Down the Byline

Verbal Agreement on Assistant Coach

2009-11-20T21:07:00.005-06:00

Twitter has brought us plenty of breaking news since it's become one of the quickest ways to spread news, and the Wizards have done their fair share of it. Wizards President Robb Heineman has given fans some news today as he announced "verbal agreement on assistant coach. hopefully announe soon, after contract signed". During the announcement of Peter Vermes as the new head caoch, the team had said that they were interested in bringing in another assistant coach. It looks like they're close to naming that new assistant. We'll see who ends up in the new position very soon. The hiring of a 4th assistant coach (with Zoran Savic, Kerry Zavagnin, and John Pascarella) will make the coaching staff the largest in team history.

KC's World Cup Bid

2009-11-20T20:18:00.003-06:00

Last night the Wizards hosted a presentation on their World Cup bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup for members of the "new media" aka blogs. Due to other commitments, I was unable to attend the event, but Thad over at The Back Post did attend and has TONS of great information about the bid over on his blog. I'm not going to repost all the stats and facts, but check out his blog for tons of information about the Wizards bid.

Who to Protect?

2009-11-19T21:21:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we learned the rules for this year's expansion draft, where the Philadelphia Union will select 10 players from the 15 current MLS teams to help to begin their process for building their roster. The Wizards are allowed to protect 11 players and 3 of the team's 4 international players will have to be protected. So let's start breaking down the roster and try to figure out who will be protected.

First, the team's two Generation Adidas players, Roger Espinoza and Chance Myers will be protected automatically. Barring a shocking graduation for either Espinoza or Myers both will not need to be among the 11 protected players.

So let's start looking at the rest of the roster. Starting with the internationals, the Wizards have to protect 3 of Zoltan Hercegfalvi, Santiago Hirsig, Claudio Lopez, and Kevin Souter. To me the choice of which 3 is fairly easy, Hercegfalvi, Hirsig, and Lopez are the 3. Souter's lack of playing time this year makes him the easy one to leave out.

So 8 of the remaining 20 players will be protected. Jimmy Conrad seems certain to be protected, as does his central defense partner, Matt Besler. Besler appears to have jumped ahead of Aaron Hohlbein for the starting spot in the center of defense with Conrad. Michael Harrington, Davy Arnaud, and Jack Jewsbury also seem certain to be protected. That puts us up to 8 protected players.

Unlike last year, when Seattle had already signed Kasey Keller, Philadephia has no players at all. Without that keeper, Kevin Hartman has to be considered a favorite to be protected. While he's on the back side of his career, he's been too important to the Wizards to be left off the protected list. I think the Wizards other rookie, Graham Zusi played himself onto the protected list late in the season. His youth and salary would make him a prime candidate for selectionn, so I would protect Zusi.

That leaves 1 spot left, and there are two candidates for that spot, forwards Josh Wolff and Kei Kamara. While Wolff is coming off a career year, he is starting to get a little older, he'll be 33 by the time the 2010 season starts, not to mention that he's the teams third highest player. Kamara is younger, but is out of contract and is likely to want a salary around Wolff's I would guess. For me I'd protect Kamara over Wolff, his age and salary makes Wolff less appealing to Philadelphia.

So here are my 11 protected players, the remaining exposed players, and those exempt from being draft.

Protected	Exposed	Exempt
Davy Arnaud	Adam Cristman	Roger Espinoza
Matt Besler	Herculez Gomez	Chance Myers
Jimmy Conrad	Aaron Hohlbein
Michael Harrington	Michael Kraus
Kevin Hartman	Eric Kronberg
Zoltan Hercegfalvi	Jonathan Leathers
Santiago Hirsig	Matt Marquess
Jack Jewsbury	Rauwshan McKenzie
Kei Kamara	Kurt Morsink
Claudio Lopez	Boris Pardo
Graham Zusi	Kevin Souter
	Lance Watson
	Josh Wolff

So who's likely to be selected? I think the most likely from this list is Herculez Gomez. Gomez's salary is fairly low for his experience ($54,408) and seemed to be on the outs with Peter Vermes after he took over as coach. If Gomez is exposed I think he's definitely a favorite to be selected, if anyone is taken from KC.

