MLS
Nick Garcia - San Jose - Started and played 90 minutes in San Jose's 1-1 draw with Dallas.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Started and played 89 minutes in San Jose's 1-1 draw with Dallas.
Jose Burciaga Jr. - Colorado - Dressed but did not play against Houston.
Chris Klein - LA - Started and played 90 minutes in LA's 1-0 loss to Columbus
Dave van den Bergh - New York - Returned from injury to play 45 minutes in New York's 3-1 loss to Toronto. Click to continue reading...

MLS
Nick Garcia - San Jose - Started and played 90 minutes in San Jose's 3-2 loss to Salt Lake.
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Started and played 78 minutes in San Jose's 3-2 loss to Salt Lake.
Jose Burciaga Jr. - Colorado - Dressed but did not play against New York.
Chris Klein - LA - Started and played 90 minutes recording an assist on LA's lone goal in their 3-1 loss to Chicago. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA took three points at the HDC against the Wizards Saturday.

The good.

Alecko Eskandarian. Four goals in seven games, only four of these seven games were starts.

Maykel Galindo played. Even injured and rusty, the guy is awesome. His attacking runs and style of agressive play is missed.

Click to continue reading...

Needing a win to keep pace with their closest Western Conference rivals, Chivas USA got strikes from a player returning from injury and a new acquisition in the first half and then held on for a 2-1 victory on Saturday night. The win keeps Chivas in second place in the Western Conference, closing their gap with the Houston Dynamo to four points. Click to continue reading...

First a little history, 23 weeks ago, I was still waiting on my son to arrive, Barrack Obama and Hilary Clinton were still fighting for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillcrest Road was still scheduled to begin building in the summer, and the Wizards won their last road game. Who would have thought that with only 1 road game left this season, that the Wizards only road win would come in Chicago, a place they've notoriously had trouble winning at. Click to continue reading...

Here are the results that mattered Saturday for Chivas USA:
Chivas USA 2 Kansas City Wizards 1
Houston Dynamo 1 Toronto FC 1
Colorado Rapids 5 Red Bull New York 4
Real Salt Lake 3 San Jose Earthquakes 2
Dallas plays D.C. United at noon Sunday
(Just for the sake of completeness, Sigi Schmid's Columbus Crew beat the New England Revolution, 1-0, and lead the league.

Click to continue reading...

It's the Sasha and Sacha show at Home Depot Center where Chivas USA is leading the Wizards 2-0.

Sacha Kljestan has an assist, while Sasha Victorine has an assist and added the soaring second goal on his first start for Chivas USA that comes against his old club.

Ante Razov created the first in the 26th minutes, sending a telling pass that pierced a flat Wizards defense allowing Victorine to get behind it on the left wing and cutting a ball back that was met by Alecko Eskandarian from about seven yards out.

Click to continue reading...

NPR is in the building this evening preparing a story on Jorge Flores and tabbed your truly for a quick interview, so I'm a little late with the lineups.

The night's important numbers: the Wizards have won just once on the road this season and and Colorado's 5-4 win over the Red Bulls earlier today means Chivas USA is third in the table and seven points behind Western Conference leaders Houston, which drew 1-1 with Toronto.

Click to continue reading...

Well, not quite, but with 4 players on Chivas, and their coach being former Kansas City Wizards, it certainly seems like it. There will be plenty of old faces on the opposite side of the ball tomorrow, as Chivas has former Wizards Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas, Alex Zotinca, and recently acquired Sasha Victorine, along with the greatest Wizard of all time, Preki on the Chivas USA bench. Click to continue reading...

Here's your weekly recap of former Wizards. I've removed former Wizards whose season is over (Pat Healy, AJ Godbolt, etc) as well as players who are not playing with the first team (Will John).

MLS
Nick Garcia - San Jose - Game against Houston was postponed due to Hurricane Ike
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Game against Houston was postponed due to Hurricane Ike
Jose Burciaga Jr. Click to continue reading...

Hillcrest was able to get out to practice today and watch a pretty intense session. The guys started out with small-group passing drills, then progressed to larger full-field movement sessions before an 11-v-11 scrimmage. The temperature was perfect and led to some good up-and-down play.

I'm looking forward to watching us play Chivas USA and their bevy of former Wizards this weekend. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA walked away with a victory on the road against Real Salt Lake.

Not the prettiest game, but a win none the less. It was a tough fight for both teams, as both teams played tight defensive soccer. The game could have gone either way, with neither team controlling the pitch.

