Tuesday Practice Report

Today was a light day of training at the Wizards’ Swope Park Training Center.  After a 20 minute warmup that incorporated some conditioning, dynamic footwork, and a diagonal passing drill, the guys were separated into 4 teams to play 6v6 for the remainder of the chilly and windy session.  With a field set up sideline-to-sideline on each of half of the pitch, the teams rotated after playing two 5-minute halves versus one another.  Team Green (Lopez, Zavagnin, Hohlbein, Marinelli, Myers, and Hartman) and Team Yellow (Sealy, Jewsbury, Harrington, William, McMahen, and Pardo) seemed to be the stronger sides by my estimation, but the open-field, fast-paced nature of the small-sided scrimmages allowed for a multitude of good goals, saves, and shots off the post for all the teams. 

As for an injury report, Kevin Hartman’s left hamstring/quad was wrapped prior to practice; he looked unhampered by it in between the posts.  Captain Jimmy Conrad did not practice, citing his left hamstring — also heavily wrapped — as the cause.  He jogged several laps around the field during the session, as did rookie Roger Espinoza who is recovering from a broken foot.  Finally, Davy Arnaud participated in the warmup but did not play in the 6v6.  After practice, he took a few half-hearted shots on goal.  Lastly, Lance Watson (broken foot) is quite the juggler on crutches.  Sitting or standing up, the boot on his left leg didn’t keep him from getting in an ample amount of touches.

Also of note, I believe open tryout product Nelson Pizarro was working out with the team today.  He played with the Wizards’ reserves on Saturday in their loss to SMU.  Tomorrow the Wizards will conduct their first practice at CommunityAmerica Ballpark at 10 am, followed by the team’s media day.

Tuesday Tidbits

• Captain Jimmy Conrad spent Monday in Manhattan as Mr. Media Man.  The first product from the trip is this BigThink.com video: Jimmy Conrad Talks About Retiring From Soccer.
• KCWizards.com has posted promotions for each of the team’s 15 home games this season.  Of note, the September 13th Galaxy game has an asterisk next to CommunityAmerica Ballpark.  No explanation is given for this, but it has long been rumored that this game would be moved to Arrowhead Stadium to allow for additional attendance.
• I’m  headed out to Swope Park Training Facility for this morning’s training session, where Davy Arnaud will participate in practice for the first time since his microfracture surgery.  Look for a practice report later this afternoon.

Monday Musings

• Will the Wizards be playing a 4-4-2 this season?  These comments from Kevin Hartman suggest so, from Pat Martin’s team preview at The Sports Network:

“We’ve experimented with three in the back (this preseason) and we’ve kind of regressed back to what we were comfortable with before with four,” Hartman said. “I think the fact that we were able to prove to ourselves that we could capably defend with three in the back has really added a bit to our confidence.”

• This from two weeks ago, but worth revisiting.  The blog Not Just a Hat Rack graded all MLS teams on their financial performance (ticket sales, stadium situation, major corporate support, designated player or coach, and financial intangibles) and ranks the Wizards at the bottom of the bunch.  As far as I can tell, it’s an honest attempt at an informed, objective analysis.  What do you think? 

14. Kansas City (13 points out of a possible 50): They say KC is 100% Chiefs’ country, but with the spendthrift, hopeless Royals as your only other Major League competition, the Wiz/Wizards should have made more inroads in 12 years. They rank dead last in MLS historical per game attendance (not including Miami – financial mismanagement in an entirely otherworldly orbit). They have no jersey sponsor, no shovel in the dirt for a stadium and they’re facing two years of oblivion in a minor league baseball park. On the bright side, new ownership hasn’t been afraid to make big changes: Curt Onalfo might be one of the smartest, most genuine people in the sport; they hired away an MLS stadium veteran from HOK to coordinate their stadium development and the signing of DP Claudio Lopez might make them a contender. Still, the franchise remembered as the home of the ‘Zard Card, Price Chopper promotions and Jetsons’ sound effects exists only because Lamar Hunt had a wallet even bigger than his heart.

• Finally, an MLSnet.com practice report from Sean Kosednar last week. 

Former Wizards Duo Called Up

         

Both Josh Wolff and Eddie Johnson were selected by Bob Bradley to the 18-man roster for the USA’s friendly against Poland on Wednesday.  The game, in Poland, will be broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel at 2:30 pm. 

Josh started and played the full 90 in 1860 Munich’s 3-1 loss to Koblenz today (game winner came from fellow American Gregg Berhalter’s own goal).  Eddie also started and went the distance for Fulham in their 2-0 loss at Newcastle yesterday.  He was rated a 5 by Sky Sports, the lowest of any player, and his performance described as “subdued.”  One Fulham fan, or Eddie critic, has already grown disgruntled with his lackluster showings (4 starts, 1 shot on goal): Someone needs to tell Eddie Johnson he’s not in Kansas City anymore.

Finally, Will John did not get off the bench in Randers’ 1-0 win over Esbjerg today.