Expansion Draft Rules for 2009

2009-11-18T23:36:00.003-06:00

Next week, the Philadelphia Union will have their pick of the current MLS teams' unprotected roster players, today we learned the rules that those teams will use to choose the players that they will protect. The rules are very similar to the rules that were used last year for the Seattle Sounders FC draft. Once again teams will protect 11 players, GA and home grown players are automatically protected, and for the Wizards, they'll have to protect 3 of their 4 internationals. Tomorrow I'll have my protected list for the Wizards this year, but right here, here are the full rules for this year's expansion draft:

2009 MLS Expansion Draft Rules

Senior Roster

• Teams may protect 11 players between their Senior and their Developmental Roster.

• If the Player's contract expires at the end of 2009, he will still be considered part of the Team's Senior Roster.

• If a Team protects a player, it is not obligated to exercise the player's option. It may renegotiate a new budget number for the player as in previous years.

• If a player retires, he will not be a part of the Senior Roster, but his Team will lose its right of first refusal to him should he ultimately decide to play.

Developmental Roster

• Players on a Team's Developmental Roster, other than Generation adidas players who have not been graduated at the end of the 2009 season and Home Grown Players, will be part of the expansion draft.

• Generation adidas players (who have not been graduated at the end of the 2009 season) and Home Grown players are automatically protected (teams do not have to use a protected slot on them). If Philadelphia selects a Developmental Player it must offer him a Senior Roster position and he must be on Philadelphia's Senior Roster as of Roster Compliance Date.

International Players

• Teams are restricted in the number of International player(s) that they may make available per the table set forth below.

• For purposes of this expansion process, for US-based teams, any non-domestic US player would count as an International and for Toronto FC, any non-domestic US player or non-domestic Canadian player would count as an International.

Designated Players

• Designated Players do not have to be protected unless the player has a no trade clause in which case he must be protected.

Maximum Player Loss

• Once a player has been claimed from a Team's non-protected roster, that team is eliminated from the expansion draft and may not lose any further players.

Right to Renegotiate

• Philadelphia will have the right to renegotiate a drafted player's salary (either up or down) without having to place such player on waivers or giving his previous Team a right of first refusal.

Priority

• On the first day of the Discovery/Allocation Period, Philadelphia will have priority over players who played professionally in the USL First or Second Division in 2009, subject to another MLS team's right of first refusal.

Rounds

• The expansion draft will be 10 rounds.

INTERNATIONAL PLAYER PROTECTION REQUIREMENT TABLE:

• Teams may make available a number of international players equal to their total number of international players minus 3, provided that if a team has 3 or less international players it may make available not more than 1.

Conrad Appears for the US

2009-11-18T23:30:00.002-06:00

Jimmy Conrad got his 27th cap earlier today coming on for Jonathan Spector in the 70th minute of the United States 3-1 loss to Denmark. The US led 1-0 at the half thanks to a Jeff Cunningham goal, but struggled right out of the game in the second half, giving up 3 goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The game was a poor second half by the US, particularly defender Frankie Hejduk who played a part in all 3 of Denmark's goals. Most US fans hope this is the last time we see Hejduk in a US.

Former Wizards Update

2009-11-18T07:14:00.003-06:00

We're down to only 2 former Wizards still playing in MLS, as Chris Klein and LA will meet Yura Movsisyan and Real Salt Lake Sunday in MLS Cup. Still there was more action around the world this week with FIFA international games being played. Two former Wizards competed with their respective national teams as both Shavar Thomas and Eddie Johnson played for Jamaica and the US respectively. Also a fairwell to former Wizard, Brandon Prideaux, who closed out his career Saturday night against RSL. What a sad way to do it as well, missing your teams final PK in the penalty shootout. Finally, it looks like former Wizard, Preki, is on his way to the Great White North to become the head coach for Toronto FC next season.

MLS
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Started and played 63 minutes in LA's 2-0 win over Houston to advance to MLS Cup.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - Started and played 72 minutes in RSL's 0-0(5-4) shootout win over Real Salt Lake.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Started and played 120 minutes, in Chicago's 0-0 (5-4) shootout loss to Real Salt Lake. Prideaux missed Chicago's 7th and final PK on the final kick of his MLS career.
Shavar Thomas - Started and played 90 minutes in Jamaica's 0-0 draw with South Africa yesterday.
Abe Thompson - Houston - Did not dress in Houston's 2-0 loss to LA.

