Here are some more stats for you as the Wizards season is now over. Unfortunately most of them are depressing. You'll be seeing more stats this week as I get the information finalized.
KC scored 33 goals this season, tying the 99 and the 01 Wizards for the lowest scoring team in Wizards history. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards have handed out their year end awards, and it's now time for me to hand out my end of the year awards to Wizards players. I'm going to hand out the same awards I did last year, I'm also adding a Performance of the Year award to the best single game performance by a player this season.
Rookie of the Year
Matt Besler
Not really a surprise, it was either going to be Besler or Graham Zusi getting this years award, and I don't think that Zusi got enough time this year to be considered for the award. Click to continue reading...

Talked to Matt at the season end interview session. He talked about being a rookie, learning from the veterans and what Jimmy gets away with among other things.Part 1Part 2 Click to continue reading...

The Beez.
Soccer America has highlighted Wizards defender Matt Besler in their latest Rising Star profile. Besler tells about the shoes he wears, rates his college experience and gives information on the best coaching advice he has received, among several other things. Check it out. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards playoff hopes were slim coming into last night's game against Colorado, and with the 0-0 draw and the way other results went around the league, slim is packing their bags right now. KC was the more dominate team throughout the game, and looked the more likely to get the goal throughout the game, but could not find the net. Click to continue reading...

After today's training session, some clowns from the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey circus that is in town through Sunday this weekend stopped by to taking on some of our players at Swope. Our guys included in the game: Matt Besler, Adam Cristman, Eric Kronberg, Kevin Souter and Graham Zusi. The Wizards ended up winning the game, but those clowns could play a bit. Click to continue reading...

After the Royals visited our Swope Park Training Center this afternoon, some of our guys went over to take a little early batting practice with the Royals. Check out the pictures below, and buy your KC Blue Sports Pack for tickets to tomorrow night's Royals game and Saturday night's Wizards game.
Davy Arnaud takes a swing in the batting cage. Click to continue reading...

Talked with Matt yesterday. He had just finished the second practice for the day and it was pretty warm. Watch to see how his team mates messed with him. We talk about what Coach Vermes is doing with the team. Matt Besler at practice yesterday... Click to continue reading...

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...

Claudio Lopez has won the MLS Goal of the Week award for his INCREDIBLE long-range strike against LA over the weekend from his own side of the half line. This is his second Goal of the Week honor of the season. Now some links for your enjoyment:
1. There were lots of different versions yesterday, but here's the CNN story on President Obama calling for the World Cup to come to the U. Click to continue reading...

by Matt Besler - Kansas City Wizards
Hello everyone! Back again this week from "Across the Midwest Pitch."
Just want to give a shout out to the US Men's National Team for their Gold Cup performance and silver medal. Obviously, the final wasn't the result we were looking for and not in the fashion we were hoping (especially to Mexico), but looking at the big picture, everyone on the squad deserves recognition for a successful tournament. Click to continue reading...

He also stopped in at MLS Daily with his latest edition of Across the Midwest Pitch. Check it out. Click to continue reading...

by Matt Besler - Kansas City Wizards
It was a great week of training and very nice to have the weekend off. In training, we focused on a couple things we need to improve on, such as playing early balls forward and being sharper in the final third. We finished off the week on Friday with a competitive inter-squad scrimmage. Click to continue reading...

by Matt Besler - Kansas City Wizards
Welcome back to the 6th week of "Across the Midwest Pitch." It's been a crazy last couple of weeks, with seven games in 20 days (five on the road). As a team, we have traveled over 10,000 miles. Many players, including myself, have logged over 500 minutes in these days. Click to continue reading...

by Matt Besler - Kansas City Wizards
Hope everyone is doing well this week as I try to catch you up on everything that's been going on.
This past week was probably the busiest week of our season so far. After playing our first SuperLiga game against Santos last Sunday in St. Click to continue reading...

by Matt Besler - Kansas City Wizards
Hello again and welcome to the 3rd edition of Across the Midwest Pitch.
What an exciting day for the US National Team. I can't believe we advanced with everything happening the way it did. Simply beating a very confident Egypt squad by three goals was a large task, but also having Brazil do the same thing to defending World Cup champion Italy? Click to continue reading...

As you might remember, defender Matt Besler is now blogging at MLS Daily on a weekly basis. Check out entry II of Across the Midwest Pitch. Feel free to comment and let him know what you think. He offers a complete breakdown of what he did last Saturday before/during/after our 3-1 win over New England. Click to continue reading...

Rookie defender Matt Besler has posted his first entry over at MLS Daily. Check out the rook's first try and let him know what you think. I, for one, am looking forward to what Matt writes each week.
Click to continue reading...