The Good:

Lots of friendly faces on the pitch.

Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA did exactly what they needed to do Saturday, beating Real Salt Lake 1-0 on a 72nd minute Alecko Eskandarian goal and moving above their opponents to take second place in the Western Conference.

Somewhat of a comedy routine gave the former Real Salt Lake striker the winner over his old team: Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando and defender Nat Borchers collided and the ball bounced past them to Eskandarian, who gratefully accepted the gift that was his third goal of the season.

Click to continue reading...

More than you ever wanted to know about your blogger: Why am I posting this alleged "preview" when it's almost noon? For the first time in years I stayed up until the wee hours in a (ultimately futile) attempt to finish this (highly recommended) novel.

So I'll keep this brief.

Galaxy game preview.

Click to continue reading...

Ah, the Home Depot Center - acres of athletic facilities, a number of sporting personalities, and one frazzled me, trying to get stuff for stories.

I ran from the Galaxy's practice field to try to catch Claudio Suarez before he left with his teammates on a bus to the airport. I waited by the front entrance of the complex as various Chivas USA players walked by from the practice field. Click to continue reading...

Chivas USA acquires Sasha Victorine and Dejair before transfer deadline.

Here are a few highlights of Victorine in action.

Actual highlights here.

Hopefully Maverick is better on the pitch than behind the mic.

A known quantity here in MLS, a consistent players that can run a midfield.

Click to continue reading...

New feature I'm going to try to do on Wednesdays now. I'm going to go through former Wizards and give an update on what each player in season has actually done with their new club.

MLS
Nick Garcia - San Jose - Played 81 minutes in San Jose's 1-1 draw wtih Houston
Scott Sealy - San Jose - Played the full 90 against Houston. Click to continue reading...

We are mid-way through September, with about six weeks left in the season, and there is a very real chance that neither Los Angeles team will make the MLS playoffs. That's a sad statement considering MLS Cup will be held at Home Depot Center this year.

Though neither team is eliminated from playoff contention yet, neither team is looking all that dangerous.

Click to continue reading...

We are mid-way through September, with about six weeks left in the season, and there is a very real chance that neither Los Angeles team will make the MLS playoffs. That's a sad statement considering MLS Cup will be held at Home Depot Center this year.

Though neither team is eliminated from playoff contention yet, neither team is looking all that dangerous.

Click to continue reading...

Most Points In MLS Since August 1st:
16 Houston - 5-1-1
14 San Jose - 4-1-2
14 DC - 4-3-2
13 Columbus - 4-1-1
13 New York - 4-2-1
12 Chicago - 4-4-0
9 Colorado - 3-4-0
8 Dallas - 2-3-2
8 New England - 2-3-2
8 Chivas - 2-4-2
7 KC - 2-4-1
5 Toronto - 1-4-2
4 Salt Lake - 1-3-1
3 Los Angeles - 0-3-3

~and~

From reader Jeremy: I'm looking at your list of MLS Attendance from this past weekend and I would just like to point out for the record that last Thursday in a game that was essentially meaningless (the Timbers were all but out of it) we drew 13,500 – more than three of the matches and almost the same as a fourth! Click to continue reading...

Kansas City has traded Sasha Victorine to CD Chivas USA. You can read more about that over on Soccer By Ives. If you recall, not too long ago we hinted that Victorine was on the trade market due to some information we came across over the winter. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards have made a roster move before the MLS roster freeze today. The Wizards have traded midfielder Sasha Victorine to Chivas USA for allocation money. Victorine, in his 9th year in the league was in his fourth season with the Wizards. He'd appeared in 16 games, 12 of them starts, scoring 1 goal. Click to continue reading...

Tomorrow afternoon, the Wizards return to Arrowhead Stadium to take on David Beckham and the Galaxy at 4 pm. Both team's are struggling right now, as since the all star break, the two are a combined 1-7-5. LA hasn't won since June. KC's only win since the all star break was a game against Chivas USA that they probably should have only gotten a point out of. Click to continue reading...

In Bob Luder's article today about the newest Wizard, Abe Thompson, we get mention that Thompson will be starting up top on Saturday against LA. Onalfo says that Thompson brings a calming influence to the team, and are incorporating him into the offense to get him ready for this Saturday. With that said, we'll likely see Claudio Lopez drop back into the midfield, as Thompson will go up top with Josh Wolff. Click to continue reading...

