A tip of the cap to Peter Vermes

Peter Vermes and Pablo Escobar: It hasn’t been a smooth ride
but the Wizards are heading in the write direction.

Football fans are a fickle bunch, really we are. When previous Wizards Head Coach Onalfo was fired there was a certain number of people who wanted Peter Vermes to go with him. As Technical Director he was seen as the guiding force of everything in Onalfo’s reign, including his signings and the teams overall performance. Once Onalfo was gone, and Peter Vermes took as Head Coach the team actually performed worse in terms of points collected than they did under Onalfo. This led to yet more people calling for the import of a new Coach and Technical Director into the ranks.

I actually thought the team performed better under Vermes and he managed to spark some life into players like Claudio Lopez however at the end of the season I was somewhat indifferent to the topic of whether change was needed or not. This changed over the post season as the squad was transformed rather aggressively with the influx of players of quality, Stephane Auvrey, and Ryan Smith especially had me excited for the new season. The resigning of Kamara and the drafting of Teal Bunbury seemed like positives and all of a sudden I was seeing attacking football and a plan and was excited to for the new season. Fire Vermes? You have to be kidding me.

I set my stall out. Essentially the gist was that Vermes as Technical Director and Head Coach was pulling all the strings and was almost solely responsible for failure or success.

I wrote the following in February:

On 27 March 2010 when we kick off against Onalfo, DC United and potentially Adam Cristman in the season opener we will have our first real idea how this torrent of fresh blood will affect things.  If Peter Vermes manages to get the Wizards into the playoffs, if we manage to score more goals than we concede, finish with a winning record and maybe even play the “attractive attacking football” that we have been promised during his tenure already then one man alone will be able to take the bulk of the credit.

The playoff birth remains to be seen but we are clearly in the hunt after our current form and may just still make it – this is a remarkable turnaround given out mid-season form but after good results against quality teams you have to believe that the team has finally settled down. We are playing well, and if we had maintained this form all season we ultimately would be sitting pretty now. If we maintain the intensity and the upward trend for the remainder of the season I will have no problem writing the season off as a success, this team feels infinitely better than it has been at points since Onalfo was fired, we do play attractive football, we are exciting attacking at times and we still have Omar Bravo to come, we are solid defensively and our midfield is hard to contend with.

We clearly do not score enough goals, but given that we have started to score more recently, are winning on the road once in a while things just seem like they are coming together. Maybe a bit to late to fit my predictions for the season but here they are.

Written in pre-season:

So yes, no supporters shield, and we probably will not be in the top four.  With the playoffs leading to the MLS Cup however I will now go on record as saying the the Wizards have the potential to win it all.  We will make the play offs, and we will not sneak in in last place. I look for the Wizards to post around 45 points on the season which is a substantial improvement over the measly 33 of 2009 but is only four wins extra, given the improvements in the squad and the apparent depth I do not think this is unreasonable.  After the regular season things  is just luck and as LA Galaxy will testify, the best team does not always win.

44 points seems to be the target right now for playoff play, it is a bit of a tall order but the players seem to be going for it. If we do actually make it we have as good a shot of winning it all as anybody. We dominated New England during our run, a team on a very similar footing to us in the league standings illustrating the raise in the playing standards, dominated the Galaxy in LA, beat Toronto and managed a draw with defending champions Real Salt Lake. The road win against MLS high fliers Columbus Crew wasn’t to shabby either. Things have improved, considerably and amazingly since the season low point of losing three back to back against the Red Bulls and Chivas at home and FC Dallas on the road.

While the more negative amongst us will say that the Wizards have simply not been good enough over the span of the season, I tend to look at us more as a team that has been through some considerable teething troubles and finally look like a solid and stable unit with a firm game plan and players than are starting to play for each other. They have never given up on themselves or the fans, and they have certainly never quit on the coach. So while I was thinking it was time to kick Peter Vermes out of Kansas City just a few weeks ago, I am going to do the fickle thing again, and say loudly and clearly that he deserves a pat on the back for sticking to his guns and getting this team rolling forward.

He is getting the job done, and whether we make the playoffs or not, I feel that if the season started today or if we maintain the core of this team into 2011 that we should expect to make it comfortably and that is a pretty good spot to be in. Baring a complete and utter collapse over the last nine games of the season I think we will be seeing Peter Vermes back in 2011 and I for one welcome that thought.

I was going to write about how impressed I was by Peter Vermes this season. After sticking with his game plan throughout the season I feel that it is finally starting to yield dividends on the field however the news out this evening thanks to the Kansas City Star is that Peter Vermes was arrested for Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol.

And just like that I am back to feeling negatively about somebody within the Wizards camp. I guess the thought that a selfish prig like our head coach could get into his vehicle after consuming to much alcohol and potentially kill or maim somebody on our roads is sickening.

This is without doubt the most disappointing moment of this season so far and if I was in a position to do so I would fire Peter Vermes on the spot. It would send a very strong message to this city, where so many families have been destroyed by those who have chosen to drive drunk, that this behavior is simply not acceptable.

As it is some will make excuses for Vermes, it will have been an accident, he will have forgotten how much he had to drink, or will have been stuck without a ride.  It might be something “we have all done” however the bottom line is he could have picked up phone and called a cab.  It is inexcusable in every way.

Will this be swept under the carpet by the Wizards and OnGoal?  I guess we will see.

He was a mad garbage chewing dog.

I single Mike out, he just happened to be the person I happened to clap eyes on, but all around me people looked knowingly at each other.  It was going to be one of those days when the wheels just come off.  The realization that the Wizards were screwed happened much earlier in the week when Teal Bunbury finally received the suspension he had coming for his role in the off the ball shenanigans in San Jose however with Smith nursing injuries and Wolff laid up, Chhetri in India, Zoltan still recovering from a torn ACL we had no options.

The logical choice was to put Arnaud up front, plop Zusi into midfield and just try and score a goal or hold on for  a draw but the release of the starting line up triggered a cacophony of ‘What?’ around the tailgate prior to the game as the news was relayed around the parking lot.  Diop was starting.  The Diop that has not started a game in MLS for 8 years?  The Diop that has never scored an MLS goal before?  That Diop … and he is playing up front?  What?  Diop?  Like frog song in mating season.  Diop?  Up Top?  What?

This was not good news, and with only a fools hope of making the playoffs the Wizards needed wins,  not journeyman defensive midfielders playing as strikers in a team that is on pace to be the worst offensive team in the history of MLS if not for DC United suffering from an identical inability to score.

Up Top?  Diop?

I grabbed my iPhone …. just ranting at the tailgate wasn’t enough, I needed to Tweet.   “Diop starting up top? Ouchie. Petty off the ball horse shit that leads to suspensions costs us fans with this weak squad.”.  I wasn’t alone.  Charles Gooch from the Kansas City Star “Diop up top? 2nd worst scoring team in mls starting a dm at fwd. ouch. Wolff not in the 18.”.  Mad Dog Mike : “Diop? Seriously?”.

This sounds bad, but we had seen Diop in many a hopeless situations this season.  He is a tall, somewhat gangling African that is often introduced while the opposition’s fat lady is coming on for an encore.  We pump hopeless/hopeful long balls towards him and he tries to get a head on them.  It hasn’t worked once and it is our desperation move.

Desperate for goals, desperate for points.  Diop?  Up Top? Noooooo.

2o minutes later Mike was laughing heartily, our boy from Senegal had just scored his second goal.  Wizards don’t score two in one game in 2010.  Two for Diop?  And the jubilation that swept Community America Ballpark was only matched by the confusion that came with it.  “What the hell is going on?” was a common sentiment.

Not long into the second half Diop managed to keep a ball in play by the finest of margins, and showed nimble feet in doing so.  He fed a curling inch perfect pass along the ground to Kamara to score a goal that was put on a plate for him. It was perfect play.

2 goals and an assist from a written off player has kept our tenuous foolish dreams of playoff football alive.  It is a funny old game, and after thirty some years watching I love that I can still be wrong, still be surprised and I am happy that for once, it is not Kei Kamara, Jimmy Nielsen or Ryan Smith making the headlines but Birahim Diop.

He scored two and made one.  Up Top Diop!

So last night shall forevermore be known as “The Diop Game”, one of my favorite nights as an MLS and Wizards fan.All I want to do now is shake his hand.  Well played Birahim Diop, well played.

