistent piece in front of him, Jimmy Conrad.  His other defenders have been changing almost every game and all of them are very inexperienced.  Two of the more regular KC backs are actually converted midfielders (Harrington and Jewsbury).  Other than all-star Jimmy Conrad, the KC backline has been anything but settled, yet they have allowed just 25 goals in 19 games.  Clearly the Conrad-Hartman combo is the main reason for the stingy D.  In addition to an inexperienced defense in front of him, Kansas City’s midfield was a mess for most of the first 15 games and its forwards have been worse.  The last few games have revealed improvement in both areas, but Hartman hasn’t been given much room for error when his teammates have only netted 20 goals in 19 games.  Just one team is more anemic on the scoreboard, the expansion San Jose Quakes.  How can a team find itself still in playoff contention with only 20 goals for?  They have a stellar goalkeeper- Kevin Hartman.

When Hartman came to Kansas City last season his credentials were obvious- he led the league in most all time goalkeeping categories.  First in shut outs and wins and in the upper ranks of all the major goalkeeping categories.  He had a solid season last year, yet most would probably say he was in decline.  During the off season however, Hartman dropped 20 pounds and has put together a campaign that is most impressive.  It’s doubtful many people will look back on Hartman’s career and pick the 2008 season as one of his best, especially having won goalkeeper of the year in 1999 and two MLS titles with L.A. in 2002 and 2005, but from a contribution to his team perspective, Hartman has done a remarkable thing this year  at a stage of his career when you would not expect such an impact from him.

Speaking of his career, Hartman is closing in on 300 games played in MLS.  No one has done that.  He is third in all time minutes played.  It’s true that Hartman isn’t Buffon or Dida, but it would be easy enough to argue he has put together the best goalkeeping career in MLS history.   Kevin Hartman is an amazing story when you consider he had to prove himself at every level before ascending.  He essentially played for three high school teams and two different colleges.   He had to start his career with the Galaxy behind the legendary Campos, win back his job in L.A. from Matt Reis, and then re-establish himself in KC after 10 seasons on a different team.  In every place he has proved to be strong enough to be a major factor in his team’s success.  This year is no different for Kevin Hartman, and the Wizards are getting it for a mere $150,000.  Talk about a deal.  It can be rightly said he is the heart of Kansas City.

Curt Onalfo, like several coaches before, rolled the dice when he brought Carlos Marinelli to Kansas City.  Part and parcel to Onalfo’s plan for an “attacking” team is a skillful, ball carrying central midfielder.  Carlos Marinelli can be such a player when he’s healthy physically and psychologically focused, a balance he has not exhibited with consistency in his professional career so far.  His tenure in Kansas City seems to be going the way of his many previous stops as he finds himself outside of the Wizards line up more and more.

Marinelli is a special talent, one that has been noticed since he played as a teenager for the storied Boca Juniors in Argentina.  Argentina boasts some of the greatest footballers to ever play the game, none more prominent and noteworthy than Diego Maradona.  Carlos Marinelli showed such promise as a teen, he was labeled the “New Maradona” by the Argentinean media.  You can’t blame Curt Onalfo for taking a chance on a guy with that kind of scouting report.  Imagine even half of Maradona’s talent possessed in one person playing in the MLS.  Maybe the label was a curse.  At any rate, his reputation coming from Boca as a youngster landed him in the EPL with Middlesbrough (who paid a hefty sum for him) in 2000 at age 18.    The New Maradona never could establish a rhythm suffering various nagging  and sometimes puzzling injuries managing to play only 46 games in four seasons with Middlesbrough.  He did a short stint with Torino on loan from Middlesbrough, but ultimately was forced back to Argentina in 2004 in an attempt to re-establish himself.  Flashes of his predicted potential showed again as he bounced from Boca to Racing, then to Torino in Argentina.  The previous hype surrounding Marinelli could not have been empty as Portuguese scouts signed him to SC Braga in 2006.  Marinelli has a lure about him.  He has tremendous vision in the offensive half of the field and can do special things with the ball.  His accurate left foot makes him especially valuable as an attacking midfieler.  Marinelli has a way of impressing teams, lifting expectations, and making each coach think he’s about to break through.  Unfortunately he played just 4 games in the Portuguese first division with Braga before suffering another injury.  In 2007, even with a track record of puzzling injuries and seeming mental frailty (maybe these are related),  another coach decided to take a chance on the enigmatic halfback and he became a Kansas City Wizard.

