HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Now stop reading Hillcrest Road and go eat some turkey! Enjoy!

Goodbye Tyson, Ryan, Carlos and Ivan

Good luck to you Tyson--except against KC.

Today, the Wizards lost defender Tyson Wahl to Seattle Sounders FC in the expansion draft and waived forwards Ryan Pore and Ivan Trujillo and midfielder Carlos Marinelli. Good luck Tyson in Seattle and the other three in their future endeavors. We appreciate their efforts here in KC and wish them nothing but the best.

Expansion Draft/Science of Soccer

Well, the day is here that we will potentially lose one player to Seattle Sounders FC via the expansion draft. Who will it be? Ives says Hartman. Hopefully our roster remains in tact, but there are some quality players left off our protected list. We'll find out around 12:45 p.m. CT.

Also, our friend Pete Grathoff of the Star did a science of sports story last week on the bend of a soccer ball a la David Beckham, Dwayne De Rosario or Roberto Carlos. Read about it here. Embedded below are the YouTube clips of goals Grathoff mentions in his story. It's a nice little read about the science behind our sport.

WOW!:


Um...WOW again!

Cristman Comes Early

That right there is the headline of the year. Love it. Here's a round up of all the reports about our acquisition of the New England striker. Looks like most are pretty complimentary of the young player. We look forward to seeing him up close!

Expansion Draft/Trade Info - KCStar.com

Cristman Comes Early - MLSnet.com/kcwizards.com

Wizards Conjure Cristman Capture - Goal.com

Wizards Acquire Cristman from Revolution - ESPN.com

Revs Trade Cristman to KC - Soccer by Ives

Revs Trade Cristman to KC - Soccer 365

Revolution Send Adam Cristman to KC - Boston Herald

Revolution trade Cristman to KC - Boston Globe

Unido en Azul

Some of you who subscribe to the Wizards YouTube page might have already come across this, but we've put together a little video about The Cauldron, our screamin', yellin', fightin' supporters group. If you're not a member and are somewhat interested in becoming one, take a look and see if you'd like to join the group. If you are a member and want to show someone you work with, go to church with or live next to what we're all about, send them the link or imbed this video on your blog. We'd love the whole world to see it and join you guys at CAB next year!

Expansion Draft

Ten current MLS players will join the ranks of Seattle Sounders FC Wednesday. Below is a list of the players protected by KC ahead of the expansion draft. Remember that Chance Myers and Roger Espinoza are also safe due to being members of the Generation adidas program. Remember that Seattle Technical Director Chris Henderson was an assistant here in KC last year, so he knows some players on our roster pretty well. Due to League rules, it was mandated that we protect three of our four international players. Teams will have to protect a set number of internationals based on how many they have on their roster. Gen adidas players also don't count against this number.

Protected Players

M Davy Arnaud

F Adam Cristman

D Jimmy Conrad

M Herculez Gomez

D Michael Harrington

M Jack Jewsbury

D Jonathan Leathers

F Claudio Lopez

M Carlos Marinelli

M Kevin Souter 

F Josh Wolff

Busy Weekend/Wizards Acquire Cristman

Cristman goes up against Jonathan Leathers back in April.

Seems like forever ago since I've posted here...sorry for the delays. We'll get into all the excitement from this weekend in a little bit, but first we'd like to let you know we just traded for two-year MLS veteran Adam Cristman from the New England Revolution for a 3rd round pick in the upcoming MLS SuperDraft and allocation money. Below are a couple of goals from Adam this year scored against the Galaxy and here's a link to his bio at mlsnet.com. 

He has scored 10 goals and added five assists in his two MLS seasons. This year was shortened by a toe injury, but he has been jogging already this offseason. Last year, he was a finalist for the Gatorade Rookie of the Year award that was won by now-Rangers player Maurice Edu. The release will be up shortly at kcwizards.com. 