The question is what happens now?  He looked good out there … and he has now scored as many goals as Teal Bunbury.  He also worked better with Kamara than anybody else has this season.

Side Note:  In 1991 there was a similar story when Paul Warhurst a defender was put in as a forward for Sheffield Wednesday when they had injuries to David Hirst and Mark Bright.  Amazingly 12 games later Paul Warhurst had twelve goals and was called into the England squad, not as a defender but a forward.  It has all happened before, but its special regardless.

The Omar Bravo signing is great news for the Wizards, but for our five forwards it adds added pressure
to perform and prove themselves to maintain their squad position or even their jobs.

With more than half the season gone the Kansas City Wizards things hang in the balance. Thanks to a recent run of good form and decent results, as amazing as it sounds the Wizards are within shooting distance of making the play offs. They will need to not only improve a little more, but also look to score more goals. Will we make the play offs? I don’t know – all I know is we are capable of doing so, the question marks hang over whether this team will finally start to find the consistency and goalscoring that has undermined the talent on the team so far.

The 2010 Kansas City Wizards are better than the 2009 Wizards by a country mile in terms of talent but it has taken time for things to gel and a starting eleven to become solidified. On the out seem to be Josh Wolff, who despite his early season work rate has proven to be ineffective and Jack Jewsbury who still has a role to play but will be unable to command a regular start so long as Stephane Auvrey and the increasingly impressive Craig Rocastle continue to dominate the central midfield spots. Their impressive partnership and blossoming understanding seems more than anything to have brought around the changes that have us back in contention.

The big question marks lie in the forward roles, not just for 2010 but heading beyond into 2011. With the official news that Mexican international striker Omar Bravo will be joining the Wizards in 2011 it is time not only the Wizards to continue to impress, but for the forwards to stake a claim on next years squad. None of them should feel safe, all of them have to prove and improve themselves. For others it may just be to late. The forwards are not only playing for the team and the playoffs in 2010 but also for jobs and starting positions in 2011. This is a breakdown of the forward positions as I see them.

Kei Kamara

Kei Kamara is a bit of an enigma. He has an abundance of talent, he has speed and skill and yet it has taken him seasons to become established as a starter in MLS. The Wizard’s lack of depth up front has obviously been a boon to his career and he has responded with seven goals so far this season. This is not a bad tally at all, 7 goals in 18 appearances, one as a substitute puts him on pace for a 11-12 goal season. Kudos. With zero assists to his credit he on paper appears by the numbers to be 2009 Josh Wolff, he is scoring but not contributing fully. His game and his team mates are consistently undermined by his sloppy passing, and his lack of awareness of where other players are. He almost fastidiously makes runs that take him away from attacking positions and does not create the space a man with his pace should.

Despite the goals he misses the target far more than he should.

I am not down on Kamara, however he has the potential to be a player that commands a starting spot in any team in MLS, however there is a sloppy side to his game that underlines the fact that he still needs to put some serious work in to fulfill this potential. I am tough because I hate wasted potential. As a striker he is in with a shot at starting in 2011, if he plays as a winger he will need to improve his game significantly. I believe he can, but as it is Special K isn’t so special and unless he puts the work in he is destined to become a journeyman squad player.

Teal Bunbury

Rookie Teal Bunbury came to the Wizards with high expectations. As the 2010 MLS Superdraft first round pick the Wizards acquired a young, handsome bull of a player who is physically powerful, fast and a gifted finisher. 7 starts, and 8 substitute appearances has yielded only two goals and an assist however his season long growth from a college player into an MLS pro has been evident and he has claimed the starting role that was formerly Josh Wolff’s. Alex Ferguson referred to Teal as a “handful” and that is what he is, a harrying, pacey, passionate player.

Teal is obviously still learning, however the composed and clever header over Toronto FC goalkeeper underlined the fact that he is a natural striker, and a thoughtful one at that. It was a moment of real footballing intelligence and a valuable goal for Kansas City.

That said, he needs to keep his forward progression going and start to find the net with more regularity. He isn’t an MLS starter yet, he just happens to be starting.  He needs to better recognize when he surrounded and start looking for the simple pass to help the Wizards maintain possession in the forward third and needs to control a petulant streak that has earned him cards that were entirely unnecessary.

The future is bright for Teal Bunbury, but will he compete for a starting spot with Kamara and Bravo in 2011? We will find out in these remaining twelve games. I believe he has all the tools, now we just need to see the goals.  I am confident we will.

Josh Wolff

Josh Wolff is a goal poacher. The kind of player who will score if you put the ball in the penalty area with a one on one with the keeper. His 2010 season started with him being pushed to a less familiar right wing position where he was unfairly maligned for not scoring goals. Ever the scapegoat for fans Josh Wolff would have to set the world on fire to actually get any recognition from Wizards fans who are tired of what they perceived to be his most fundamental flaw: laziness. I for one believe much of the work Wolff did early season was quite good, especially as he was part of a midfield that wasn’t functional however what chances he did have he didn’t take and with one goal on the season and the development of Graham Zusi and Teal Bunbury he finds himself playing against college kids at Swope Park as part of the reserve squad.

Wolff has had his day, and there is no future in him for the Wizards. Another side in need of goals and not lacking the service which starved Wolff of goals in Kansas City could take a one year shot on him but ultimately he is a 33 year old striker having his worst season to date. In a nut shell he has no upside.

Sunil Chhetri

I am confident in one thing regarding Sunil Chhetri. He is the best natural finisher on the Kansas City Wizards roster. Finding the back of the net when given real opportunities was all he did during scrimmage games and friendlies however the Indian international did not make an impact at all when it came to MLS proper. Playing 45 minutes in a US Open Cup Qualifier that the Wizards treated very much like a friendly was all the action he got as part of the ‘first team’ not seeing the starting lineup at all until the Wizards played Manchester United.

He didn’t look bad against United, and managed to get involved and retain possession against defenders that simply made him look like a dwarf however the writing was already on the wall for his season and he was loaned to the Indian International team who are running an extended training camp ahead of the 2011 Asian Cup in January.

On one hand Sunil going looks bad, but as part of the Indian squad, and throughout India’s involvement he will be playing competitive football and that is nothing that MLS can offer a reserve player. He should be fighting fit by the time the 2011 MLS Pre-Season starts and if he is going to make an impact that will be his time to seize the day. Can he? With Bravo, Bunbury and Kamara ahead of him in line? Maybe not but if he works hard and continues to develop there is no reason he can’t sneak into the first team squad as a substitute.

Zoltan

Zoltan joined the Kansas City Wizards at the height of the great 2009 goal drought and almost immediately got sent off on his debut. Aside from this odd start he proved to be an intelligent player who the fans appreciated. When Peter Vermes took over the reigns he continued to play however by the time the final pre-season friendly was underway in St Louis (against A.C. St Louis) he seemed destined for the bench. He got a start against AC St Louis, scored, was looking good when he suffered a ruptured ACL in the second half. At the moment he is still in recovery, the word is things are going well however he is unlikely to return to first team action this season.

Where this leaves him for 2011 is unknown. MLS squads are small, and when he returns for pre-season 2011 we will have six forwards on the books before any Draft or further signings. Much like Sunil Chhetri it is hard to measure his quality against the rest of the team because we have simply not seen him.

In conclusion

The remainder of this season, and especially the 2011 pre-season should be competative.  With six forwards arguably fighting over four spots our potential depth at the position is looking good. It is unlikely the Bravo will not make the team, which essentially leaves the remainder fighting over one starting position and two reserves spots.  Who will fall?  If it is a decision about money under the wage cap then Josh Wolff may be traded if we can find a taker, otherwise Zoltan and Chhetri will need to really get busy.  The competition between current strike partners Bunbury and Kamara should be enough to drive them both forwards developmentally and that can only be a good thing.

Got an opinion on who makes the cut?  Comment below – I want to hear what you think.

Roll back to the 1990s and everybody who had a thrice removed grand father from Scotland all of a sudden wanted to visit “the homeland” and twenty-something and younger men started buying kilts and learning what Tartan was “theirs” while fully unaware that the romantic land of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart was on the whole about as exciting as Michigan.