Another disappointing game. The game started off fairly even with the Crew maybe getting a little better of play but the Wizards had their chances.Herculez Gomez attempts to get off a shot...Then in the 14th minute Holhbein, Conrad and Hartman collide. It sounded like Kevin called off his defenders but they did not hear him. Click to continue reading...

Besler trimmed the bushes at his parents' house in OP Monday.
The Kansas City Star All-Access series continued Monday on the team's day off. Ryan Young spent the day with Wizards rookies Matt Besler and Graham Zusi at the Besler residence in Overland Park. The rookies are living in Matt's childhood home, for now, while they save money and look for suitable apartments. Click to continue reading...

MLS Daily, one of the up-and-coming blogs in the U.S. blogosphere has touched base with our favorite Blue Valley West grad and convinced him to do a weekly update via their site. Head over to MLS Daily to read the details of the upcoming series or post questions for Matt. Check MLS Daily often, as they have some good information on our League and U. Click to continue reading...

Wizards fans already know that Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad, is an accomplished writer on both CNNSI and ESPN, along with his own website. It appears that the writing bug has rubbed off on another one of the Wizards' defenders. Rookie Matt Besler is going to be writing a weekly segment on MLS Daily called "Across the Midwest Pitch. Click to continue reading...

Rookie defender Matt Besler gets a little picky with his breakfast of choice, so Captain Kansas City fixes the problem:

Click to continue reading...

This week's poll winner was Wizards' rookie, Matt Besler. Today Thad was able to interview him and get the interview up. Besler talks about the game against Columbus, the switch at half time from a left back to the center back position and how he handled that adjustment. He also talks about the upcoming game against Real Salt Lake and a little of what they expect from that game. Click to continue reading...

Talked with Matt about the Columbus game, his first trip to Salt Lake, moving into the center last game and Matt gives a shout out to Bailey and Lucky. Hope I spelled those correctly. Matt during the San Jose game... Click to continue reading...

We have the second-ever Dog's Night at the Wizards coming up on May** 23 as Chivas USA comes to town. In order to purchase tickets for a dog, you must fill out an order form and fax/mail or hand deliver to our office along with the dog's latest vaccination information. For more information on the event and to obtain the order form, visit www. Click to continue reading...

Bes Click to continue reading...

Here's the updated version of our interview schedule for this week as we get ready for the Chicago game and then the big ESPN2 match-up with New York next Thursday. Listen and enjoy:
Today--3:00--Weekly Press Conference with Curt Onalfo and Jimmy Conrad--Metro Sports
Today--5:00-6:00 pm--Zona Wizards Weekly Spanish Radio Show/Latino Outreach Event--Curt Onalfo, Herculez Gomez and Boris Pardo--Live on Ke Buena 1480 AM from Taqueria Mexico II restaurant in Kansas City, MO
Today--9:30 p. Click to continue reading...

Besler in his first career start against San Jose.
Matt Besler entered the starting lineup two games ago, and the Wizards defense has yet to allow a goal. In fact, Besler has never been on the field when Kansas City has allowed a goal. He entered for the final minutes of the Colorado match and nearly registered an assist on his first-ever touch. Click to continue reading...

Thad over at The Back Post has the interview with this week's poll winner, Aaron Hohlbein. It's a good interview where Hohlbein talks about the goal, the San Jose, the Seattle game, and if there's any pressure from Matt Besler for the starting spot. Speaking of Besler, who finished second in this past week's poll, Thad was also able to get an interview with him this past week. Click to continue reading...

Matt talks about starting the last game, about playing left back instead of center and the difference. I asked him how he thought he did and about having his family there. He talks about looking forward to going to Seattle. I asked him with Aaron scoring, if there is any pressure on the defense to keep up the scoring and with Aaron leading the defensive scoring, is Jimmy over the hill? Click to continue reading...

Today, members of the Wizards first team, including Matt Besler, Graham Zusi, Eric Kronberg and Boris Pardo walked around the Swope Park Soccer Fields, mingling with young players and fans. Wizards staff members grilled hot dogs for anyone who was interested. Check out some pictures below:

Click to continue reading...

div style="text-align: justify;"Once again, we're on the losing side by a goal. After Kraus' record-tying goal in the second half, it looked like we had the chance to get back in the game, but Colorado quickly answered on a counter attack, and we were unable to pull one back late though we generated a couple of dangerous opportunities. Click to continue reading...

div style="text-align: justify;"Lots of people are talking about the Wizards at the moment. Check out some of the stories below and see the interview schedule after that. As expected, we're getting a little less love this week with the team on the road. Look for this to pick up again next week when we play at home. Click to continue reading...

So, yeah, the season has already started. Maybe I#8217;m being a little half-as free with the word #8220;preview.#8221; But since the Wizards have not yet played a game, I#8217;m still technically correct in my labeling. (Get back to me on Monday, when I will still be posting these.) This preview is [. Click to continue reading...