Cristman, who played at the same university as Wizards Head Coach Curt Onalfo and assistant coach Kris Kelderman, scored a hat trick Oct. 20, 2006 against Virginia Tech, alma mater of Wizards goalkeeper/fitness coach Dave Tenney. 

In talking with Adam today, he mentioned that he's excited for him and his wife to come to Kansas City and start chasing tornadoes. I like his spirit!

SuperLiga Here we Come!

So Mr. Garber speaks and the whole League listens. Yesterday, the Wizards found out that due to the new qualification procedures, we will qualify for SuperLiga during the 2009 season.

We've also found out the MLS Reserve Division won't be back next year. The KCW Reserves (Swope Park Rangers) have, thus, finished 2nd in their last-ever RD season. We will still schedule reserve exhibitions, so you'll still get to see them in competition.

The gala awards are later today, so if any Wizards are named to Best XI, we'll let you know.

From the Road

Hillcrest here blogging from the road to Wichita. It's an off day, but I thought I would check in for some MLS Cup discussion. Who is going to win? Will Guillermo win Cup MVP as well? Submit your predictions below and have a great MLS Cup weekend!

Coldplay: A Photo Essay

So some English blokes came to town last week, and word is that their concert was pretty rad. Fifteen Wizards players were on hand to check it out and were even invited backstage for a private meet-and-greet with the band. Not too shabby ey? Jimmy Conrad even found out who they support back home; Chris supports Exeter City, Will likes Southampton while guitarist Johnny Buckland bleeds for San Jose Earthquakes' partner club Tottenham. Nice reporting, JC. Check out these pictures below from the players.

From Tyson Wahl:

And three from Herculez Gomez:

USA Handles Guatemala 2-0, Arnaud Earns CAP 2

Last night, the United States easily dispatched of Guatemala 2-0 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park outside of Denver. Read the U.S. Soccer match report here. Wizards midfielder/forward Davy Arnaud also made his second appearance for the U.S. National Team, entering in the 83rd minute for goalscorer and wonderkid Freddy Adu. (In his two CAPs, Arnaud has been late-game replacements for Landon Donovan and Adu. How about those two names Davy has entered for?) Arnaud put in a workmanlike effort in his seven minutes on the field, including a cutting pass to Sacha Kljestan inside the penalty area seconds before time expired. Kljestan took a touch, and Guatemala knocked the ball out of bounds for a corner kick. Had the play happened earlier in the game, Davy might have been responsible for a U.S. goal.

Let's look back at the predictions from Tuesday to see how we did.

In the 18, we only missed one player. Unfortunately, one player Bradley didn't dress I had in the starting lineup. Conor Casey, in reality, was in the 18 and played, while Sean Franklin was not in the 18 and, thus, didn't start.

In the starting lineup, Hillcrest nailed eight of 11 starters. Here was the actual lineup with our correct picks in bold. If we missed the pick, our choice will be listed in parenthesis:

(4-4-2) Guzan; Thorrington (Franklin), Goodson (Gibbs), Parkhurst, Bornstein; Adu, Mastroeni, Clark, Kljestan; Altidore, Cooper (Ching)

Subs: We had Cooper entering for Ching, so flip flop who started and who entered and we're still on track. We had Arnaud for Mastroeni, but he actually came in for Adu. We had Moor for Franklin, but the sub was Conor Casey for Altidore. Not terrible, but not great here.

As for numbers, we got only six of 18. Not too good. We flip-flopped Adu and Ching and probably would have had a better chance had Franklin actually been in the lineup. Oh well, there's always next time. 

The Don Speaks/Cepero Doesn't Win

Commissioner Don Garber speaks to Jack Bell of the New York Times in a very candid Question/Answer session about the state of MLS and the future of the League. There's some great stuff in here, and it offers a nice preview of what could be in the State of the League press conference Friday. MLS Comms put out a statement yesterday saying he is expected to reveal some competition-related news. Stay tuned.