One side of my family comes from Scotland via Ireland. We have a home on Royal Deeside. I myself was raised and born in London but two of my sisters and a brother grew up in the North East and it is a place of my childhood. I do know what “my” tartan is because I am, by name, Campbell. I lay no claims to Ireland, I have been there many a time and it is a pleasant place with good people but it is not my own.

Countless generations of my family also came from India, but then some time ago when being an indentured servant was the in thing, they shifted from India to South America and wound up in what is now known as Guyana where three generations passed before my mother moved back to the United Kingdom to become a Nurse and was fairly quickly inseminated by my old man. 10 months later I had a sweaty vagina wrapped around my head and a few minutes later James was born to be the worlds curmudgeon.

Here I am.

I could count myself as Danish, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English, Guyanese, Indian, and Pakistani but I was born and raised an Englishman, and while Scotland courses through my veins I am no Scot. Not a real one. I wasn’t born there, I know the country like the back of my hand and I miss it sometimes deeply. Thoughts of purple hills and clean air and quiet solitude beckon me and it is a home, but not my home.

The USA on the other hand, is a place I have lived for twelve years now. I still can’t say I have ever tossed a baseball, but after living almost all my adult life here (I moved when I was just turned 22) I find that America is home. When I arrive back at the airport, get my passport stamped and am greeted with “Welcome home” it makes me grin. Seeing Old Glory outside the airport makes me feel good, as do the familiar accents and sounds of Taxi’s. I love the USA, and my daughter will be raised as an American, not a second generations English export, who is raised to believe that somehow England is better than the USA. As the years roll by I find that I am ever more defensive of my new home, especially in the UK where “you” is often thrown my way in sentences:

“You elected George Bush”

“You invaded Iraq when you knew their where no WMDs”

“Why do you feel like you need to police the world.”

The latter from my mother last time I was home was retorted to with some anger:

“Maybe next time England and Europe are in trouble America won’t help and this whole fucking continent will slide back into the Dark Ages or into Fascism. Where would you be then? Not in England that is for sure.”

The truth of the matter is that most Europeans are rather anti-American. Not because they hate Americans necessarily, it is the same hate you see inspired by success. People hate the Yankees, people hate Manchester United, people hate the Chelsea, people hate Jose Mourinho, people hate dominant winners. “We” are blamed for so much ill in the world, and then blamed for helping, or blamed for not helping and with all the time I have spent back in the UK over the last decade I can’t help but get a little siege mentality going.

One day I will get my citizenship sorted (I am finally eligible) and I will be proud to be an American. I won’t ever stop being English, and I’ll “go home” from time to time but more often than not I feel like a stranger in my own land. There is nothing plastic or false about me becoming American, nothing fake or contrived, it just is the way it is.

I have an Anglo-American soul, with a British outlook on one hand, and an American one on the other. Sometimes the two things gel nicely. The World Cup for example was a time where as a Brit in America I was nicely at home no matter what side of the fence I was on. I rooted for England over the USA for sure, but then I about lost my shit when Landon Donovan scored his last gasp goal against Algeria. Other times things seem more contrived than real – like the naming of American soccer teams to follow European standards.

When I hear the name ‘Real Salt Lake’ it makes me cringe precisely because it is contrived. ‘DC United’ makes me cringe. ‘FC Dallas’ makes me cringe. The thought that the Wizards might becoming ‘Sporting’ makes me cringe. None of these clubs or cities have any tangible link to Spain, or England, or whatever country in Europe inspired Dallas. Not one. Real Salt Lake is simply ridiculous, up there in Mormon Utah – in possibly the whitest place in America they picked ‘Real’? And what exactly was United in DC?

I am not anti-European, I am not going to yell childishly about “Europosers” or “Eurosnobs”. It just bothers me that in this vast land, scattered with so much that is good, and right, and proud that so many MLS teams have opted to take the path of assuming false identity. It bothers me because nothing of these teams in anyway is linked to the originals in terms of culture or knowledge or heritage. It bothers me because they chosen those names intentionally to appeal to “Football fans” from other nations or because those are “what football names sound like”. This is America, and if MLS is ever going to catch on, it needs to get with the program and stopped kowtowing to the tiny majority of us that are foreign imports and start catering to Americans using the things we have that make us who we are.

So while I think the Wizards name is poor, it doesn’t piss me off nearly as much as calling us Inter KC, Sporting KC or KC United would. Those names don’t fit into our national landscape. They say nothing about Kansas City, Kansas or Missouri. They would be false names generated by a false idea – that a name needs to sound European to be respected or marketable. It is plastic paddyism at its worst, it offends the part of me that has a past and a history overseas and sees nothing of that here, and it offends the American side of my soul that is crying out for MLS teams to show some pride in the area and culture of their team’s cities and states.

By choosing a Euro-centric name for an American team, you wind up with a name that neither appeals to Americans, nor satisfies the European. So why pander? If the name has to change, make it something real, make it something about Kansas City, or leave it the hell alone.

I didn’t ask to be an Arsenal fan, it was just the way it was.  My father was, I was raised to be an Arsenal fan.  I was born in the East End of London and Arsenal played in North London. Almost everybody local and Caucasian supported West Ham United with the occasional Arsenal and Tottenham thrown in. Nobody supported Chelsea, they didn’t exist outside of West London. People with lesser ties to to East End supported Liverpool, it seemed like every immigrant that picked a team supported the scousers. My mother did, and a good chunk of my highly diverse school also did. It wasn’t that these first and second generation arrivals had any ties to Liverpool, it was more about Liverpool being the most successful team in English football at the time.

It used to get under my skin, why support Liverpool when you live in London? I could understand them not wanted to support West Ham United back in the days, these were the fans that threw bananas on the field when John Barnes was at Upton Park. But Liverpool? It made no sense to me but then as I said I never had a choice. I was a one team guy and that was the way it was, and it wasn’t that Arsenal were great, they were anything but good and labelled one of the most boring sides in England. I wasn’t a cloistered kid with fancy replica shirts. The best I could come by was traded Panini Football Stickers and a pair of Arsenal jeans … they had a patch in the knee where I had fallen and torn them and my mother had patched them with the only swatch of fabric that she had. It was red.

We were poor as church mice, and I didn’t get to watch games at home because we didn’t have a television. Even if we did there was only one game on “telly” a week back then in most weeks, unless there was a European Cup, FA Cup or England game being played. Sunday afternoon was Match of Day time, unless I got lucky and happened to be at a friends place during the rare occasion that Arsenal were actually shown I did not get to see the Gunners playing. Not unless I went to Highbury.

They had a marvelous program, I am sure they still run called Junior Gunners which allowed exceptionally cheap tickets to children. By the time I hit secondary school at 11 years old I was a member and was finally able scrimp and save enough to go to games. I used to get 5p (about 8c) for each year I had been alive as my mothers still taxed purse strings tried to give us a little something to spend. If I saved my 55p and supplemented it with money I should have been spending on lunches at school I would eventually manage to scrape enough together to get to basically every home game, to purchase a match day program, and a bag of chips on the way home.

And so I went. With my complimentary Junior Gunners scarf, my Arsenal Wrist Bands, my Junior Gunners Velcro fastening wallet. As the years rolled by my presents became season tickets and shirts. My winter coat was always a replica of the one that Don Howe or George Graham wore.

I am so entwined in Arsenal, it is such a huge part of my childhood that there is no separating it from my core anymore than there is the possibility of me living without a heart and I can look anybody, anywhere in the face and say I deserve to wear the Arsenal shirt I own.  Through hunger, shitty weather, and Gus Ceaser I earned my stripes and learned about Arsenal, the culture, the fans, and their character.

I am not alone.  The West Ham fans I went to school with are still West Ham fans, as is the silly lad that used to save his money to travel out of London to watch Ipswich Town. The Liverpool fans? I don’t know them – those transient rootless people were replaced by Leeds United fans, Blackburn fans, Manchester United fans and these days you see those Chelsea and Real Madrid shirts everywhere. Even right here in Kansas City.

I can never help thinking if they have ever been to Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge? Have they ever heard the roar that the Stretford End or the Kop made during their hay day? The Fernando Torres or Wayne Rooney shirts they sport don’t make them ‘United’ or ‘Liverpool’ anymore than me putting a prancing pony on my Toyota makes it a Ferrari.