If you have watched Marinelli this past MLS season and a half, he has moments of brilliance.  The moments just aren’t long enough to establish any kind of role for him.  At $115,000 per year, a talent like Marinelli could establish himself as a second half, off the bench spark for his team, much like he was against Real Salt Lake in Kansas City a couple weeks ago.  While the Wizards won the game on an own goal, Marinelli was the offensive catalyst that pushed KC over the edge in game they had to win.  Maybe Carlos will never be a 90-minute player, a solid offensive spark-type player is a legitimate role for a player in this league.  The problem with Marinelli is as local KC blogger Thad Bell wrote- “Carlos can play fantastic attacking mid for an average of 30 minutes every 4 games.”  It seems this has been Marinelli’s tendency his entire career, there are no signs it will change in Kansas City.

The Wizards pre-season line up was largely shaped around Marinelli’s attacking ability and creativity.  He had a very strong pre-season in his homeland, I am sure Onalfo and Vermes were salivating.  The Wizards charged out of the gates in the early games of the season and Marinelli had three pretty assists to Jimmy Conrad and many other solid serves and shots.  It really seemed after 3 games that Marinelli may have shaken his old demons.  Then came the Houston game.  Marinelli started the game, then seemed to tweak his groin.  He’s been spotty ever since.  After 16 league games for the Wizards, Marinelli has played in only 11 and has logged just 635 minutes.  Much of the Wizards floundering on the road after those opening games can be attributed to the absence of Marinelli.  Much stock was put in his being the main ball carrying midfielder, when he stopped playing regularly after the fourth game, it marked a clear change in the KC Midfield.  The few times he has played have yielded some good moments, but still more times when he disappears.  Maybe it’s a nagging groin pull or hamstring strain, perhaps it’s a psychological flaw, most likely it’s a combination.  He was mysteriously absent from practice earlier in the week prompting another local KC blogger, Mike Kuhn, to ask “Where in the world is Carlos Marinelli?”

Since 2000 Marinelli has played for 8 different clubs.  The first seven stints started with high expectations, contained flashes of virtuosity, then ended with injury and lack of production.  There are no signs that his current stay with the Wizards will be different.

The Kansas City Wizards announced Monday that they have completed a trade with the San Jose Earthquakes, sending Striker Scott Sealy to San Jose in exchange for allocation money. The 27 year old Trinidad native made 75 appearances for Kansas City scoring 26 goals, over a 3 year period, and received 22 Trinidad and Tobago National Team call ups. San Jose has been active lately, acquiring Darren Huckerby, in an attempt to bolster a lacking attack force. What do you think of the move?

We reported last week that the Kansas City Wizards were targeting former Wizards and Fire forward Josh Wolff, they have completed the signing today. Wolf made 80 appearances scoring 27 times between 2003 and 2006 with the Wizards before moving to 1860 Munich. At Munich Wolf scored 2 goals in 34 appearances and did not have his contract renewed. The 31 year old striker has 52 caps for the US National Team, and has completed his return to Kansas City. KC manager Curt Onalfo has coached Wolff during his time with the National Team and is very fond of the striker. The Wizards are one of the lowest scoring teams in MLS this season and have signed Wolff in an effort to bolster their attack. What do you think of the move?

Wizard’s fans might have caught a glimpse of what Curt Onalfo describes as an “attacking style” tonight in Kansas City’s 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake.   Onalfo has been promising such a style since he came to the Wizards and especially during the pre-season ramp up for this campaign, however twelve games in to the season their  offense had  produced  .83  goals per game.  The claim of an “attacking” style has come under scrutiny because of the lack of good scoring chances created and the obvious lack of balls in the back of the net.  The Wizards sit at the bottom of the league with goals scored; Landon Donovan has more goals than the Wizards.  But, tonight Kansas City came after Real from every side of the field for a solid 90 minutes.  While lacking a world class speedster, the majority of Kansas City’s lineup is quick and mobile.   There was hardly a ball KC’s midfield did not win against Real, something severely lacking most of the year.  The Wizards definitely showed an “attacking style” tonight playing like a team that cannot afford to lose another game and remain in the Eastern playoff hunt.  