Also, congrats to Will Johnson of Real Salt Lake for winning the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year Award. Check out his goal below:

Joining Twitter/New Media Update

A little birdie (ha-ha) told us that Twitter was all the rage, so Hillcrest Road decided to make an appearance on the new site. If your daily posts here at blogspot weren't enough, now you can follow our twitter account that allows even more instantaneous updates. Check us out at www.twitter.com/hillcrest_road. We'll try to keep updates regular and not too boring, so hopefully you'll enjoy the content. Let us know what you want to read about on Twitter in the comments section below. You'll be able to see all of our Twitter updates in the right-hand column here at the blogspot version of Hillcrest Road.

Also, don't forget out other "new media" locations:

www.myspace.com/kansascitywizards

www.youtube.com/kcwizards96

And the Facebook page of our President Robb Heineman. I know he was on here before, but Facebook said we were spamming people because we added too many Wizards fans in a short amount of time. If he's not longer youf friend, go add him again.

Blogger Fight!

It looks like NY didn't like very much that we called out Danny Cepero's goal as not that great. Yeah it was historic and made a nice highlight, but come on, is that a quality goal? Should that represent the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year for all of eternity? I think not. The voting is now over, so hopefully MLS fans did the right thing. Danny, your goal was fun to watch, but it wasn't the best this season. Apologies. I'm glad the MLS Fan Blog agrees.

Don't forget that tonight's match will be at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN Classic not ESPN 2. I know initially we said the match would be shown on the deuce, but that has changed from the initial scheduling. If you can't be on your couch at that time, set your TiVo so you can see Davy Arnaud hopefully sport the Red, White and Blue kits.

U.S. Roster for Tomorrow?

Let me preface this by saying I have no knowledge of the team for tomorrow's 2010 qualifier against Guatemala at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN Classic and Galavision. Here are the things we know: 2 players must be dropped from the current 20-man roster for the final roster. Shirt numbers for qualifiers must be from 1-18 only. So, with that info, Hillrest makes the following predictions about tomorrow's match:

Matt Pickens (GK) and Conor Casey are dropped from the roster. Not sure why on Casey, just a feeling. That leaves the following players to make the roster, in my PREDICTED jersey numbers. We'll check this out Thursday to see how I've done.

1 GK Troy Perkins 

2 D Sean Franklin 

3 D Jonathan Bornstein

4 D Clarence Goodson

5 M Pablo Mastroeni

6 D Cory Gibbs

7 M Sacha Kljestan

8 D Drew Moor

9 F Kenny Cooper

10 F Brian Ching

11 M Freddy Adu

12 F Jozy Altidore

13 M Ricardo Clark

14 F Davy Arnaud

15 D Michael Parkhurst

16 M John Thorrington

17 F Chris Rolfe

18 GK Brad Guzan

Let's go with the following lineup (4-4-2): Guzan; Franklin, Parkhurst, Gibbs, Bornstein; Kljestan, Clark, Mastroeni, Adu; Ching, Altidore 

and subs:

Cooper for Ching

Arnaud for Mastroeni (Kljestan to the center)

Moor for Franklin

Offer your thoughts on the 18-man roster, numbers and lineup below. 

Albert Pujols Wants STL MLS Team

Pujols' goal celebration of choice.

Apparently Fort Osage grad and MLB star Albert Pujols wants to bring the Kansas City-St. Louis rivalry to Major League Soccer. It was announced today that Pujols is joining St. Louis Soccer United ownership group in their bid for an MLS expansion team. Pujols won his second National League MVP award yesterday and is now hoping to own a professional football team in his town.

How do you feel about another non-soccer athlete joining a prospective MLS ownership group? (Steve Nash of the NBA is the other.) Would you like to see a team go to St. Louis? Would they instantly become our most hated rivals? Share your thoughts below.