People can follow whoever they please, and I keep telling myself this but at my core I still wonder why somebody from Kansas City would pull on a Manchester United shirt and go to Arrowhead to support a team they have absolutely no link to. Tens of thousands of them piled into the stadium this weekend and I’ll admit it – many of them deserve to wear the shirt, they are proper fans that have lived and died with United going way back to do days of Ron Atkinson and beyond. The vast majority have just hopped on the gravy train of trophies and glory that we have witnessed over the last fifteen years, and it shows.

There is a pride in it, of being part of something. It doesn’t matter if it is the Kansas City Wizards, United, Arsenal or Runcorn United. Something more than just pulling on a $110 jersey with Ronaldo or Rooney written across that back that behooves you to get behind your team and yet in a stadium that contained a good 20,000 Manchester United shirts there wasn’t a solitary Manchester United song sung.

Showing some pride, the Wizards fans make their voices heard.
Photo courtesy of Thad Bell/backpost.net

Sure they cheered when Berbatov stroked home his penalty kick, but the “United, United, United” battle cry was not heard once within the stadium. Not once. Meanwhile the Kansas City Fans sang throughout the entire game, and celebrated a victory with gusto and why not, it was our hometown team and for one of the least fashionable teams in all of Major League Soccer it was a day for us to shine, we did, and the fans that opted for fashionable Manchester United left the stadium defeated, as quietly as they had been when they entered. One of America’s dogs had their day, and I have a strange mix of pity and disgust for those that opted out of it for a team they will never see play live again. Pity that they can’t see the Wizards as something to get behind, and disgust that they have opted for United instead and show none of the pride, and know so little of the culture of the club they follow that they cannot even summon a simple one word song that is heard every single time United play.

Iconography and graphics have changed frequently in England and across Europe.  Even Arsenal and Manchester United’s.  Manchester United’s crest only evolved in the 1970s from its original and highly different logo.  Arsenal’s seems to have changed frequently throughout the years, most recently in the early 2000s as they simplified the graphics, changed the colors as well as the orientation of the cannon.

Arsenal, Wizards and Manchester United
logos throughout the ages.

Of course names changed as well.  Dial Square became Royal Arsenal became Woolwich Arsenal (as they turned pro) and finally Arsenal (as they moved into the new stadium).

Much of this evolution happened back when the the English football leagues where new, which is in reality where we are now.  Maybe it’d be better to get the naming and branding right now, Newton Heath, Thames Ironworks FC, Hotspur FC, and Ardwick Association Football Club just would not have worked so well in 2010 … in the UK the moves were often made to tie the club to broader geographic areas, or to neutralize them from specific locals that no longer where accurate.

In the USA its more about identity, no team doesn’t cover a broad geographic area, but the motivation to link your team to its supporter base via name change is the same.  Wizards just doesn’t do KC justice in this light, but then neither does Real Salt Lake, or Red Bull New York.  Our name is certainly no less silly than DC United just picking United because it is a traditional English naming convention.

I have been opposed to a name change, but maybe its just the natural course of things as teams develop, improve and evolve into the teams they will be for the next 100 years, rather than who they were for the first 15 or 20.  I’m sure fans a hundred years ago were distraught that Arsenal not only moved from South East London to North London (a long old journey even today but made worse then via the lack of river crossings) but also changed their name distancing themselves from their original community.

Those that didn’t change much (or at all) seem odd sounding … Sheffield Wednesday (formally The Wednesday Football Club), Aston Villa, Crewe Alexandra seem oddly out of place in 2010, especially Villa playing in the Premier League with Villa Park a real relic of the past (but a fine stadium regardless).  I love those teams for sticking with their names an roots, the likes of Preston North End and West Bromich Albion are not names that would be chosen today.  There is no derision for them though, I guess people got used to them after a while — hell they have always been there. Much like the (Wiz)ards have been in MLS.  Maybe without a change one day people will quit bitching about ‘Wizards’ and just accept them the way they do Hamilton Academical Football Club.  Or maybe Wizards is so epically bad that they never will.  If I live to 135 years old I’ll let you know …

If the name changed tomorrow I am not sure I’d care in twenty years, in fact I know I won’t.  It is just the here and now where it stings a bit.  Those of us that object in some respects are like old men scornful of change, yet its an undeniable thing and it need not always be bad.  I am glad the Wizards are no longer called the Kansas City Wiz that much is certain. With all the kits, logos, venues the Wizards have played in over the 15 years you figure we’d be used to it but I guess in a way because of all that we understand what an unwelcome pain in the ass it can also be.

I guess this is me saying I am not going to fret about it either way, what happens will happen.  It won’t stop me going to games and hell I buy new merchandise every year or two anyway, I don’t buy a shirt or a scarf for life.  I get the feeling those old Wizards shirts would become a real statement if we did change and they were around in 10 years or so … a kind of ‘fuck you, I was here when..’ badge of honor that distinguishes the old fans from the new.

In terms of name change, none of it detracts from past glories in my mind. If ‘The Wiz’ had won it all in the MLS inaugural year we’d still claim that honor today as the Wizards.  Its all the same team, right here in Kansas City and I doubt people will forget anytime soon that our ‘<insert euro-centric prefix>’ Kansas City ‘<insert hated new name>’ were once called the Wizards or the Wiz.  If it is done well enough, there might be the same wry smile I see from today’s fans when they talk about the old Rainbow logos and Charlie Brown shirts.  Change isn’t always bad … and sometimes it is wonderful.

I guess we will see what happens.

I’d been to the odd game at Arrowhead and the cavernous empty spaces didn’t do much for me, neither did the football, or the crappy name or the horrible PA Announcements. It wasn’t very appealing baking to death in a concrete bowl but when I heard the Wizards were leaving Arrowhead something began to needle me. I’d never lived in a place without a team before and the thought of them leaving town entirely didn’t sit well. I started to monitor the website looking for updates on where the team would be playing and the announcement never seemed to come. Finally news that Community America Ballpark was ‘home’ seemed to come ridiculously late. I flipped over to the season ticket section on the site and noted that there was a standing section … behind a goal … and the entire season ticket only cost $150 (approx). Score. I became a season ticket holder within minutes.

I emailed all my friends trying to get them on board but none took the bait and so I went to the first game with my wife who bought a single game ticket. I arrived on the Grass Berm and was told to SIT DOWN. What the hell? It turned out that the banking was too steep and there where safety concerns and my grass and mud made mock terrace wasn’t really going to be all that it cracked up to be. I wanted to stand up, instead I got into the routine of bringing along a blanket and my wife. It is funny, in hindsight that with the new stadium coming that a much maligned grass slope at the further maligned Community America Ballpark is what sucked me in. As the season rolled onwards I got used to coming to games, I enjoyed the view, I liked sitting on The Berm and thought that one day it’d be a fun place to bring kids. The Wizards squeaked into the playoffs and by the end of the season I was hooked.

Looking back over the last few years, and watching games at CAB it is hard to imagine that this weekend I will be taking pictures of Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson and the remainder of the Manchester United squad right here in Kansas City. It feels strange. Over 47,000 tickets have been sold at this time. Amazing. The Kansas City Wizards Stadium is being built at an almost alarming (but most welcome) pace – with an uncompromisable emphasis on quality. The World Cup has come and gone and 12,000 fans crowded into the Power and Light District to watch the USA play Ghana. Really? Yeah … 2010 has been kinda like that.

So here I sit, in bed, feeling like Sunday is a cup final. I can’t sleep. I wonder if I’ll see or even speak to Giggs or Fergie over the next two days, I have my camera charged up and ready to go for the once in a lifetime chance of taking pictures of Manchester United from field level. It all seems so surreal and weird.

No matter what our place in the standings may be, win lose or draw, these are good days to be a Wizards fan. OnGoal – the Wizards ownership group really deserve a tip of the cap. And me? I am just enjoying the ride, enjoying that I am endlessly amazed by the upwards progression of football in a City that has been deemed a backwater by the snobs in LA and Seattle and wondering what comes next.

One thing is certain.  There can be no excuse for this defeat.  There were no notable injuries that forced our selection or tactics.  This was the preferred starting eleven.  The Philadelphia Union remain as the final team separating the Wizards from the bottom of the standings, not just in the Eastern Conference but MLS as a whole.  They are only one point behind the Wizards and have played one game fewer.  We have nothing to crow about, even after defeating them at Community America Ballpark. We had a six-point lead on them after two games, and they are now just a solitary draw behind in terms of points.

