Kansas City (7-5-5, 26 pts) vs Chivas USA (8-5-3, 27 pts)
Sunday, July 29 – Kansas City, Missouri
Arrowhead Stadium – 6 p.m. CT
TV: Metro Sports with Sean Wheelock and Brian Roberts
Radio: La Gran D 1340 AM
Broadcast Details: Metro Sports
Local KC Fiber Loop
(July 27, 2007) – The Kansas City Wizards (7-5-5, 26 pts) wrap up a four-game Western Conference stretch in the schedule Sunday at 6 p.m. CT against Head Coach Preki and his Chivas USA (8-5-3, 27 pts) squad on Budweiser Hispanic Heritage Night at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City, 1-0-2 in its last three, will be without first-choice left back Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. Sunday due to a red card suffered last week in a 2-2 tie with the Colorado Rapids. Chivas comes into the match after a 2-0 win at New York Thursday night.
Preki, Kansas City’s all-time leader in goals (71), assists (98) and games played (218), will return to Kansas City for the first time as a head coach after spending nine successful seasons with the Wizards as an attacking midfielder. Preki was a member of the 2000 Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup Championship squad and the 2004 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and MLS Cup Runner-Up team.
Chivas will enter the match after winning on MLS Primetime Thursday against the New York Red Bulls at the Meadowlands. It could be a feast or famine week for the Goats, as they finish a stretch in which five of six games (including a 3-1 loss in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at the Seattle Sounders of USL-1) are played on the road. With a successful week, Chivas will stay positioned closely behind Western-Conference leaders Houston (34 points) and FC Dallas (30 points).
Kansas City, who remains just one point out of first place in the highly competitive East, has been bolstered in recent games by the return of U.S. National Team and MLS All-Star striker Eddie Johnson. Johnson, who currently has a four-game goal-scoring streak, leads MLS with 12 goals scored in 11 games played. He also leads the league lead in game-winning goals (6), hat tricks (2) and multi-goal games (3). Johnson scored the game’s lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Real Salt Lake July 14 and both goals in a 2-2 tie against the Colorado Rapids last Sunday.
The Wizards defense has been solid all season thanks in large part to captain and MLS All-Star Jimmy Conrad, All-Star goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and Kansas City Wizards all-time minutes played leader Nick Garcia. Garcia, who is six games shy of tying Preki for the Wizards all-time lead in games played, has played all but two of Kansas City’s matches this season. Hartman and first-choice right back Jack Jewsbury have started all 17 matches this season with Hartman playing all 1530 minutes. Midfielder Kerry Zavagnin is tied with Hartman for most minutes on the team after not missing a minute so far in 2007.
Hartman, who played the final 45 minutes of the MLS All-Stars’ 2-0 victory over Celtic FC last Thursday, is enjoying another solid season in goal. Hartman ranks second in MLS in wins (7) and is among the league leaders in shutouts (4) and saves (57). He is second to only Bouna Coundoul of Colorado in minutes played in goal.