Two weeks ago the Wizards hit bottom losing badly to Columbus in front of a home sellout in a listless, embarrassing effort.  Since that game Onalfo made some relatively drastic changes to the lineup.  He dropped Claudio Lopez back to midfield and Jack Jewsbury  to right back. These moves coupled with the steady improvement of veteran midfielders Davy Arnaud and Sasha Victorine made a distinct impact as drawing with Toronto at BMO last week and beating Real tonight show. 

The Wizards lining up Lopez, Victorine, Morsink (or Zavagnin when healthy), and  Arnaud at midfield, backed by Conrad, Holbein, Harrington, and Jewsbury has the makings of a playoff worthy squad.   If Carlos Marinelli could somehow break out of his enigmatic streakiness, the Wizards playoff prospects would sky rocket.  No matter what the whacky online all-star fan vote decides  concerning goalies for the all-star game (a ridiculous way to decide all-stars), Kevin Hartman has been one of the best goalies in the league this year.  The Wizards may have found a chemistry to build on with these last two games.

Before getting too carried away based on a draw and a 1-0 win, there remains a monumental problem for Kansas City- they do not currently have a forward who strikes  fear in any MLS team.  Scott Sealy cannot hit the broadside of the barn (from the inside) right now.  Chad Barrett has received much attention for his several missed finishes in Chicago this year, but those who have watched the Wizards this season know that Sealy has shanked far more chances, including a glaring one beautifully set up by Marinelli  tonight.  It seems time to sit Sealy out for a while; he’s in one of those “cement boot” slumps.  Things are so bad for Wizards forwards that Onalfo has even put rookie defenders up front in an attempt to jam a goal in.  With Lopez rightly moved to the midfield and the recent release of Eloy Columbano, the Wizards are left with Sealy, Trujillo, and Ryan Pore.  These forwards will not give the team what it needs in so far as finishing is concerned.  An “attacking style” must have a finishing touch or it can actually become a significant defensive liability.  As evidenced by tonight’s game, a constant push forward will yield some defensive lapses which produce good scoring chances for the opposition.  Kevin Hartman saved the Wizards again tonight on such occasions.  If goals are not being scored while attacking, the lapses can and will kill you.   Despite all of KC’s attacking tonight, they had one goal to show for it.  If one goal isn’t meager enough fruit, it wasn’t even scored by the Wizards- it was a Real own goal. 

The attacking style executed tonight created more chances for the Wizards than any game thus far, but there is no finishing touch for this team right which is a glaring missing piece of the playoff contending puzzle.  There are whispers of a Josh Wolff return or maybe some secret striker from Hungary, one thing is for sure- the Wizards can’t go far with the status quo.  Maybe Chad Barrett is available? Someone has to answer the KC help wanted ad before it’s too late.    

Rating: 3(Likely)

According to multiple sources the Kansas City Wizards are targeting former Wizards and Fire forward Josh Wolff. Wolf made 80 appearances scoring 27 times between 2003 and 2006 with the Wizards before moving to 1860 Munich. At Munich Wolf scored 2 goals in 34 appearances and did not have his contract renewed. The 31 year old striker has 52 caps for the US National Team, and could be interested in a return to Kansas City. KC manager Curt Onalfo has coached Wolff during his time with the National Team and is very fond of the striker. The Wizards are one of the lowest scoring teams in MLS this season and have been very clear that they are looking to upgrade their attacking options.What do you think? Would return to KC be a good move for Josh Wolff? for the Wizards?

The Kansas City Wizards announced Friday that they have released Argentinian midfielder Emmanuel Eloy Colombano. Colombano joined KC in 2007 from Defensa Y Justicia. Colombano is planning to return to Argentina to be with his wife and newborn son. The 25 year old midfielder made 11 appearances for Kansas City scoring one goal. 