It is as if we are chasing the bottom of the table.  We started week one at the summit of the MLS standings, and a measly thirteen games later we stand just a draw above the MLS laughing stock that the Union are, and we seem destined to become.

It is certain that change is needed.  But in terms of a way forward I am nonplussed.  Part of me wants Peter Vermes to be run out of town and I think that is reflective of a vast number of Wizards fans however I also don’t think it will do any harm at all to let him ride out the rest of the season.  It is not that I have any particular faith that Peter Vermes can turn this caravan of despair around however I am wary of a firing leading to yet another poor and rushed hiring of a first team coach.

What I would love to see was an organizational statement that actually admitted that this season is over, and some moves to get some reserve team players out there to get them some experience than can maybe help us next season.  I’ll take Bunbury starting for Wolff, Graham Zusi on for Jack Jewsbury or Davy Arnaud, and Besler on for Conrad.  I’d get Hirsig out of limbo and throw him out there, get Chhetri on the bench and clocking some minutes.  We might as well see what they can do.

We might get massacred in a few games but would it really be any worse that what we have now?  A loss is a loss, except the latter option might actually help the Wizards, and who knows?  After a few weeks we might find out the kids can play.  They will learn more than they doing playing PDL whipping boys, the Kansas City Brass.

The bottom line is it would be hard to be worse than Jimmy Conrad was last night, hard to be as ineffectual as Josh Wolff has been this season, hard to be as undisciplined and nonsensical as Davy Arnaud and his three red cards and endless bitching, and Jack Jewsbury?  He has played well enough, but he isn’t exactly the future either.

Look at our roster and ask yourself who you expect to see still playing in three years as a starter for an MLS side.  There are not many on that list.  This also needs a change if the Wizards are to improve, new coach or not.

Looking South across the West side of the stadium.  Note the curve in the stand
designed to get everybody facing the field and feeling close to the action.

A little perspective on the roof trusses — these things are massive.

Actually standing on the West side of the stadium’s pre-casts. Looking South.

The tunnel flanked by the home and away dugouts.

The home dugout.

A view of the West side of the Stadium from what will be the Plaza area.  Note the central
white steel column.  The supporters signed that one.

Developments are quite stunning and this stadium is going to be breathtaking.  I described it as being a “small big stadium”.  It is going to be intimate, but its also impressively large at the same time.  I think it is going to be a loud and intimidating place for visiting fans.  It certainly feels a lot bigger inside than it does walking the perimeter.  I’ll be writing more on this tomorrow, but for now there are over a hundred Kansas City Wizard’s Stadium pictures from today available on the kcwfans.com Facebook page.  There is no need to ‘Like’ anything or have a Facebook account to view the pictures, although if you do use that Like button you will get notice next time I post pictures.  This will hopefully be in two weeks.

2010

I wake up early, tired.  My daughter who is teething isn’t sleeping well and I have been up two to three times in the night.  I grab my iPhone, plug in kcwizards.com and check the time of the game is 7:30.  I get out of bed and stand groggily in front of the closet looking for blue …. my colors are not clean.

“Babe?”
“Yeah?”
“Is my Wizards gear washed?”
“No.  Sorry”
“Where is it?”
“Hamper in our bedroom”
“Ok”
“Sorry”
“It’s been two weeks!”
“Yeah but you got a grease stain on the front of your shirt and I wanted to treat it but have not had time”

Grease stain my ass.  I pull the crumpled shirt out of the hamper.  Scrape off a dry bit of something with a nail.  Look at the grease stain and sigh.  I have been going to games for thirty years, except in 2010 when there is a food calamity the droppings no longer land on my shoes but on the stomach protecting my sandals from the elements.

“Think that was a burger that got me …. sorry babe”
“Just put it in the hamper and I’ll get it ready for the next game.”
“Thanks babe …. that is April 10th.”
“You could wash it yourself you know…”
“…. might save them from getting shrunk ….”
“…………”
“Sorry babe … just frustrated is all, I’ll try my other one.”

I put down the $10 TJ Maxx purchased t-shirt and go into the cupboard and pull out the 2008/2009 replica.  I pull it over my head and down over my torso – its looser than last time.  I plod down the hallway and scope myself out in the bathroom mirror.

“Holy fucking muffin top….”
“….. what?”
“Fucking shirt … I’m to large for it”
“It looks okay”

She is being kind … its bad enough that the mirror is showing me how my cleavage and love handles would look if I were ever wrapped in blue cellophane ….  I don’t want to be patronized as well.

I violently pull the shirt off throw if forcefully into the corner of the bedroom and pout.  100lbs heavier than I was in 1998…… how would I handle that uphill trudge through the tunnels from the Piccadilly line out onto Gillespie Road now?

It’s amazing but the shirt will magically find its way back into the cupboard over the next week.  I briefly look at the grease spot, give my T-Shirt a quick sniff and decide it will be good to go one last time.

1990

“So whats for dinner tonight mum?”
“What do you want my ray of sunshine?”

There is sarcasm here, but she means it anyway.  The edge is normal, we trash talk each other frequently but Mum is still irritated that I shouted at her for not washing my Arsenal shirt.  It smells bad, aftershave, cigarettes, and Lynx body spray (they call it Axe these days).

“It is not like I have anything else to do today but to go down to Green Street and get you  food and have it ready for when you get home!”
“But its never ready when I get home!”
“Look James …. fuck off … just go.”
“West Ham are playing today mum.”

Green street will be loaded with claret and blue dressed men with dubious education and heritage soon and our street is a traffic rat run a mile and a half away.  If my old lady doesn’t get her skates on she will lose her (unassigned) parking spot to a Hammers fan.

“Lamb and Spinach Mum”
“Ok – I should get going”
“Mum?”
“WHAT!?”

She is irritated with me now, although its not really my fault.  She cooks a curry every Saturday but we never get the stuff sorted before Saturday morning.  Still it is a nice smell to come home to after a cold afternoon at Highbury.

“Lend me two pounds?”
“No – I just lent you five pounds and you never pay me back.”
“Muu-uum.!!!”
“Look! Borrow it from your sister.”

Mum leaves.  This is bad.  Lizzie is sitting at the table eating her breakfast reading the sports page of The independent.  She eyeballs me without flinching and drains the last of her cup of tea.  Sits up straight in her chair:

“Make me a cup of tea”
“I have to go”
“If you want my money you will make me a cup of tea.”
“Fucking hell Liz”
“Fine!”

Her eyes flit back to the Arsenal related news.

She is a stone wall.  She always wins at Monopoly.  She knows she is holding all the cards.  I can afford to get to the game if I run down East Ham High Street to the Underground Station but I won’t be able to afford a program.  I always buy programs.  I have boxes of programs and there isn’t a game I have been to that I haven’t bought one.

“Just lend me the fucking money”
“How much?”
“Two quid”
“Tea”

I put the kettle on.

“10% interest!”
“What?”
“Why should I lend you my money for free? Plus you never pay me back on time so its 10% a day and if you don’t pay me back I won’t lend you anything else any other time.”

My Mafioso sister fixes cash flow problems frequently.  I make the tea.

“If your charging me interest can I get a fiver instead?”
“No.”
“You coming to the game or what?”
“Yeah .. let me finish my cuppa and have a quick shower.”
“Alright but I want to go by noon.”

Its about an hours travel down to Highbury on the trains but I like to get onto the North Bank early and get my spot.  Too low and you can’t see the far side of the field unless you’re tall, too high and you wind up standing behind a tall bastard who by all right should be up the back with the big lads.  I grab a support beam about 15 feet up the colossal terrace most of the time, mid way between the left side of the goal and the corner flag.  It’s perfect, I can see over the top of the goal so the cross bar isn’t in my way and I have a good perspective on the field.  I can’t wait to get there.

“Liz …”
“Yeah?”
“Hurry up?”
“Hold on I’m just about ready”
“Do I have to pay you interest even though I’m taking you?”
“Yeah”

2010

“Got your tickets baby?”
“Yup”
“Got your parking pass?”
“Always”
“Press Pass?”
“Don’t need it”
“Phone?”
“BABE!”
“Sorry, just being helpful”
“I don’t need … I am a grown man perfectly capable of leaving home without your help.”