International
Eloy Colombano - Ferro Carril Sud (Olavarría) - Argentina - Ferrocarril Sud lost 1-0 to La Emilia.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Round two in Jamaica kicks off on the 22nd of this month.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - England - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in the USA's 1-0 loss to Slovakia. Came off the bench and played 29 minutes in the USA's 3-1 loss to Denmark.
Chris Konopka - Sporting Fingal FC - Ireland - Did not play in either of Fingal's two playoff finals against Bray Wanderers, which Fingal won 4-2 on aggregate.
Akeem Priestly - FK Mughan - Azerbaijan - Did not have a game this week due to the international break.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesund FK - Norway - Aalesund's season is over.
Matt Taylor - FSV Frankfurt - Germany - Did not have a game this week due to the international break.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Columbia - Started and played 80 minutes in Quindío's 0-0 draw with Atlético Huila.
Diego Walsh - Wellington Phoenix - Australia - Did not have a game this week due to the international break.

New Assistant Coach Rumor

2009-11-17T20:42:00.006-06:00

There's very little in this rumor right now, so take that for what you will. In a post by Ives Galarcep earlier today about the MLS coaching carousel, he makes a passing mention of Octavio Zambrano, who used to coach in MLS but has most recently been coaching in Hungary. Ives mentions Zambrano as a potential new head coach for Chivas USA, but also mentions that Zambrano is "believed to be in the frame for an assistant coaching position within MLS (with Kansas City a possibility)..." In a way this rumor makes sense, with head coach, Peter Vermes' connection to Hungary and his scouting over there, including Ferenc Béres, who played for Zambrano at his last position at FC Tatabánya. On top of that, you have comments that both Vermes and Robb Heineman have made in regards to potentially bringing in another assistant coach. With all that there's certainly enough dots to connect to think that there are some legs to this rumor. We'll see if anything comes of this rumor.

Espinoza and Myers on Way to South Africa

2009-11-17T18:30:00.002-06:00

The Kansas City Wizards 2 Generation Adidas players will be making their way over to South Africa with the rest of an MLS Generation Adidas team. Roger Espinoza and Chance Myers were both named to the team that will leave later this month for a 10 day tour of the World Cup hosting country. Espinoza and Myers will be competing in 3 games against Premier Soccer League reserve teams, including Ajax Cape Town and Orlando Pirates. The team will also visit Nelson Mandela's house and attend the World Cup draw in Cape Town. This is the second straight year that Espinoza will travel with the team. Last year he went with the GA team to England where they played 3 games against English reserve sides.

Hirsig Agreement with San Lorenzo (Over Back Pay)

2009-11-16T22:15:00.002-06:00

Those that remember when the Wizards signed midfielder, Santiago Hirsig, may remember that Hirsig was released from his contract with San Lorenzo due to issues over being paid. Those issues appear to now be resolved as Hirsig and the club have apparently reached an agreement. Instead of the $1,600,000 he originally requested, Hirsig will be paid $1,080,000 over the next two years by the club.

Conrad to Remain with US Team for Denmark Friendly

2009-11-15T11:27:00.002-06:00

Bob Bradley had said there'd likely be some changes to the lineup between the Slovakia and Denmark games this week. Today we learned who was dropped and who was added to the roster ahead of the game on Wednesday in Aarhus, Denmark. Dropped from the roster was Clint Dempsey and Steve Cherundolo so that they could return to their clubs. Also dropped was Chad Marshall who has a sore knee. Four new players were called in to replace them. Jose Francisco Torres, Edgar Castillo, Stuart Holden, and Ricardo Clark. One name still on the roster, is Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad. Conrad was the only field player to make the game day roster that did not see action yesterday in Bratislava. We'll see Wednesday if Conrad gets a run out against the Danes.

End of Season Grades

2009-11-14T22:32:00.003-06:00

The Wizards season is over and it's time to take a look at how the Wizards players stacked up this season grade wise. It wasn't a good season and many of the players grades reflect that. Some fan favorites suffered for the way the team had played this season as well. You can check out the midseason grades here.

Davy Arnaud - C - The season seemed to start brightly for Arnaud had he had some very nice goals early on, but then things fell off. After his time away with the US at the Gold Cup, Arnaud did not look the same. He wasn't the same player Wizards fans have come to see in Arnaud. His form after the Gold Cup was completely in the tank.

Matt Besler - B - A solid season from the Wizards frist round pick. He didn't do anything amazing, but was very consistent with his play, whether it was in the middle of defense or on the wing. Doesn't look like a guy who will ever overly impress, but will be a consistent player.

Jimmy Conrad - B- - At times this season, Conrad showed his age and appeared to have lost a step. At other times he looked as good as he ever has. Conrad still has the smarts and the ability to captain this team and be one of the best players.

Adam Cristman - INC - 5 games played, 213 minutes in a season cut extremely short by injury. I was very high on him when he was brought in, hopefully he can return to full health, but with all the forwards, you have to wonder what will happen to him.