Hey guys, check out the press release just sent out and bring three or more non-perishable items to gain access into a special pre-game party hosted by M&I Bank. Help us help others!

Kansas City Wizards Partner with M&I Bank, Harvesters for Food Drive Prior to Saturday's Match Against Los Angeles Galaxy

(September 9, 2008) – The Kansas City Wizards, M&I Bank and Harvesters Community Food Network have come together for a food drive prior to this Saturday's Wizards game against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Click to continue reading...

Hey guys, hopefully no one has forgotten about the jersey auction currently ongoing over at kcwizards.com to benefit a spoonful of charities. Go bid on your favorite player' s jersey here. If you don't remember who we're helping out, read about it:

Jerseys start at $150 or $200, and the auction runs through September 15. Click to continue reading...

The month of August is over, and it's time to decide who the Wizards' Player of the Month. The Wizards went 1-3-1 in the month of August, winning against Chivas USA, losing all 3 road games at DC, Colorado, and San Jose, and tying Dallas. They scored 6 goals while allowing 9. In the end, the award this month came down to 3 players, Davy Arnaud, Michael Harrington, and Sasha Victorine. Click to continue reading...

So my friend SF over at The Offside Rules loved our videos so much that he plopped them into Vimeo for improved viewing pleasure. Watch them again if you dare:


Kansas City Wizards: Say Anything from Shawn Francis on Vimeo.


Kansas City Wizards: Sixteen Candles from Shawn Francis on Vimeo. Click to continue reading...

Think that Beckham fella knows a thing or two about show-business? He's not the only soccer player around who has starred in a hit movie. While none of these flicks are named after someone on our roster, the guys got a little nostalgic recently and went back in time to reenact their favorite scenes from 80s movies. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards will try to get only their second away win of the season when they go to take on San Jose this weekend. Not since the 1-0 win against Chicago the first away game of the season have the Wizards taken all 3 points on the road. Since then the Wizards are 0-5-5 on the road getting only 5 of the 30 points available for them. Click to continue reading...

FC Dallas midfielder Victor Sikora has suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee and will miss 4-6 weeks of action, according to club officials. The injury occurred during FCD's 1-1 draw against Kansas City on Saturday when the former Ajax star was tackled by the Wizards' Sasha Victorine just minutes into the second half. Click to continue reading...

August 9 was our Community Night out at CAB. We're now auctioning off all the jerseys from the match at kcwizards.com. Check out the press release below, then visit the auction page here to bid on your favorite player's jersey.

Wizards Jerseys Available for Auction to Conclude Community Night Activities

Game-Worn Jerseys from 18 Wizards Players Available now at kcwizards. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards continue to have their trouble on the road as they put in a lackluster effort and fell in Colorado 2-1. Overall, the performance was another poor one, as a struggling Colorado side dominated the Wizards for long stretches of the game.

Colorado were pressuring from the beginning and were able to get the opening goal through Conor Casey. Click to continue reading...

Thanks to team photog Scott Pribyl for the excellent series of photos after Sasha Victorine's opening goal last Saturday. Alex the intern, he of the excellent reports from the KCW Juniors U-19 trip to Little Rock, took the photos, played with them in iMovie and turned out the following modern-day flipbook. Click to continue reading...

August 9th:
Toronto FC 1 - Colorado Rapids 0
TOR – Chad Barrett 6 (unassisted) 44'

Chicago Fire 2 - New England Revolution 1
NE – Taylor Twellman 2 (Mauricio Castro) 3'
CHI – Gonzalo Segares 2 (unassisted) 81'
CHI – Wilman Conde 1 (unassisted) 86'

Chivas USA 2 - Kansas City Wizards 3
KC – Sasha Victorine 1 (Claudio Lopez, Matt Marquess) 22'
KC – Claudio Lopez 4 (Davy Arnaud, Kerry Zavagnin
KC – Davy Arnaud 2 (Aaron Hohlbein) 58'
CHV – Carey Talley 2 (penalty kick) 73'
CHV – Justin Braun 3 (Carey Talley) 82'

August 10th:
DC United 1 - New York Red Bulls 4
DC – Jaime Moreno 8 (Fred, Luciano Emilio) 16'
NY – Juan Pablo Angel 5 (unassisted) 27'
NY – Mike Magee 2 (unassisted) 45'
NY – Juan Pablo Angel 6 (unassisted) 50'
NY – Sinisa Ubiparipovic 1 (Jorge Rojas) 87' Click to continue reading...