I fumble through my pockets, wallet, score.  No Phone.  I look around.  I can’t find it.  Damn.

“Seen my phone Baby?”
“On your bed side table.”
“Cool”
“OK have fun”
“I will”
“Don’t drink to much”
“OK”
“And call me if you do and you need a ride home!”
“OK”
“Do you have your wallet?”
“Whatever”
“Sorry – who are they playing again?”
“DC United”
“Crap name”
“Crap team – okay I am off”
“Love you”
“Yup”

I get into my car.  Check my pockets for the tickets and parking pass, my wallet and my press pass.  I don’t need the press pass but I like having it just in case I need it.  Scarf is on my dash same as always.  I look behind me and remember the days when my backseat was clean and clear.  Camera bag and not much else … times have changed.  I have a baby seat, diaper bag, various baby clothes.  A breast pump.  Sun shades, a Baby on Board sign sits in my back window along with some discarded Bill and Hillary Clinton masks which I pulled over my rear head rests.

I briefly think about staying home and simply watching the game on television.  Except … I don’t miss games… I sit home and fidget and wish I had gone even when the team is as miserable as gout.  I send a text to my wife telling her I love her and back out of the drive way and head out onto Highway 152.  8 miles later I turn onto I-435 heading south towards Community America Ballpark.  My 25 minute drive  culminates with me climbing out of my Toyota Corolla in a near empty car park and heading over to a group of Wizards fans for a beer.

“Hello Mike, Gregg – how you doing Brice? – yeah its been a good week”.

We talk about football.  I feel at home with a beer in my hand and the poor sad bastards I stand with.  I am one of them.  A Wizards fan.  We drink and wait for stragglers to turn up, moan about the weather but look forward to seeing the new team.  It is a new day, a new season … optimism is abundant.  I bite my tongue frequently trying to back away from my cheer leading for ex-Arsenal man Ryan Smith.  I am going to catch some flack if he isn’t good …. plenty of it.

It is two hours until kick off.

1990

It is always the same.  You are packed in tighter than sardines, you don’t have to hold on because there is no room to fall down.  Not unlike the terraces your arms are down by your sides, pinned or simply stuck because you don’t want to elbow somebody in the face getting your hands up to your face.  Why would you want to put your hands on your face?  On the Underground?  Because some drunk, pickled egg eating lout decided to about shit himself in a confined space.

“Arrrrrggghhh somebody let one go”
“Steve your an Animal”
“It was that kebab mate”
“Blimey …. can’t you wait next time”
“HA!  Just done a bigger one”
“That ….is….. rotten that is”

Somehow trying to point your noise up towards the ceiling feels like the right thing to do.  You can only imagine a tube of humans all looking to the heavens … all but a guy called Steve who finds his own smells quite pleasing.  It is always worse for my sister than me.  I am well over six feet, but at 5’2” Liz also has to endure the Underground at arm pit height.  Polyester shirts don’t smell great after a ride in the unventilated and hot Underground.

We pull into Arsenal Station, and are swept out of the train in a wave of bodies.  We hug the wall so as to not get separated but we have done this before a few times and its no big deal.  We follow a winding tunnel uphill from the train, it is so filled with people you can only shuffle forwards or you will clip the heal of the man walking in front of you.  Finally the turbaned ticket collector is ignored as everybody just piles through the gate while the Police look out for the hopelessly drunk and finally we emerge onto Gillespie Road.

I guess if you arrived here on a normal day you might not guess that one of the great stadiums in Britain was hidden amongst the terraced houses.  I often find myself wondering if the houses came first or the stadium.  I breath in the fresh winter air and make sure Liz is still by my side and we head off towards the entrance walking by market stalls loaded with scarves, hats and shirts.  We don’t need to talk about anything because it is the same every time.  We join the queue to buy a programme on the street outside the stadium and then queue up to enter the stadium.

Still only a short walk from the stadium there is a gap in the terraced homes.  There is nothing beyond it but turnstiles, stairs and barbed wire.  We enter, the turnstiles are from a different era and you have to squeeze through even if your trim, then the climb up the stairs and then finally you hit the top and look down on a carpet of perfect green, red seats, huge concrete terraces and art deco architecture.  Highbury – Home of Football.  My home. It is empty but for a couple of hundred fellow fans.

We find our spot, sit down on the Northbank and begin to read through the programme.  Vanilla Ice’s  Ice Ice Baby is playing over the tinny, baseless stadium speakers. We watch the crowd shuffling in slowly.  George Graham’s notes do little but convince me we are done.  Champions of England?  As holders only, the Tottenham fans arriving at the Clock End know the score.  They will rub it in all day if they can.  Fuck them, they will quit singing when we score.  The Northbank will sing out loud and clearly and it’ll be like pissing into the wind for them.  A gentle rain begins to fall and I find myself wishing that the Clock End was not covered.  I hate the Yids*.

“Can you see ok Liz?”
“Yeah – it’s cold though”
“Yeah”

It is two hours until kick off.

2010

I find myself grinning.  Not that I am adverse to smiling but this is almost involuntary.  I am still in the parking lot and the Boulevard Irish Ale is stronger than I thought.  I am not quite staggering drunk but I am ready to shout and sing and yell obscenities at the referee.  DC United?  Wankers.  Onalfo?  Wanker.  I don’t care if he was our coach last year, he is the DC United coach and that automatically makes him a tosser.  At least for today.

Fans start to drift into the stadium, I still have room in my stomach for another beer and I want to chain smoke a few more cigarettes before I make my way into the ‘ball park’ and take my place in the ‘Supporter Section’.  The Cauldron?  My sister would give me some shit for this.  Standing on a metallic terrace with a bad drummer leading us in songs that have no mention of death, racism, zenophobia, social commentary or threats of violence.  I hum “and if you are a Tottenham fan surrender or you die, we all follow the Arsenal”.  I miss the hate.  Today I am going to be loud.

I stagger towards the gates, pass through the gate without a pat down or being wanded.  I could get a machete into Community America Ballpark if I wanted, but whats the point?  We have some lads down at the front who’s idea of aggro is singing Manchester United songs and sticking their middle fingers up at the fans 500ft away.  Real hard men they are.  I’d love to see what they would do faced with Mickey Francis.  They’d need the machete.  I laugh at the thought of what a well organized crew could do at an MLS game.  ICF vs The Cauldron?  I still think of football in terms of violence, even if I am glad it is not part of the American game of Soccer.  Teetering on the brink of anarchy and flying bricks made for a good atmosphere but then you need traveling fans.  DC United have a few – who cares.  I take my place in the Cauldron.

It is raining, it is cold.  I grin … it is a new season.  People ask me about the new players, I point them out and paint names on them as the players warm up.  Stephane Auvrey, Ryan Smith, Diop, Escobar, Rocastle … the stadium is silent bar the music system and the occasional unnecessary announcement.  It is mere minutes for kick off.  The National Anthem rings out, I sing along heartily.  Today I would sing Shania Twain songs with gusto.  The beer has done the job.

The national anthem tails off, the drums start up.

“Here we go, here we go, here we go ….”

I laugh inside, it is not the same as the Northbank.  I start to sing.  Come on Ryan son, don’t let me down.

1990

The players finally start coming out for their warm ups are are individually greeted by the Northbank.  Its time to stand up, it is getting hard to see the pitch.  It is still an hour before kick off but the players are out stretching.  This is my favorite part of the ritual, watching the stadium slowly filling up and transforming from a silent monument to football into a rich, wild, vibrant, loud and living animal.  I love it, love feeling the atmosphere building as the home and away fans start to chant backwards and forwards.

There are lots of Tottenham, always lots but not like the old days.  Reduced capacity thanks to the Taylor Report and the Hillsborough Disaster.  The North London Derby was a 64,000 fan game, but I guess things change.  46,000 is all they will allow in today.  It doesn’t matter, the grand old stadium will still come alive before kickoff.