Happy Tuesday

Greetings Hillcrest Road followers, glad to be back feeling well and posting earlier in the day. A few notes for you all this morning:

1st, head over to the USSoccer.com's 2008 Best of U.S. Soccer Awards page to vote for your favorites from the world of U.S. Soccer from this past year. Click on the logo in each category to vote in this category.

Since we're in blogville, up for blog of the year are:
-duNord (Bruce McGuire)
-Soccer by Ives (Ives Galarcep and, recently added, Dylan Butler)
-Soccer Insider (Steven Goff, Washington Post)
-Behind the Badge (D.C. United team blog...Hillcrest Road is gunning for this spot next year)
-The Offside Rules (S.F.)
-Unprofessional Foul
-The Red Card (Luis Arroyave, Chicago Tribune)
-Goal - The New York Times Soccer Blog
-U.S. Men's National Team Blog (U.S. Soccer)
-U.S. Women's National Team Blog (U.S. Soccer)

2nd, Happy Birthday Mickey Mouse!

3rd, Congratulations to UMKC for qualifying for the NCAA Division I Men's Soccer tournament by winning the Summit League tournament last week. The 'Roos start their tournament quest this Friday at 7 p.m. CT at the University of Tulsa, Ryan Pore's former school. If they win, they'll travel to take on Michael Kraus' former school Creighton next Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. CT. Read about the 'Roos here then check out the full tournament bracket here.

Wizards with a rooting interest in the tournament include:
UCLA- Jimmy Conrad, Kevin Hartman, Chance Myers
North Carolina- Michael Harrington, Kerry Zavagnin (though he has retired, he's still part of the team until next year starts)
California- Eric Kronberg, Tyson Wahl
Ohio State- Roger Espinoza
St. Louis- Jack Jewsbury
Creighton- Michael Kraus
Michigan State- Rauwshan McKenzie
Tulsa- Ryan Pore
Maryland- Abe Thompson

Virginia- Curt Onalfo and Kris Kelderman (former players)
George Mason- Kris Kelderman and Dave Tenney (former coaches)

5th Floor Wins

It's a couple of days overdue, but the 5th floor utterly dominated the 3rd floor sales staff by a count of 5-0 Friday at Swope Park. First-half goals from Christian Geidus (German intern) and Kyle Rogers (Hillcrest) started the scoring with the wind behind the back of the upstairs crew. Geidus ripped a 20-yard blast into the side netting after a cross bounced around in the area. Rogers dribbled to the end line, carried toward goal and slotted home inside the near post from close range.

In the second half, the sales staff pushed forward with the wind at their backs looking to claw back into the game, but the 5th floor crew used the added pressure to counter attack effectively. James Flexman put home a close-range shot after a counter attack started deep in the 5th floor crew's end and Flexman raced past two defenders before slotting inside the near post. Jacques Tournoy then put in a beautiful chip from 15 yards out after Rob Thomson started the counter attack with a quick outlet to Rogers, who slipped a ball between two defenders for Tournoy. Rogers capped the scoring seconds before the final whistle after a shot from Dave Borchardt was initially stopped by Sales goalkeeper Darren Gertsen and Rogers slid the ball in from just off the goal line to complete the comprehensive shutout. Goalkeeper Chad Reynolds made three wonderful saves, including a full-extension effort on a blast from Brian Roberts in the second half.

On behalf of the 5th floor, thanks for the pizza and beer, sales staff.

Davy Makes U.S. 20-Man Roster

Apologies for the late post today, Hillcrest is under the weather and playing hookie from work. Congratulations to our Golden Boot winner Davy Arnaud for making the final 20-man roster for this Wednesday's World Cup Qualifier against Guatemala at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo. Arnaud is one of six "forwards" listed on the roster, but you all know well he could enter the match either up top, wide right (or left) and in a central midfield role. Davy has one previous CAP, a late cameo against powerhouse Brazil in September of 2007. The rest of the roster:

GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Troy Perkins (Valerenga IF), Matt Pickens (out of contract)
DEFENDERS (6): Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Sean Franklin (Los Angeles Galaxy), Cory Gibbs (Colorado Rapids), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Michael Parkhurst (New England Revolution)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Freddy Adu (AS Monaco), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire)
FORWARDS (6): Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Davy Arnaud (Kansas City Wizards), Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Kenny Cooper (FC Dallas), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire)

Watch the game at 7 p.m. CT live on ESPN Classic in English or Galavision in Spanish. Well done Mr. Arnaud.

