The way manager Peter Vermes sees it, the Wizards are just trying to put the pieces back together.
After two victories in two games to start the season, the puzzle looked on its way to completion. Kansas City’s new additions were gelling, and excelling, on the field and the results pointed to a much-improved team from 2009.
The outlook isn’t nearly so rosy now, but the Wizards’ know they have a prime opportunity to break their eight-game winless streak Thursday against the Philadelphia Union (2-6-1) at 7 p.m. CT at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
“We’re just trying to get back to the things we’ve been doing all along,” Vermes said, “and just trying to tweak a few things based on the opponent. “But I think it’s about getting back to who we are.”
Kansas City took a step in that direction last Saturday against Toronto FC, leaving BMO Field with a point as the first team to earn a result north of the border. The plan, of course, is to follow that up by breaking the streak against the Union.
“I think we got an awesome point in Toronto last week,” Vermes said. “It’s something for us to build off of. Would it be a good thing to get three points (this week)? That’s self explanatory.”
But despite Philadelphia’s status as an expansion side and position near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and overall table, Vermes knows his team will have to earn anything it gets against Peter Nowak’s side.
“We don’t take Philadelphia easy in any way, shape or form,” he said. “There are a lot of teams in this league whose record do not show how they’ve performed up to this point.”
Vermes would argue that the Wizards fall into that category as well even if the results haven’t exactly been pretty for the last two months. Kansas City hasn’t won in nine games in all competitions, including a U.S. Open cup defeat to Colorado, and has fallen to the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings in the process.
Inconsistency and a stretch riddled with defensive errors are most to blame for the streak, but Vermes has rarely had his entire roster at his disposal either since the team started 2-0-0.
And even though Stephane Auvray has not recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery, Vermes will get his captain and emotional spark plug, Davy Arnaud, back from his second suspension of 2010 to face a rapidly improving Philadelphia squad.
In truth, he’ll need all the weapons he can muster. The Union are riding wave of momentum after a three-game stretch that included their first road victory in Houston and a draw in Chicago against the Fire that they could have won.
“I think they have a lot of weapons,” Vermes said, “and I also think they have a good understanding of how they want to play. The guys all compete and work hard during the games. They bring a little different look each game, but everywhere they go they go and play, which is great to see.”
Kansas City’s goal Thursday will be to use the small field to their advantage, squeezing space and drive from the Union’s attack. If it can do that, the impending World Cup break will be a little less nerve-wracking.
If not, the Wizards will have 16 long days to wonder if this is really who they are.