Kansas City vs. Columbus: Is it the defense or the offense or both?

As I watched Columbus score two relatively easy goals against the Wizards, both due to defensive blunders by young defenders, my heart went out to Jimmy Conrad.   The veteran defender and Wizards captain played a good game, a fact that would be easy to miss when you see a 3-0 final score.  He did many things well; he just didn’t have the help he needs.  Aaron Holbein and Jonathan Leathers will probably be solid defenders as they mature, but right now they are struggling to find their way and it is costing the Wizards big time.   The first goal was Holbein’s fault as he caused the corner kick that led to the Marshall header.   On the corner itself, Holbein seemed to be lost as he neglected to mark Marshall on the play.  The second goal came when Jonathan Leathers got sucked in to the middle and was out of position to effectively defend Moreno who exploited the open wing and scored on an easy chip over Kevin Hartman.   It was tough to watch, neither goal should have happened.  I leaned to the guy sitting next to me and said “I’ll bet Jimmy would like to have Nick Garcia back for another year”.   Don’t get me wrong, I think trading long time KC backfield steady Nick Garcia to San Jose for the first overall pick that was used to acquire Chance Myers will probably pan out in a couple years, but for now it is foolish to think Garcia isn’t a better defender than any of Kansas City’s existing backfield except Conrad.   Holbein, Wahl, Leathers, and Harrington are all faster than Nick Garcia, but none of them is as tough.  Opposing attackers move with relative impunity on the KC final third of the field.  Other than Conrad, none of the KC defenders made any of the Columbus players pay for coming in to their zone.   In stark contrast, the Columbus defense, minus Hejduk no less, punished the Wizards attackers all night.  Not only did Iro and Marshal dwarf Lopez and Sealy physically, they hacked, pushed, pulled, and wore out the strikers every time they tried to come in to their zone.  Leathers and Holbein can’t be knocked for their hustle; they’re just not playing consistently smart and tough enough to provide an effective transition to the midfield.  It seems like it’s time to move Jack Jewsbury back to defense.  Heck, maybe Jose Burciaga Jr. might be interested in returning to KC?  Onalfo shipped Burciaga to Colorado, essentially for nothing, because of his tendency to get caught upfield.   Relative to the defensive problems KC is having this season; Jose’s foibles don’t look so bad. 

OK, to be fair, getting spanked by Columbus wasn’t all about the poor play of the defense.  Kansas City’s offense was atrocious.  Scott Sealy looked totally lost and was utterly ineffective.  The most telling sign of Sealy’s poor play came when Lopez attempted a little through ball in the Columbus box that Sealy failed to read.  Lopez exploded at Sealy like I’ve never seen him do since coming to Kansas City.  For the better part of 15 seconds he balled Sealy out for not providing a proper run.  It was obvious frustration with Sealy had built up and Lopez finally unloaded on him.  It is baffling why Onalfo kept Sealy in the game for 90 minutes.   The KC midfield continued its struggle tonight with Arnaud and Jewsbury almost unnoticeable for most of the game until Arnaud started sliding all over the field in the final 15 minutes.   Just as it is time to make some adjustments on defense, something has to be done on offense also.  The stats prove it- two measly shots on goal against Hesmer, and neither was any good.   The Wizards have only scored 10 goals in 11 league games.  To make matters worse, their leading goal scorer is their center back.   

What’s going on with the Wizards attack?  I know its complex, but something jumped out at me during the Columbus game.  I sit at one end of the field for most games, I noticed something vividly- the Wizards rarely overlap.  One of the most basic soccer tactics is to provide constant overlapping runs to make attackers hard to mark.  This means quick diagonal runs with and without the ball.  Instead of this, the Wizards seem to run constant straight lines.  They seem easy to mark.  When Marinelli or Lopez are carrying the ball across the field no one overlaps behind and provides a run.  This happened several times against Columbus.   Overlapping runs seem so simple, but they appear to be totally absent in the Wizards attack.  I think Lopez was upset with Sealy because Scott almost never overlaps or provides clear diagonal runs.  