I look out towards the Clock End and the famous old Clock, 2:45.  The teams are being announced and then appear into a wall of sound.  The thing about being on the Northbank or any large terrace is its primal nature.  It takes hold, and within minutes you are just part of a single entity.  When it sings you sing, when it shouts you shout, when its angry you rage.  I submit to the beast and am lost, it will set me free in 120 minutes or so, until them I AM ARSENAL.  I have no worries or concerns outside the game, the man standing on my shoulder, my sister – they barely exist.  I can feel my vocal chords straining as the minutes tick by and we head towards 3pm, I have not heard my own voice in minutes.  It is useless to talk.

Coin Toss.  Arsenal shooting towards the Clock End in the first half.  Then I feel my hairs start to bristle and stand on end as the teams line up, 2:59pm and all of a sudden the volume goes up a dozen notches to a point that is impossible to maintain as thousand and thousands and thousands of voices scream individual encouragement as loud as they can, as if they players might hear them above the heaving mass of red shirts.

Then a shrill sound punctuates the air, a single blast on a whistle and the game is underway.  I look down at my sister, she has her focus fixed on the game and doesn’t notice.  I love that she is here with me, because right here … right now … this is simply the best place in the world.

2010

I was right damn it.  I was right about Ryan Smith and the Kansas City Wizards.  He just ran at them and they parted like the Red Sea before Moses.  This is going to be great.  I wait for him to get the ball again just to see him fly at them again.  As he does, he flies past two defenders and once again threat is written all over his play.  I turn around and catch the eye of a fellow fan Mark who has had to endure my endless fan boy posts on the forum he moderates.  He grins.

I’m at home, so very much at home and I’m losing my voice.  Jack Jewsbury feeds the ball to Smith, he bursts into the box and fires a shot at the DC United keeper who can only parry it into the path of Kei Kamara.  The ground disappears somewhere beneath my feet as I explode into stateless euphoria.  We are winning and good for it, and the volume of the Cauldron has risen as they start to realize that we are in for a great evening.  I look around, there are smiles and all eyes are on the field of play.

With every attack I find myself reacting and shouting, I’m glad I am standing as I could not sit.  Stephane Auvrey flights a ball into the peerless Ryan Smith who deftly controls it with one touch, and then glides the ball into the path of Davy Arnaud and this time I forget myself entirely and become part of the pack.  He scores. Pandemonium.  I am pleased we are cruising, I feel vindicated and right now … it’s glorius … this is simply the best place in the world.

Notes

I’d love to say I can remember every minute of every game I have ever watched but after dozens of North London Derby games I realized half way through writing this that I could not remember the winning goal …. or more precisely what winning goal it was.  Adams scored a few winners for Arsenal against Tottenham but I have no clue.  January 20th 1990. If anybody can clue me in maybe I can fill in the last few missing parts …

I used the term Yid to describe a Tottenham fans above.  I debated over it, as it is an anti-Semitic slur directed at Tottenham back in the days because of the large Jewish population.  I wanted this to be real …. not rose tint it.  I am not making any excuses for this, it was simply what the Arsenal fans called Tottenham. Football in the UK in the 80s and 90s was distasteful, hateful affair much of the time.  I am sure the name persists and is frowned upon (and rightly so) but there you go.

Being part of something that allows you to lose yourself is a wonderful thing.  Football is my escape and my refuge.  My life is rich and full and I have nothing to hide from but the normal stresses of being a father, husband, home and business owner.  Some people drink, some people run … I watch football.  There have been some wonderful moments on terraces and stadiums all over Europe that I have witnessed, and there will be others.  I won’t ever learn how not to live in the moment for those 90 minutes, I hope I don’t.

If this sounds foreign go to a game, put on a scarf and a shirt.  Watch the Wizards or any other team that isn’t Manchester United or Arsenal painfully fade through another season or two … look forward to tomorrow with hope of future glories, be there before the going gets good and the fair weather fans arrive, and own your own little part of the day when your dog has it’s day.  It will happen in Kansas City one day, and I will be there …

Fail: The Wizards have scored 11 goals in 13 games.  The second worst ratio of goals per games behind DC United who have played one more game and scored one less goal.

Surprising: The Wizards have conceded 17 goals so far.   Despite the outcry over the defense being awful, overall there are 7 teams with worse defensive records than the Wizards.  We are tied with the New York.

Bad but I still love it:  The Wizards are ranked 12th out of 16 in terms of goal difference.  Below us in the rankings are Seattle Sounders (oh how the mighty have fallen!!), New England and DCU.

Not good:  The Wizards score 0.85 goals a game and give up 1.31 goals a game on average.  For the sake of a goal every two games (0.46) either scored or not conceded we’d be breaking even. 14 goals either scored or not conceded over an entire season would have us comfortably mid table …  there is a thin line between success and failure.

Pause for hope:  The Wizards have lost by one goal four times and had two scoreless ties.  Just a minor offensive upgrade should yield a substantial amount of points.

Unfair target: Ryan Smith has scored one and has five assists on the season in 12 starts.  He has been involved in more than half of our goals.  If he keeps this pace up will be good for over a dozen goals on the season and easily surpass Claudio Lopez’s 2009 stats of 8 assists.  I doubt he will get near Claudio’s seven goals given that he doesn’t take our penalties.  Upgrade over Claudio?  Hard to say, would have been nice to have them both.

Can he keep it up?:  Kamara has six goals on the season so far and has been one of the few bright spots.  Still not perfect by any means and has plenty of areas of his game he should improve on but his tally at this point should have him be the first Wizards player aside from Josh Wolff to get into double digits scoring in a season for some time.

Kick his ass: Davy Arnaud has more red cards than assists.

Onalfo’s Record: As the Wizards manager 27–29–22.  103 points from a possible 234.  44%.  In 2009 when he was fired he had a 5–6–7 record or 22 points from a possible 54.  He was running at 40% for the season.

Vermes’ Record:  6-14-5 – Peter Vermes’ record as coach of the Wizards.  23 points earned from a possible 75 in Major League Soccer play.  He wins 31% of the available points.  Using this 31% as a predictor for the season we should earn about 28 points from a possible 90, this matches our projected finish to within a matter of decimal places.  Vermes’ 3-7-2 record last season after Onalfo was fired yielded … 31% of the points.   This team is on a flat line from the time Peter Vermes took over till now, there has been no statistical improvement from his 12 2009 games vs his 13 2010 games based on points per game.

None?:  The number of players with more than one goal excluding Kamara.

Inevitably the conversation turned to “England getting screwed” and then “we need video technology” to help prevent these things happening. Did I feel aggrieved? Yes, but as the game played out and Germany ran away with it it was also obvious that England were in over their heads and the better team was going to win.

I felt no anger towards the referees when the game was over, more a deeper conviction that the blame for the defeat lay squarely at the feet of the players sporting the Three Lions badge. They were simply not good enough.

Later that afternoon I watched Carlos Tevez score a goal for Argentina that was offside. I really didn’t see the offside until the commentators watched the goal again in slow motion and mentioned it. Mexico just got screwed. Right? And the Republic of Ireland by France with Thierry Henry’s hand ball. And England in 1986 by Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God”. And Germany by England in the 1966 World Cup final.

We remember these famous episodes, and yes in an ideal world they would never happen but expecting referees to be perfect is a foolish notion and to play devils advocate I think expecting that introducing instant replay into soccer will somehow cure the game of injustice is also foolish.

Goal Line Instant Replay – to see if a ball crossed the line is one of the most commonly requested new tools for referees that the scorned and aggrieved turn to. The reality is a tiny minority of the good goals that are not allowed to stand are those where we argue over if the ball crossed the line. Meanwhile in the Premier League, Seria A, MLS and leagues around the world scores of good goals are struck off every week because of blown off-side calls. As high as this number may be, as many goals are scored that are the result of an offside call that is not given. Headers are scored or missed because of shirt tugs. Corner kicks are unjustly won and lead to goals. Throw ins are taken from the wrong spot. Referees play the advantage only to have the team given the advantage lose the ball and a goal thirty seconds later.

In a fluid game like soccer a poor call in the opposing penalty area can lead to a goal at the other end of the field. In short, to fairly apply video technology to the game that we call “beautiful” every refereeing decisions given or otherwise would have to be subject to rejection. I just don’t think it can work. To have technology to disprove or approve Frank Lampard’s goal as a specific scenario would not have helped the USA with their two good goals that were not given during the 2010 World Cup. When you can point to scenarios where justice can be served, while others scenarios are left to the officials cries of foul play will persist.

