Goal drought cause for concern in Kansas City
Josh Wolff's lack of scoring has contributed to Kansas City's goal drought.
Even before Kansas City departed Houston smarting from a 3-0
defeat, the team’s scoring drought was a minor concern. Fast forward a few
days, and the Wizards are now facing an 312-minute streak in which they haven’t
found the back of the net. The longer that streak goes, the more concern there
will be.
The Wizards’ first opportunity to break that streak comes
Wednesday at RFK Stadium against D.C. United, their week-one whipping boy
against whom they scored four goals.
“The negative thing would be if you’re not creating chances,”
coach Peter Vermes said. “I think anybody would say that we are creating
chances.”
At the very least, Kansas City are certainly testing opposing
goalkeepers. Despite having only two shots on frame against the Dynamo, the Wizards
are third in the league in shots on goal with 29. The problem is those shots
aren’t regularly resulting in goals.
Vermes’ team is averaging one goal for every 5.8 shots on
target. As a point of reference, Houston average one goal every 2.3 shots. Only
D.C. United have worse stats than Kansas City in this regard.
While four goals to open the season against D.C. United was an
offensive highpoint, the Wizards haven’t come close to matching that since. Kei
Kamara scored against Colorado to eke out a 1-0 victory almost a month ago, but
there’s been a three-game dry spell since that header, and it’s little
coincidence that the side has earned only one point from nine available in the period.
Just as concerning is the fact that last season’s leading
scorer, Josh Wolff, has yet to find his scoring touch, testing the goalkeeper
just twice in five games while playing on the wing instead of his customary
central striker role.
“For us, it’s going to come from different areas of the
field,” Vermes told MLSsoccer.com. “If Josh can get on fire, that’s great."
Wolff scored 10 league goals last season, most of which came
in spurts. He said Kansas City simply needs to be a little more composed in the
final third to open up opposing defenses.
“We’re all trying to press and push and get the goal,” Wolff
said. “But sometimes you need to make another pass and sometimes you need to
slow it down. It’s not just one thing.”
Whatever it is, it has also seemed at times like Kansas City
cannot buy a break. Exhibit A came a little more than a week ago against the
Galaxy when Kamara whiffed on the goal line, knocked the ball in with his
trailing arm and became an Internet sensation in the process.
“Some days everything you hit goes in,” Davy Arnaud said. “And
some days you miss one that’s on the line. It’s soccer. That’s the way it is.”
The Wizards just hope they started getting the breaks at some
point. But in the end, it all comes down to players making plays, and that
mean’s taking advantage when the opportunity presents itself.
“The key is that when we do get in these positions, we stick
the ball in the back of the net,” Vermes said. “That’s the key ingredient.”