This was a game the Wizards should have won.  Columbus was missing their center back Hejduk and several other players due to injury.  Further, Columbus was coming off a U.S. Cup game against Chicago on Tuesday and should have been a touch fatigued.  The Wizards were returning  home for the first time in more than two months with a sellout crowd to greet them.  Still, they laid an egg.  The season is more than a third complete, several  weaknesses in the Wizards roster and strategy are starting to emerge.   Is it the defense?  Is it the offense?  Right now it appears to be both.   Will Onalfo and co. find the solutions before this season is out of reach?

As each game of this relatively new MLS season is played, it seems clear the Kansas City Wizards organization is moving in the right direction.  In 2005 heading in to 2006 all signs seemed to point toward the Wizards leaving town. Instead, OnGoal stepped in and committed to Kansas City. In addition to hiring Technical Director Peter Vermes and Head Coach Curt Onalfo, they built a stellar practice facility and have been spearheading the effort to build a soccer specific stadium due for completion at the beginning of the 2010 season.  While being temporarily forced to play in a smallish stadim (Community America Ballpark barely seats 10,000), and after losing high scoring Eddie Johnson to Fulham, the team signed a DP in Claudio Lopez. The signing was tangible proof that ownership was not content to stay in a holding pattern until the stadium was complete. The addition of Lopez came after the risky release of veteran defender Nick Garcia and the virtual give away of Jose Burciaga jr.  Both mainstays on the Wizards backline and fan favorites in Kansas City.  Onalfo promptly drafted players he thought would make an immediate impact, and so far three of those recent draft picks (Chance Myers, Roger Espinosa, and Jonathan Leathers) have seen significant playing time.  The team has been understandably inconsistent so far, but they have not lacked energy and moments of brilliance.  The feeling around Kansas City is definitely one of optimism about the future.  The current struggles are tied to youth, inexperience, and transition issues, not a systemic or organizational flaw.

But what about this season?  What can reasonably be expected from a team that has 19 of its 29 current roster players possessing little more than one year of MLS experience?  After finishing one game short of reaching the MLS finals last season, expectations were high heading in to this campaign.  The season is now nine games old for Kansas City and they are one game below .500.  In a competitive Eastern Conference, this puts them at the bottom with only D.C. United below.  Despite the seeming bright future for the Wizards, should Kansas City fans be disappointed about this season thus far?  Not yet.

The season is very young.  Kansas City is about to finish a road trip designed in the workshop of the devil himself with 6 consecutive road games played in opposing stadiums.  Such a road trip consititutes cruel and unusual, if not unfair, punishment.  During this recent 5 game stretch the Wizards have only managed a win and a tie heading in to Saturday’s game at Real Salt Lake.  During this road trip epoch, the Wizards did manage to win a friendly last Saturday against CSD Municipal (in New Mexico) and a U.S. Cup qualifying match by PK’s against a depleted Rapids team this past Wednesday in the Kansas City area, so all is not negative for this grueling stretch.  The regular season is barely a third of the way through and despite being in second last place in the East, the Wizards are only a couple wins out of immediate playoff contention.  Kansas City has shown flashes of brilliance that will certainly be repeated during this long season.  Anyone watching the team regularly has the sense it’s just a matter of time before the pistons are all firing in harmony.

What will it take for Kansas City to have a successful 2008 campaign going forward?  After these 11 total games (9 regular season games and 2 non-league games) it seems apparent the Wizards immediate success depends heavily on three veterans.  The team will rise or fall to the level of these three players in 2008.  Captain Jimmy Conrad, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, and designated player Claudio Lopez will determine the way this season goes for the Wizards.  