Technologically imposed fair play brought to its ultimate conclusion would punctuate a game that is already suffering with simulated fouls, inconsistent refereeing and negative defensive play.

Nearly a half century after Geoff Hurst’s controversial goal I am left wondering if those decisions that are too close to call would not still be bitterly argued about. This certainly happens in the NFL, and ultimately instant replay is still in the hands of humans, and that human factor will never change.

They key to changing the game to make it more just, lies in more officials on the field. This was tested in last seasons Europa League and is being extended to the Champions League on trial. Basically goal line officiants at either end monitor the goal line and watch for foul play in the boxes. More eyes on the field takes the pressure off referees to keep up with a game that is ever increasing in speed. It has not been infallible, but then no system ever will be and at some point you just have to take the shit sandwich you have been handed and admit it just wasn’t your day.

Teal Bunbury should be given starts over Josh Wolff.  I’m not going to bash Wolff, lets just say at his age he has about as much to offer in the future as woolen socks and pig skin balls.  Lets face it, this season is over.  Let Bunbury get the starts, learn the game, score some goals and start 2011 stronger than he is now.

Craig Rocastle.  Off to a shaky start but he had a decent game tonight against the Red Bulls and that is not something you can say about the majority of the rest of the squad.  He is physical, but tonight he showed control and restraint and actually was quite productive with the ball.  I appreciate this might be blasphemous, but given time to get used to the finickity refereeing in MLS I think Craig Rocastle can be more productive as a defense, holding midfielder than Stephane Auvrey who I like but who also has a nasty knack of giving up possession at key moments.  Can Rocastle tame himself?  He appeared to do very well tonight and I’d like to see him out there more.

Our defense is a complete fail.  It is not necessarily the personnel but the system that leaves them exposed, and in doing so exposes their weaknesses.  Jimmy Nielsen has proven himself to make mistakes, Conrad has lost a step.  Escobar should be put on a boat and sent back to wherever the hell he came from in Columbia.  We really need a solid central defender.

Espinoza has been great … kind of.  I keep hearing that anyway but the reality for me is that he is merely and above average player in a pretty weak squad.  His switch to defense has helped him, in that it has gotten him into the squad and his defensive play has been decent however his link up play and his ability to get caught out of position up field, or to fail to get up field when its needed undermines the already weak 4-3-3 hybrid formation we are playing.

Free kicks …. largely horrible.  At least with Escobar out of the team we have stopped hitting the corner flags from 45 yards.

Goals.  We do not score nearly enough of them.  Blame Wolff, the formation, bad luck, the wicked witch of the west, my left nut or the ghost of Patrick Swayze.  Take your pick.  We don’t create chances in the penalty area, we have a target man he is about as dynamic in the air as a step ladder and no invention.  The forwards are a problem, but we also lack any form of guile and creativity through the center.

Zoltán Hercegfalvi – we sure could use him now.  Does anybody have news on how his recovery is going and estimates on when he will resume his career playing for the Wizards against college kids again?

Indian Sunil Chhetri should also be given a start or two.  I don’t believe he is ready, but hell as I have said the season is over, lets see what the kid has got.  We are not scoring goals now anyway so if he fails to find the back of the net we have lost nothing.  If he fails the Indian fans might stop blathering on about him not being selected, and if he succeeds we might have something we currently do not possess.  A striker.

Jack Jewsbury.  Ever reliable, ever solid.  In many respects the best player on the team so far this season, at least the most consistent.

Kei Kamara has come on a bit from last season and thank god we have him.  Without him and his goals we would actually be a complete laughing stock now instead of a marginally snicker worthy rag tag group of wanderers and journeymen.   Peter Vermes’ dirty dozen would be anchored to the bottom of the table without Kamara yet he frustrates the living hell out of me with his sloppy crossing, and his unwillingness to look before he passes.  He could be such a better player if he just worked out some of these kinks, and if he used his ample pace to stretch defenses with quality runs off the ball rather than plodding around.  All in all I am glad he is here, but I feel at a decent MLS side he is a substitute rather than a starter.

Losing games is one thing, but it appears more so than ever that we have a culture of losing at the Wizards which needs to be addressed.  I am tired of reading Kei Kamara talking about putting the latest defeat behind us and moving on.  That might be appropriate for Bruce Arena to say if his team lost a game now before continuing to run away with the MLS Support Shield but its starting to sound like a mantra.

Chance Myers.  Not that exciting after all….

Using your face to make saves is rather epic however Jimmy Nielsen in my mind has been little upgrade over Kevin Hartman.  I say this with caution as I like Jimmy, it is hard not to however he is starting to show the flaws Wizard’s fans were warned about by Danish fans and it has cost us a few goals of late.  People might point to Kevin Hartman’s horrible performances so far this year but that is a pretty weak comparison on a small body of work akin to looking at Wayne Rooney looking like absolute shit so far in the World Cup and writing him off as a bad player.  I’m not saying Nielsen was a mistake, but I am saying I’m not sold on him being this superstar goalkeeper.

Onalfo was practically run out of town on a rail after a dismal run during the summer months last year culminated in a 6-0 defeat to Dallas in Dallas.  At current the 2010 Wizards team has a worse record than Onalfo’s 2010 team.

Pablo Escobar.  Epic Fail.

Quitters.  The performance tonight, had no heart, no courage and simply smacked of going through the motions.  If you endured the tail end of last season when it was obvious we had no chance of making the playoffs you should have noticed the similarities as we bent over for New York and handed them the Astroglide.

Ryan Smith has been good.  I know people think he is lazy, I don’t.  I just think running all over the place with little purpose just makes you a fool if nothing is on.  Static forwards, no runs, no overlapping — nothing in this side is geared to work well with wingers, especially as Wolff can’t win a ball in the air to save his life and neither can Kamara.  He needs the team to have another credible threat to get him out of double and triple coverage.

Santiago Hirsig.  Forgotten Man.  Guess while Auvrey is out I am surprised that he isn’t on the bench in case Rocastle or Jewsbury are injured.  Hirsig the next roster cut for KC?  No point paying the man to play the Brass.

The Kansas City Soccer Stadium …. anybody really up for paying more to see the Wizards play this badly next season than we do now?  Things need to change if the stadium is to be filled.  Infuriating as this is, what really pisses me off is that the Wizards had a prime opportunity to radically expand the fan base this season.  With the World Cup, the Stadium Construction, and the Royals and Chiefs looking like a couple of special ed teams the Wizards had an opportunity to provide a winning alternative in a town so starved for success that people are buying season tickets to watch a pissant minor league hockey team that has a hint of being able to compete about them.  Instead if you watched USA vs Ghana today, and then flicked the TV over to channel 12 later in the day because you were in the mood for a bit more of the beautiful game … you’d probably never watch MLS let alone the Wizards again.

Unexciting.  Under-performing.  Unimpressive.  Unimaginative.  The perfect words to sum up the last X Wizards games.  Things have been so completely dull and disappointing … the second half of the recent Union game was about the most bored I have ever been at a sporting event.  I hate to say it but its a good thing for MLS that the Wizards are only on national TV three times a year.  I am sure KCWE viewing figures are sliding ….. they have to be.

Peter Vermes.  Technical Director.  Coach.  The guy that re-invented our squad.  The only man pulling the strings.  He should be fired.  Maybe no now, but ultimately if things do not improve by seasons end he needs to go.

World Cup Watch Parties.  Kudos front office, you did good.  2014 is but four years away — start planning now so you can … advertise … and promote this next time.  12,000 people turned out for today’s USA game which was marvelous, but there could have been so many more for so many of the other games.

X&Y : It looks like we are back at Square One. What If we get Robb Heineman to sing Fix You softly to the team or at least Talk and send A Message to Peter Vermes about expectations and quality. It seems like it will take Til Kingdom Come to sort this team out. The Hardest Part is that the team was built around running at the Speed of Sound and keeping the ball Low and none of these things seem to happen. Twisted Logic says that they should improve as the season moves onward but any hope I have for this year seems to have been Swallowed in the Sea. Now you know that I like Coldplay and am therefor quite gay.

Zusi needs more starts.  Whenever he has been on the field he has looked impressive.  He is every bit as industrious as Davy Arnaud without the very obvious downside of being a petulant, undisciplined ass hat. We look better with him on the field and he makes things happen.