Staff Soccer

With the season over, our staff is heading out to the Swope Park Training Center for another Staff Soccer fixture between our 5th floor staff and our 3rd floor staff (sales floor). The match will be an intense one, with a larger pizza + beer wager on the outcome of the match. Trash talk has been fervent, so check out the lineups for the 3:30 CT kickoff.

5th floor (lineups subject to change) (4-1-3-2)

---------------------------Chad Reynolds (Graphic Design)----------------------------

Dave Borchardt (PR)---Dan Drelich (Ops)---Adam Meloan (Experience Development)---Nick Dombrowski (Accounting)

-------Christian Geidus (German intern, friend of Aaron Hohlbein)---------

-Rob Heineman (President)--Rob Thomson (PR)--Todd Adams (Corp. Partnerships)-

----------Kyle Rogers (PR)-------Jacques Tournoy (Merchandising)----------

Subs-
James Flexman (Flexmandinho, Crop. Partnerships)
Jeff Foster (Crop. Patnerships)
Shawn Quesnell (Finance)
David Ficklin (Development)
Erin Lawless (CR)
Jill Prather (Experience Development)
Greg Cotton (Exec. VP)

3rd floor (lineups subject to change) (4-4-2)

-----------------------Darren Gertsen (Account Exec)-------------------

Kristin Bock (intern)----Josh Wisenhunt (Inside Sales)---Nikki Shepard (Inside Sales)--Meredith Wilmes (Inside Sales)

Matt Orlando (Inside Sales)--Shayne Donohue (VP of Ticket Sales)--Brian Roberts (Account Exec, former Wizard)--Brian Roth (Account Exec)

--Nahuel Rodriguez (Account Exec)--Ben Madeo (Account Exec)--

Subs-
Sam Pierron (Customer Service)
Emily Hanover (Account Exec)
Shaun Culley (Ticketing)
Evan Gitomer (Director of Ticket Sales)

We'll be back with info after the match.

Boots/Davy/Chance/Michael (times 2)/Charity

Kevin Hartman and the book you know very well about by now, Boots Saved the Day, is featured currently in a story on MLSnet.com. Read it.

Davy Arnaud correctly picked the score and winner of last night's game on the U.S. Men's National Team Blog. See it.

Thad spoke with rookie midfielder/defender Chance Myers and posted a ripped-abs pic of him over at The Back Post. Hear it and see them.

Then Thad spoke with Michael's Harrington and Kraus. Hear them here (Harrington) and here (Kraus).

There's going to be a star-studded charity game featuring some of the world's best players Monday, Nov. 17 at noon CT. Read it here then watch it on Fox Soccer Channel.

Get Your KCW 2009 Wallpaper

You may have noticed the new graphic used on the splash page currently up at kcwizards.com prompting you to buy season tickets for next year. You may also have noticed it on the front page where the scoreboard feature is during the season. Well, now you can put that very same graphic on your computer's desktop. Check out this page at kcwizards.com to download your own version of the KCW 2009 Wallpaper.

Oh yeah, and buy your season tickets here.

Welcome to Blogville/Season Wrap-ups/Auctions

First of all, we'd like to extend a hearty welcome to the blogging community to our friend David Streeter (EZStreet) of the Topeka Capital Journal. He's opened up his own blog, Word on the Street, at www.davidstreeter.blogspot.com. Check him out.

