Been really busy lately and did not get a few interviews posted like I should have. Sorry about that the delay...First up is Jimmy Conrad, I talked to him right after he got back to Kansas City from his time with the National Team. He talks about being in Honduras when the US qualified for the World Cup, the last qualifier with Costa Rica and his chances on being on the World Cup squad. Click to continue reading...

Jimmy Conrad had a night to remember, and at the same time a night to forget. At the end the Wizards kept their hopes alive with a come from behind win against Dallas that puts them 7 points behind the last playoff spot with 5 games left.

The night started with the Wizards trying to win their first game at home since June 12th (yes, a 3 month drought, including Superliga).

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This morning, those that played the fewest minutes in last night's game trained for about 60 minutes at American University in D.C. They went through some passing, individual defense drills then played a small-sided game with goalkeepers and concluded with a finishing drill. Kurt Morsink, as the last to finish a cross, then had to summer salt to the halfline as the rest of his teammates cheered. Click to continue reading...

During the Chicago game, Abe Thompson stopped by the Cauldron in the second half. So I had to ask about his experiences with the Wizards most rabid fans. I also talked with Morsink and I got a little help from a guest interviewer... Click to continue reading...

A different Wizards team came out to play on Sunday afternoon against a Chicago Fire team that was missing 4 of its starters. Although Peter Vermes' hand/work is starting to show, it wasn't enough to get the Wizards out of the winless streak and scoring drought that has plagued them for months already.

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The Wizards once again defeated Kansas City's PDL team, the Brass today at the Swope Park training complex 7-1. KC started their first game under Peter Vermes with what could potentially be a starting lineup against Chicago a week from Sunday.
Hartman
Watson - Conrad - Hohlbein - Besler
Hirsig
Harrington - Jewsbury - Gomez
Zoltan - Wolff
Adam Cristman apparently missed the game due to being sick, while Davy Arnaud, Claudio Lopez, and Roger Espinoza are recovering from minor injuries. Click to continue reading...

On this 4th of July weekend Houston comes into KC hoping to improve on their goalless effort from last weekend against one of the worst defenses in the league (LA's), while KC, tries to make it 2 wins in a row in the league after a horrible Superliga performance.

KC will be missing defensive leader and captain Jimmy Conrad, as well as midfielders Davy Arnaud and Roger Espinoza due to Gold Cup call ups, while Kevin Souter will not be available due to injury.

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Stats from last night's SuperLiga game between KC and New England.
The own goal by Darrius Barnes was the 700th goal in all competitions for the Wizards.
The 6th straight game that the Wizards have played a game where a red card has been issued.
For the third straight game against the Revolution, the Wizards have gotten an own goal. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards have a busy schedule coming up next in the next few weeks: they play Sunday in St. Louis (still mad about that) vs. Atlas; Wednesday in New England; and Sunday vs. Santos Laguna at the CAB. If all goes well and the Wizards were to win this tournament, they could be looking at a nice purse (close to $ 1 Million or so they say) and with the added bonus of giving some Reserve players some playing time while allowing some of the older starters a few days off.

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From past commentaries most everyone who actually reads what I write knows that I am not a fan of Wizards coach Curt Onalfo. Adding fuel to the fire was the pathetic display that team showed last Saturday in a 2-0 loss vs. a 10 man Columbus Crew. After last Saturday's performance, KC has 1 win in their last 7 games (2 of those non wins came against teams with 10 players for almost 1/3 of the game).