Roger Espinoza - C - Didn't get as much time this year as he did last year, part of that had to do with Lopez's move to more of a left wing position dropping Espinoza to the bench. He seemed to fall out of favor after Vermes took over so we'll see how things go.

Herculez Gomez - C- - I wanted to grade him higher because I like his style of play, but he just isn't producing, only 1 goal in his season and a half here is not enough from him. He seemed to fall out of favor as well under Vermes, more so than Espinoza. With his salary being what it is, I think he's a good candidate to go to Philadelphia.

Michael Harrington - B- - Harrington regained his starting spot at his best position (in my opinion), left back. With Besler's move to the middle, Harrington has been able to reestablish his spot on the left. Second half of the season for him was a much more consistent for him.

Kevin Hartman - A- - The team's MVP in my opinion, if not for Hartman this team would have been a lot worse than it was.

Zoltan Hercegfalvi - B - Turned into a good midseason acquisition. I want to see him get more time and would have loved to see a Hercegfalvi-Kamara lineup up top.

Santiago Hirsig - C+ - Seemed to fade a bit as the season wore on. He started out well but as the league adjusted to the type of player he was teams were able to shut him down better.

Aaron Hohlbein - C - Hohlbein lost his starting spot later in the season to Besler, and was unable to regain it unless Conrad was out. He didn't have a great season when he was playing, but did have some good bright moments.

Jack Jewsbury - C+ - Jewsbury didn't have a flashy season, he didn't do much to really stand out during games and didn't do anything to cause major mistakes, but without the flash, the Wizards center of midfield didn't have much to it.

Kei Kamara - B - Brought something to the Wizards lineup that they didn not have. He brought the size that the Wizards forward line was lacking throughout the season, while also bringing speed that wasn't as prevalent in the older legs of Wolff and Lopez.

Michael Kraus - INC - Kraus didn't make a single appearance in the second half of the season after appearing 11 times earlier in the season. He, like Cristman may fall victim to the numbers game at forward with the Wizards. Not enough time overall to give him a full season grade.

Eric Kronberg - INC - Out injured all year.

Jonathan Leathers - C- - Had a poor beginning to the season, but redeemed himself a little bit after getting the right back starting role back under Vermes.

Claudio Lopez - B+ - Lopez played a role in 15 of the Wizards 33 goals this past season, a good production amount for the Wizards former designated player, for his salary this year that's good production.

Matt Marquess - INC - 85 minutes in league play, 120 in the Open Cup, not enough for a full grade for the second year defender.

Rauwshan McKenzie - C- - Improved his performance while Conrad was away inn the Gold Cup, but still was a major drop in talent level from Conrad and more of a drop from the team's other two center backs that played this season.

Kurt Morsink - INC - 154 minutes for Morsink in league play this season a far drop from his first two seasons with KC.

Chance Myers - INC - Came back from injury and started to look like he may not be a bust but then got hurt again. Needs to get healthy and stay that way.

Boris Pardo - INC - Only played in the first Open Cup game of the season.

Nelson Pizarro - INC - Waived way back in May now.

Kevin Souter - INC - Only played 61 minutes all season, spent much of the late season in the broadcast booth providing color commentary on Wizards broadcasts.

Abe Thompson - INC - Played very minimally before he was finally traded to Houston for Kamara. Overall his performance in KC had been one of missed chances.

Lance Watson - B+ - Watson lost his spot late in the season after Vermes took over, but before that point, Watson was having a career year, he seemed to have found a place at right back and had plenty of good games there.

Josh Wolff - B - Wolff was hot and cold all year, but it's hard to give a guy a low grade when he sets a career high for goals in a season.

Graham Zusi - C - Zusi had a decent season showed some good moves and some ability for the future but still made many rookie mistakes.

Wizards with National Teams

2009-11-14T17:16:00.002-06:00

Two Wizards had the honor of being called up to their respective national teams during this international break. Jimmy Conrad (along with former Wizard Eddie Johnson) were in Bratislava as the US took on Slovakia. Conrad was on the bench for the United States, but did not see the field in the United States 1-0 loss to the Fighting Jondas. Johnson came on at half time for the United States.

In Holland, Kei Kamara and the Sierra Leone national team was taking on Eredivisie side, Willem II. The match was for the Ibrahim Kargbo Foundation. Kamara started for the Leone Stars as they jumped out to a 1-0 half time lead. Willem equalized in the second half and the game ended 1-1. The match raised € 1750 for Kargbo's foundation which helps in the reconstruction of Sierra Leone after their civil war.