Second of all, read the season recap from Randy Covitz at the KC Star here then watch 53 of the best goals from around MLS this season. We scored two of them, allowed five of them (it took something special to score on us this year) and Abe Thompson scored two while with FCD (one against us, as you remember). Watch and enjoy:



Don't forget about the auction that U.S. National Teamer (for this camp) Davy Arnaud and Wizards teammate Lance Watson are doing to benefit a former youth soccer coach of theirs whose house was destroyed during Hurricane Ike. Their game-worn boots are available here.

JC Show/Bliss Inducted/Final 5 Named

Don't forget to attend the FINAL Jimmy Conrad Show of the season tonight at 7 p.m. CT at McFadden's. Jimmy will host another one via podcast from MLS Cup in two weeks, but this is the final KC version. Head on down to the Power and Light District to watch Conrad and voice of the Wizards Sean Wheelock pontificate about futbol. Can't make it to PnL? Check it out on 810 WHB or www.kcwizards.com.

Former Wizards player and coach Brian Bliss is being inducted into the (take a deep breath) New York State West (another breath) Youth Soccer Association (another) Hall of Fame (exhale). That's a mouthful! Seriously though, congrats Blissy, and good luck tomorrow night versus Chicago.

The 5 finalists for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year have been named, and Davy Arnaud is unfortunately not on the list. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE go vote and make sure that Danny Cepero's fortunate goalie goal doesn't win. Seriously. Vote for Will Johnson's sick flick and finish or even Blanco's long-ranger, but please don't let Cepero win. Vote and watch the finalists here.

One that Slipped By/Arnaud Recognized

Jack celebrates with the Cauldron after the dramatic 3-2 win over San Jose on October 18.

Before the LA Galaxy game on Sept. 13, Jack Jewsbury answered questions from Jefferson College players interested in playing at the next level. Quite an interesting read. Sorry for missing it initially!

Today, Randy Covitz did the daily rundown column in the KC Star and included mention of Arnad's selection to the U.S. National Team training camp. Read that and some other notes from around KC sports here.

Arnaud Gets National Team Call

Davy's patented celebration.

Davy Arnaud is the Wizards representative at the upcoming U.S. National Team camp in Commerce City, Colorado. Davy has appeared for the U.S. one time previously, a late cameo against World Power Brazil in September of 2007. Check out the whole roster here from U.S. Soccer. These players aren't the only ones who will make up the roster for next Wednesday's qualifier. Players from Europe and some from next weekend's losing MLS teams will also get the call.

As a fun tidbit, I found some player ratings from Davy's first-ever appearance with the National Team. Greg Seltzer did these for American Soccer Daily. Quite a fun read. (Former teammate Eddie Johnson and current teammate Josh Wolff also appeared in the match and were rated.)

Beat writer Randy Covitz was quick with the news and already has it up on the Star's website.

Another Columbus Pic

This one of the owners in their suite:

(L-R) Neal and Jeanne Patterson, Cliff and Bonne Illig, Robb and Amber Heineman, Greg and Liz Maday

Don't forget to vote for Davy Arnaud for Sierra Mist Goal of the Year. The permalink is in the top right-hand corner of the blog. You can vote up to ten times a day, so please do! The U.S. National Team will announce shortly a 19-man training camp roster in advance of next Wednesday's WC Qualifier against Guatemala. Some of these players will be included in the game roster but not all. More on that later.

Souter Interviews Across the Pond

Souter during last season's open tryout.

Our open tryout star Kevin Souter checked in with the Aberdeen Evening Express last week before Saturday's Leg 2 in Columbus. The paper printed a nice lead-up (that features a picture of Souter with the Aberdeen first team) and the entire interview in question/answer form. Read and enjoy!