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The Swope Park Rangers won again today, defeating the KC Brass 6-0 today. The lineup today was made up of all the players that didn't start yesterday against the Crew along with a few guest players. Here's the way the Rangers lined up to start the game:
Pardo
Leathers - Josh White - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Harrington - Zusi - Souter
Thompson - Kraus
Both teams started off the game fairly even, with the game going back and forth. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday, our KCW Reserves/Swope Park Rangers crushed the Springfield Demize of the PDL 11-0. Wizards goals scored by: Thompson (5), Zusi (2), Wolff, Kraus, Leathers and Morsink. Boris Pardo was in goal for the full 90, recording the shutout. For a full rundown of the game, visit Down the Byline or go back and read through the Wizards Twitter feed at www. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers, the Wizards reserves, completely destroyed Springfield's PDL team, the Demize, today at the Swope Park training complex 11-0. The Rangers today were made up of all the players that didn't play in LA Saturday, along with Graham Zusi and Abe Thompson, who appeared as subs on Saturday. Click to continue reading...

You have to feel for Bruce Arena. He has taken over the mess that is the LA Galaxy, tried to bring on new blood while mixing in veterans to serve as teacher and it's these veterans that keep putting LA in a hole they have to dig themselves out of. Last Saturday night was no exception, when Greg Berhalter, the experienced LA defender let Claudio Lopez passed him and was forced to commit a foul that denied a goal scoring opportunity and earned him a red card.

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It off to the West to meet the up and down Real Salt Lake who it seems expended all it's ammunition in a 6-0 defeat of New England in April and now is on a slide, having scored only 3 goals in 4 games. It's going to be a tough visit for the Wizards who have struggled to score and don't seem to have found consistency from the ever changing starting 11 that Curt Onalfo sends out.

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In the middle of April I mentioned how Kurt Morsink was rumored to be among the players called up for the upcoming friendly between Costa Rica and Venezuela on May 13th in Venezuela. Yesterday the roster for that game was named, and unfortunately, Morsink was not on the list. The roster instead is made up of players from the Costa Rican league. Click to continue reading...

Swope Park Rangers and MSU pose for pre-game picture.
Abe Thompson plays a cross between his two goals.
Kurt Morsink poses as teammate Jack Jewsbury snaps a picture during the first half.
If you were following along via our Twitter account, you already know this, but the KCW Reserves/Swope Park Rangers defeated a well-organized Missouri State team 3-0 today on the strength of first-half goals from Abe Thompson and a second-half strike from Kurt Morsink. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers took care of business today against Missouri State, winning 3-0 over the Missouri Valley team. The Rangers started the game off fast taking the game to the Bears and winning an early corner. Herculez Gomez took the corner which when over the crowd in the middle of the box, bounced once and was met by the head of Abe Thompson who buried his header into the net to give the Rangers the early lead. Click to continue reading...

In the past I've mentioned how Kurt Morsink has been continually rumored to be called up to the Costa Rican national team for some friendly or for a tournament. So far neither has come to pass, but Morsink is still on the national team radar apparently. He's now rumored to be one of the players that could be called up for an upcoming friendly against Venezuela. Click to continue reading...

It was a good day for the KCW Reserves/Swope Park Rangers and Cotton's Fighting Ishii's. The former defeated UMKC 2-0, while the latter defeated Heineman's Flying Strombolis 3-1. For the full reserve recap, I'm going to send you over to Mike Kuhn and Down the Byline since he did a great job of following the action. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers defeated UMKC today out at the Swope Park training complex 2-0 this afternoon. Unlike the Creighton game earlier this season, the reserves dominated play the entire game, giving UMKC very few chances to work with. KC took the lead early in the first half, when Abe Thompson played a great ball through the middle that Michael Kraus ran onto. Click to continue reading...

Everyday I have went to practice it has gotten more intense. Tuesday was no exception. The team was broken into three squads. While two squads scrimmaged, the other one took shots on their goalie and worked some drills. Josh Wolff's intensity and fire today was second to none. His play was outstanding as well. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards won their first game of the Mexican leg of their preseason. Playing a team made up of Atlas reserves, the Wizards took care of business against their sister club 3-0. Santiago Hirsig made his first appearance with the Wizards playing the first 45 minutes as the right midfielder. The rest of what could very well be the opening day lineup played at least the first 45 minutes. Click to continue reading...

