The Wizards are a little over a week away from their home opener and closed out their preseason with two wins by a 2-0 score line out at Swope Park. I didn't make it in time, but first the Swope Park Rangers played UMKC for the second time in week. Thanks to two first half strikes by Kei Kamara the Rangers pulled off the win. Click to continue reading...

Due to the predicted forecast for Kansas City this weekend, the Wizards and AC St. Louis have moved up the first leg of their home and home series from this Saturday to Friday. With the move, the "Supporters' Showdown" schedule for after the game Saturday has been canceled. The Wizards final preseason game is now set for Friday at 5pm. Click to continue reading...

In the past I've looked at this website to find preseason games the Wizards are playing, I was checking the website today and noticed there are more games than we had known about. Here is a list of the new games added to the schedule. All the opponents are TBA at this point.
3/11 (Thursday) 7pm at Community America Ballpark
3/16 (Tuesday) 7pm at Community America Ballpark
3/20 (Saturday) 2pm at Swope
3/24 (Wednesday) 10am at Community America Ballpark
3/31 (Wednesday) 10 am at Swope
4/3 (Saturday) 7pm TBD
4/7 (Wednesday) 10 am at Swope
4/14 (Wednesday) 10 am at Swope
4/21 (Wednesday) 10 am at Swope
4/28 (Wednesday) 10 am at Swope
The rumors of the home and home with AC St. Click to continue reading...

If Roger Espinoza is going to make the Honduran World Cup team, it appears he'll be doing it in a Wizards uniform. Apparently after their game against the United States, Honduran coach, Reinaldo Rueda that Espinoza was looking to secure a loan move to a team in the Honduran league to help improve his chances of being selected. Click to continue reading...

So for those that missed it, word out of the Wizards first preseason practice is that Matt Marquess has retired from professional soccer. Marquess was drafted by the Wizards in the 3rd round of the 2008 MLS Superdraft, the 39th pick. In his two years in the league, Marquess played in 6 league games, starting 5 of them and made one playoff appearance. Click to continue reading...

I meant to post this sooner than the end of the season, but it slipped my mind. Anyway, this season without a reserve league, the Swope Park Rangers played games against local colleges (UMKC, Creighton, and Missouri State), regional PDL teams (Brass, Meance, Demize), and other teams (Thunder, US U-17 team) throughout the season to get games. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers (the Wizards reserves) defeated the US Under 17 national team tonight out at the Swope Park training complex 3-0 on goals by Roger Espinoza, Herculez Gomez, and Kevin Souter. The Rangers dominated their younger opponents for much of the game, but the 17's still did well throughout, having their moments. Click to continue reading...

Yesterday I posted about the US U17 team training in KC in their preparations for the U17 World Cup and how there was likely to be a game while the they were here. Today on Bigsoccer, Robb posted again saying that the game would be Tuesday out at Swope Park.
I've gotten some more information on the game. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers started the fall portion of their "season" with a 4-2 win over the University of Creighton today out at the Swope Park training facility. You can follow the twitter updates of the game over at the Wizards twitter page. Here's the lineup that started the game.
Pardo
Leathers - Hohlbein - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Myers - Zusi - Espinoza
Cristman - Thompson
From what I was told by people at the game, the Rangers had a few early chances, beating the keeper, but unable to beat the post. 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...

For those that want to see the Wizards first game under Peter Vermes, and don't have to work on Friday, head on over to the Swope Training Complex, where the Wizards will be taking on the KC Brass Friday morning at 10:30. Unfortunately due to my new job I won't be able to provide updates on the game via twitter as I have in the past. Click to continue reading...

The KC Wizards and Swope Park Rangers took part in a scrimmage today against PDL side, the Des Moines Menace today at the Swope Park training complex. Unfortunately I didn't find out about the game until after it had already started so I missed the beginning of the game. In the first half though, the Wizards starters (minus Santiago Hirsig who was rested due to a minor injury) played against the Menace. Click to continue reading...

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...

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...

The Swope Park Rangers take the field again today out at the Swope Park training complex when they take on PDL side, the Springfield Demize. The game is at 1pm. Springfield is currently winless on the PDL season, as they sit at 0-5 with 4 goals for and 17 against. I will be at the game providing twitter updates, along with a full write up later tonight. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards once again took care of KC's PDL side, the Brass today out at the Swope Park training facility, 4-1. Unlike last week when the two teams played, the Wizards first team actually took part in part of the match, playing the first 45 minutes, with the reserves playing the second half. Here's the lineup for the Wizards in the first half. Click to continue reading...

I found out this morning that the Swope Park Rangers will be taking on the KC Brass today out at the Swope Park training complex. Last time these two teams met, 9 days ago, the Rangers easily took care of their PDL counterparts, winning 7-0. I will be out at the training complex for the game and will be providing updates via twitter. Click to continue reading...

I found out about this game only yesterday, but the Swope Park Rangers took on KC's PDL team, the Brass today out at the Swope Park training complex. Here's the lineup that started the game.
Pardo
Harrington - Leathers - McKenzie - Marquess
Morsink
Souter - Zusi - Gomez
Kraus - Thompson
The Rangers dominated the game from the start, but didn't create many good chances early. 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...

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...

The Swope Park Rangers, a href="http://www.umkckangaroos.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18300amp;ATCLID=3704243"the Wizards reserves will be in action this coming Monday/a after the first team's game against San Jose on Sunday. The Rangers will be taking on UMKC, who starts their spring season 2 days earlier against University of Missouri at Rolla and Rockhurst. Click to continue reading...

The Swope Park Rangers ended a poor weekend for the Wizards with a poor result against Creighton University. The Rangers drew 2-2 with the Missouri Valley Conference Champions today out at the training complex. Only 2 players from last night's game played today, and that was Aaron Hohlbein and Santiago Hirsig, here's the rest of the starting lineup. Click to continue reading...

While officially the Swope Park Rangers no longer exist in an MLS sense, they will still be playing some this year. After a 1-1 draw against Minnesota on Saturday, the Rangers will a href="http://www.gocreighton.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=1000amp;SPID=2518amp;SPSID=89401amp;KEY="play Creighton University/a on Sunday after the Wizards play Toronto FC Saturday night (check the schedule on the right hand side of the link). Click to continue reading...

Back in November, when Don Garber announced the smaller roster sizes, and thus the elimination of the reserve league, I personally was disappointed, as now instead of the Wizards reserve players getting games against other professional players, those players will now have to get basically all their games from local college teams or PDL teams, not exactly the best way to develop talent. Click to continue reading...