Owners Wives Crash the Cauldron

Our owners passed along today a photo taken at Saturday's match in Columbus. Four of our owners' wives posed for a picture with some Cauldronites. Have a look:

The wives are in the middle behind the starred flag. Clockwise from top left: Amber Heineman, Bonne Illig, Liz Maday, Jeanne Patterson

Cauldron Crashes Columbus

So it was the Cauldron doing the crashing tonight. Check out the pics below of the Cauldron entering Columbus Crew Stadium this evening. First, they meet up with some Columbus supporters (would you ever see European fans hug each other before a big match) and then are greeted by owners Robb Heineman and Cliff Illig atop the stairs as they climb toward their seats. Enjoy the pics. The man clapping toward the bottom is another owner, Greg Maday.

Tough Loss

The Kansas City Wizards 2008 MLS season is over. It's been a fun one. Thanks for reading all year. We look forward to some updates and innovations of Hillcrest Road over the offseason, so keep on reading. Read the quotes and notables from tonight's match below. We'll post pictures either tonight or tomorrow. There are some quality ones from the Cauldron coming into the stadium.

· Kansas City is now 12-15-5 all-time in MLS playoff games.
· The Wizards have scored 44 goals and allowed 46 goals in post-season play.
· Kansas City concluded the season 11-11-10 in MLS matches.
· Including the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and two international friendlies, Kansas City was 15-12-10 on the season.
· This was the first-ever postseason series between Kansas City and Columbus.
· The Wizards finished the year 0-3-2 against the Crew, including three regular-season games.
· Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made one save on the night to extend his MLS postseason record to 155 career saves.
· Hartman also leads in postseason wins (22) and shutouts (14).
· He became the first player in MLS history to surpass the 4,000-minute plateau in postseason play.
· Hartman now has 4,042 career postseason minutes.
· Hartman surpassed Cobi Jones for the all-time lead in games started (44).
· He is one behind Jones for the all-time games played lead.
· Forward Michael Kraus made his first appearance for the Wizards in a first-team MLS game.
· Kraus scored one goal and added four assists this year in 11 MLS Reserve Division matches.
· He also scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Mexican First Division club Atlas AC.
· Kraus attended Creighton University and was drafted by the Wizards in the 4th round of the 2007 MLS Supplemental Draft.
· Kansas City had four rookies and two second-year players appear in Saturday’s match.
· Rookies Jonathan Leathers (90 minutes), Kevin Souter (90 minutes), Roger Espinoza (77 minutes) started the game and Matt Marquess came off the bench for the final 13 minutes.
· Second-year defender Michael Harrington started and played all 90 minutes, while Kraus came on and played the final 31 minutes.

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
His thoughts on the season:
“Obviously, we knew that it was going to be a difficult challenge but we believed that we were going to be able to do it and we just fell short. We have a lot to be proud of. Our team finished two points better than what we did last year. We did that, quite frankly, as a very, very young team. Similarly to what Sigi did here the last couple of years; playing young players and letting them get experience. We’ve been able to do that as well. This is another step in our progression as a group. Obviously, it stings; it hurts. We look forward to getting better as we move into next season.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS GOALKEEPER KEVIN HARTMAN
His thoughts on tonight’s match:
“They’re [Columbus] a good team, no bones about it. We also believe that we’re a good team, but unfortunately they got the result. It’s one of those things where maybe if we were able to come in with a goal advantage that we coughed up at home; but you’re always going to say what could have been at the end of the season. I have a ton of respect for the guys I played with this year. Even when we were down two-nil tonight we continued to fight, there weren’t guys arguing with one another; I think it’s a really class act and I’m proud to be a part of this organization.”

On Kansas City’s outlook for next season:
“I think it took us a while to figure out exactly what was going to work. Hopefully, now that we’ve found guys that can continue to do it on a consistent basis, next year will be a situation where we can accumulate more and more points and there’s not necessarily a feeling out period like I think we went through for a while this year.”