Went by practice on Monday. When I got there they were scrimmaging 7v7 with the following three teams.Green team: Lopez, Wolff, Jewsbury, Conrad, Besler, Arnaud, HartmanOrange team: Morsink, Souter, Hohlbein, Espinoza, Thompson, Leathers, PardoBlue team: Kraus, Watson, Beres, Pizarro, Marquess, Zusi, BrownThere may have been some changing around of a couple people but I think this was how they Click to continue reading...

I was hoping the Wizards would practice indoors today, but no such luck. It was cold, windy and snow flurries kept up most of the practice. The team started with more or less normal warm up activities although it did make them look like a chorus line for awhile. After the warm ups were complete, half of the team did some drills while the other half did the Beep test. Click to continue reading...

The Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol Nations Cup is coming up this January and February in Honduras, and the latest news is that Wizards midfielder, Roger Espinoza, has not been called into the team. According to this article, it looks like Espinoza was a potential call up for the tournament as MLS is out of season, but it appears that he's just missed the final cut for the roster. Click to continue reading...

It's almost time for another one of those wonderful expansion drafts. This year the 14 current MLS teams will help stock the Seattle Sounders FC. Today teams had to turn in their list of protected players to the league. The Wizards list has now been published on Hillcrest Road. The only surprise on that list is a big one, Carlos Marinelli. Click to continue reading...

I received this link today about Wizards midfielder, Kurt Morsink. The article is basically talking about an upcoming tournament that the Costa Rican national team will be competing in November 17th through the 19th in Oman. According to the article, the coach of the national team has named Morsink as one of the players that he would like to bring to the tournament with the team. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards played a friendly today at their Swope Park training complex against the U-23 Arkansas Wizards. Hillcrest Road has a more indepth write up on the game. The Wizards, though, had no problem taking out their Arkansas counterparts, as they beat them 13-0. All healthy Wizards players got into the game and most played a half. Click to continue reading...

Thad at The Back Post has this week's player interview with Kevin Souter up for you to listen to. He talks with Souter about the open tryout mainly.
Thad also has an interview with Kurt Morsink, where he talks with him about a story I posted on earlier, and his potential call up to the Costa Rican national team. Click to continue reading...

Wizards midfielder, Kurt Morsink, appears to be on the radar of the Costa Rican national team. Morsink, who is a dual citizen of the US and Costa Rica was on the radar of the US national team back in October of last year, but was not called up. Now the coach of the Costa Rican team appears to be looking at potentially calling up the midfielder. Click to continue reading...

Not many stats this week.
DavyArnaud's goal was his 28th in league play, ties him with Scott Sealy, Josh Wolff, and Digital Takawira for 4th place on that list.
Last night was Jack Jewsbury's 148th appearance in all competitions, breaking the tie he had with Diego Gutierrez for 11th. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards reserve players topped UMKC easily this morning out at the Swope Park training center, 8-1. The game was as close as it was, as the reserves dominated the performance for long stretches of the game. Here's how the reserves started out:
Kronberg
Myers - McMahen - Wahl - Watson
Marinelli - Souter - Morsink - Espinoza
Pore - Trujillo
The scoring started early, as in the 9th minute, Kevin Souter overlapped Carlos Marinelli, who backhealed the ball as he went by. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday I took the day off of work and went out to the Swope Park training facility to watch the Wizards practice and the weekly Wizards press conference. After practice, I got the chance to help The Back Post author, Thad Bell with an interview of Down the Byline Player of the Month for July, Kurt Morsink. Click to continue reading...

July is almost over, but the Wizards don't have another game until August. In the month of July, the Wizards went 1-0-3 in league. Add in a win and a draw in the US Open Cup and the Wizards were undefeated with a 2-0-4 record in the month of July. Unlike June, there are plenty of people with stats and play this month that could be considered for the Player of the Month award. Click to continue reading...