Jimmy Conrad is anchoring a backline that is extremely young.  Conrad is 31 with 9 years of MLS experience and arguably one of the best defenders in the league for the past 4 years. Conrad is teamed up with a combination of Tyson Wahl (24, 2 years MLS exp.), Chance Myers (21, MLS rookie, I doubt he even shaves yet), Jonathan Leathers (23, MLS rookie), and Michael Harrington (22, 1 year MLS exp.).  This has to be the youngest defensive core in the league.  The defense has looked good.  Yes they have allowed 13 goals in 9 games, but they have recorded 3 shut outs in this stretch showing they can play extremely well.  One of the 13 goals allowed was offsides (Sorry Mr. Buddle), and another was David Beckham’s 70 yard circus shot that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the “offsides” goal by Buddle.  In light of these realities, the Kansas City defense has looked pretty darn good so far.  It must be noted also, Kansas City’s midfield has been very dishelveled  causing the defense further pressure.  All this to say, Jimmy Conrad is the very clear reason for the solid play of the defense.  He is a solid field general for the defensive core.  What he lacks in speed, he more than makes up for in smarts.  If Jimmy stays solid, the defense will only get better.

34 year-old Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman shaved some pounds off during the offseason effectively adding 2-3 years to his career.  Kevin can let in some soft ones (see Burciaga’s goal in the first Colorado game), but for the most part, he is still one of the better goalies in MLS.  As for this season, he almost single-handedly stole a win against the Red Bulls and he has kept them in every game so far.  He plays behind a young defense, yet still has three shut outs.  I didn’t appreciate Hartman as much until I saw his backup, Eric Kronberg, play in the U.S. qualifying game against Colorado this past Wednesday.  Kronberg looked shaky and the defense seemed to lack confidence in him.  One of the goals was a miscue caused by Kronberg.  On top of this, he constantly distributed the ball to his defenders by throwing or rolling the ball.  Only once in 120 minutes of play did Kronberg punt the ball.  Kronberg might develop in to a solid MLS goalie, but for now, Hartman has to be in the net and playing at the top of his game for the Wizards to be successful.  His gaff with Chance Myers in the Columbus game (Rogers goal) cost a valuable road tie, with a young team his every move will be magnified.  The balance is fragile for this year’s Wizards, Hartman is a key part of a successful season.

Designated player Claudio Lopez (33) is the third player who has to be on top of his game for a successful 2008 campaign.  So far, only the Toronto game was poor for El Piojo.  I chalk that game off to not being used to the turf.  He seemed to struggle with turf.  He looked more comfortable with it against the Rapids on Wednesday, so I think he’ll adjust, the great ones always do (just look at Blanco’s goals on turf).  Lopez is now match fit and Onalfo used him out of the midfield recently as well.  A creative use of Lopez is necessary at this stage of his career.  Claudio is not a sheer speed threat any more, he’s just not. He can still apply a burst and beat a guy, but not consistently. He won’t beat many MLS defenders in a full sprint any more, but he can exploit them running diagonals pretty consistently.  He sees the field brilliantly, gets himself open a lot, and can deliver precision passes from the left side with regularlity.  Lopez is the key offensive catylst for the Wizards this year.  As he comes to know his teammates better, he will make them more productive.  Ironically, Lopez was brought in as a forward/striker, however it might turn out that his midfield play helps the team more.  Wherever he plays, El Piojo is a key to the Wizards winning in 2008.

If Conrad, Hartman, and Lopez can play at their highest levels, the growing pains the Wizards will necessarily have to endure might not hurt their wins and losses as much.  The chief area of weakness for the Wizards right now is the midfield.    Much stock was put in talented midfielder Carlos Marinelli to be the ball carrying midfielder who can transition from defending to attacking.  Unfortunately he has thus far proven to be fragile and unreliable to play for 90 minutes game after game.  Midfielder Davy Arnaud is coming off knee surgery and fellow veteran midfielder Sasha Victorine has been nagged with a strained groin, neither have made contributions of note to this year’s team, in fact, Arnaud about lost the qualifying game for the Wizards with is undisciplined red card.  The Wizards midfield has been an ever-changing assortment of starting players and formations that haven’t produced consistency or cohesion yet.  The talent is mostly present (they could really use another ball handling midfielder), but time will be needed for them to jell.  

It’s hard to buy such time in a fast-paced MLS season, but if it can be done, Conrad, Hartman, and Lopez will be the ones who do it.