KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After the first four games played this season, the Wizards could rightfully point to the defensive side of the ball with pride.
At the time, Kansas City was 2-1-1 with three shutouts and one goal allowed. And although the goals weren’t coming in bunches, the early results were an encouraging sign for a young team with so many new acquisitions.
That was three weeks ago. Since then the Wizards have given up seven goals and collected just one point from three games in the midst of a six-game winless run.
“Anytime you give up goals,” assistant coach Zoran Savic said, “you obviously have a little bit of concern.”
Even more concerning is the manner in which Kansas City is conceding.
The Wizards coughed up three goals in Houston and handed D.C. United two preventable goals four days later in consecutive defeats. Chicago followed that up by jumping to a 2-0 advantage at CommunityAmerica Ballpark last Saturday, nicking two soft goals as Peter Vermes put it, before Kansas City stormed back to earn a point.
With the undefeated Columbus Crew in town on Sunday, fresh off a 3-1 victory against the New York Red Bulls on Thursday, shoring up the back line has been even more of a priority this week in training.
“We really just want to concentrate on putting together a performance that we’re proud of,” defender Jimmy Conrad said. “I think we’ve let ourselves down in different parts of the game. It’s not necessarily how we’re playing as a team but lapses in concentration in key moments.”
Even when the Wizards outplayed the Sounders at Qwest Field in Week Three, those lapses were beginning to surface. Ninety minutes of effort was negated by a stoppage time goal from a throw-in, a situation the team had discussed in the week leading up to the match.
Against United and the Fire, it was more of the same. Even though the defensive performances were for the most part solid, a few unexplainable lapses cost Kansas City priceless points.
“It hurts because we stress the little things a lot during the week leading up to games,” Conrad said. “The last four or five goals we’ve given up, they are just little things.”
In other words, things that can be fixed.
Despite the recent costly hiccups, the coaching staff believes in the personnel they have assembled. And with 23 chances at redemption remaining, it’s entirely too early to make snap judgments based on a few mixed results.
“MLS is a grind,” Savic said. “It’s a long season, and we can’t get bogged down in the first five, eight or 10 games. We’re going to look at the duration. Where we were when we started, where we are today and where we want to be as a team going forward.”