IT'S GAMETIME

Ok, well we still have 15 minutes, but the decisive Game 2 is almost here. The boys were confident and calm leading up to the match, so it should make for an entertaining affair. The Cauldron announced its presence with fervor about ten minutes ago, stopping to chant at some Columbus supporters good-naturedly.

We got some great pictures of the Cauldron being greeted by members of OnGoal that we'll post after the match. It's VERY cold here in C-Bus, but the rain is supposed to hold off until after the match. Josh Wolff went through a fitness test before the game and passed, so he's in the 18 and available tonight. Also making his way into the 18-man roster is second-year player Michael Kraus. He has only been on the game day roster once this year. What a debut it would be in the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series!

KC-
Hartman; Leathers, Conrad, Wahl, Harrington; Souter, Jewsbury, Arnaud, Espinoza; Thompson, Lopez

subs: Kronberg, Hohlbein, Marquess, Kraus, Zavagnin, Trujillo, Wolff

CLB-
Hesmer; Hejduk, Marshall, O'Rourke, Padula; Gaven, Carroll, Evans, Rogers; Barros Schelotto, Moreno

subs: Gruenebaum, Hendrickson, Iro, Miglioranzi, Ekpo, Noonan, Lenhart

Pics From Friday

We promised training photos, so here they are. Workouts were light, with PK practice at the end. I won't say the order or who went which direction; you'll just have to find out if it gets that far tonight. Enjoy pics. The weather was soccer friendly (cool and rainy), but not camera friendly, so we didn't get too many.

There was a parade outsider out hotel, so it took a little longer to get going than usual.

But Team Administrator (read: the man) Rick Dressel got us sorted out.

Trainer Chet North was quite bundled up for the weather.

Pre-practice warmups.

Arnaud and Harrington share a laugh during 5-v-2 passing drills.

As do Arnaud and Kerry Zavagnin.

5-v-2 with Jewsbury, Leathers and Souter.

Souter winds up...

...strikes...

...and follows through.

Hola From Columbus

Hillcrest here checking in from cloudy Columbus, Ohio. Yesterday while in transit, we learned that Davy Arnaud has been named one of 10 finalists for the Sierra Mist Goal of the Year Award. Congratulations to Davy...he smiled big when told of the feat. Weather for this afternoon calls for temperatures in the 60's and rain, so training should be nice and soggy. Saturday's forecast calls for chilly weather (50's) and showers, so it could be a cold, slippery track this weekend at Columbus Crew Stadium.

Watch Davy's Goal of the Year nominee below and vote for it here.

Conrad Wants to Dance

With SI's Dan Patrick. Jimmy said so in the latest print edition of the magazine, so Dan Patrick invited him on the show today to chat about it. See what happened here.

The plane leaves in a couple of hours for Columbus, so Hillcrest will check back in from mid-Ohio this evening. Get ready for the big game!

Practice Fun

Hillcrest had the chance to make it out to training today for the first time in a while. Saw some pretty intense back-and-forth during the 11-v-11 portion of the day and some fun stuff afterward. Herculez Gomez jumped in goal and fielded some penalty kicks from Davy Arnaud, Jack Jewsbury, Eric Kronberg, Asst Kris Kelderman and Kevin Souter. It was pretty fun to watch (Herc was pretty nimble in goal). Check out the photos below:

Arnaud lines up a shot against Herculez...

but puts it too close to the center of the goal.

Davy then chats with beat writer Randy Covitz about Saturday's match-up.

Coach Onalfo chats with some of the players during a break in 11-v-11 training.

Herculez is ready...

...and dives...

...but misses.

Kevin Hartman speaks with Sean Kosednar of MLSnet.com about the upcoming game.

I'll also be on the trip to Columbus, so expect some posts from the roadie with pictures and airplane stories. We leave town tomorrow afternoon after training, train in Columbus Friday, then play the Crew at 6:30 p.m. CT on HDNet, Metro Sports and Time Warner Cable Channel 5. Join fellow fans at Barley's Brewhaus in Shawnee for the watch party.