Conrad on Bench for US

2009-11-14T09:05:00.002-06:00

The US just kicked off against Slovakia and Wizards defender and captain, Jimmy Conrad is on the bench for the US today. Conrad is number 5 and is one of two central defenders on the game day roster with Clarence Goodson. Former Wizard, Eddie Johnson is also on the bench for the US after being called back into the US camp.

Former Wizards Update

2009-11-11T21:38:00.004-06:00

The former Wizards season in MLS continues to wind down and while there weren't a lot of goals this week by players, there was some news involving former Wizards. First I've added two new players to the list, as the Jermaine Hue and the Jamaican league started up a little bit ago. And the Wizards 4th round draft pick this past year, Akeem Priestly is now playing in the top division in Azerbaijan. Secondly, congratulations to Khari Stephenson and Aalesund, as they won the Norweigen Cup this past week 2-2 (5-4) on penalty kicks. Some bad news for a former Wizard, as it appears that Preki will not be returning to coach Chivas USA next season.

MLS
Taylor Graham - Seattle Sounders FC - Did not dress in Seattle's 1-0 loss to Houston to end their season.
Will Hesmer - Columbus Crew - Started and played 90 minutes in Columbus' 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake.
Chris Klein - LA Galaxy - Started and played 67 minutes in LA's 1-0 win over Chivas USA.
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake - Came off the bench and played 25 minutes in RSL's 3-2 win over Columbus.
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago Fire - Started and played 90 minutes in Chicago's 2-0 win over New England.
Carey Talley - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 loss to LA.
Shavar Thomas - Chivas USA - Started and played 90 minutes in Chivas' 1-0 loss to LA.
Abe Thompson - Houston - Did not dress in Houston's 1-0 win over Seattle.
Sasha Victorine - Chivas USA - On the DL
Tyson Wahl - Seattle Sounders FC - Dressed but did not play in Seattle's 1-0 loss to Houston.

International
Eloy Colombano - Ferro Carril Sud (Olavarría) - Argentina - FerroCarril lost 2-1 to Bella Vista.
Gary Glasgow - United Petrotrin - Trinidad - Petrotrin did not qualify for the "Pro League Big Six" Competition.
Jermaine Hue - Harbour View - Jamaica - Round one of the Jamaican league finished up last week.
Eddie Johnson - Fulham - England - Did not dress in Fulham's 1-1 draw with Wigan.
Chris Konopka - Sporting Fingal FC - Ireland - Started and played 90 minutes in Fingal's 3-2 loss to Athlone Town. Did not play in Fingal's 2-1 win over Shelbourne in the first playoff game.
Anthony Noriega - United Petrotrin - Trinidad - Petrotrin did not qualify for the "Pro League Big Six" Competition.
Akeem Priestly - FK Mughan - Azerbaijan - Came off the bench and played 45 minutes in Mughan's 3-0 loss to Qäbälä. Mughan lost 1-0 to Khazar Lankaran in the Cup of Azerbaijan.
Khari Stephenson - Aalesund FK - Norway - Started and played 120 minutes in Aalesund's 2-2 (5-4) win over Molde in the Norweigen Cup Final.
Matt Taylor - FSV Frankfurt - Germany - Started and played 75 minutes in Frankfurt's 0-0 draw with Arminia Bielefeld.
Ivan Trujillo - Deportes Quindío - Columbia - Came off the bench and played 73 minutes, scoring the lone goal in Quindío's 1-0 win over Atlético Junior.
Diego Walsh - Wellington Phoenix - Australia - Did not play in Wellington's 1-1 draw with Perth Glory FC.

Award Finalists

2009-11-11T19:40:00.002-06:00

The Wizards had 4 goals up for Goal of the Year, and 2 of those goals have made it to the final 10, one from each Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez. Arnaud's goal is his blast from the first game of the season against Toronto. Lopez's goal is his shot from midfield that looped in over Donovan Ricketts. Check out all the nominees below.

Kevin Hartman had 3 saves up for Save of the Year, 1 of those saves has made it to the final 10 for Save of the Year. Hartman's save is his save in the final week of the season against DC United when he got caught going the wrong direction and made it back across the goal in time to tip Ben Olsen's shot over the net. Check out all the saves below.

Kamara Called Up By Sierra Leone

2009-11-10T22:58:00.004-06:00

I've been sitting on this story for a few days looking for confirmed news of it, but it appears that Wizards forward, Kei Kamara has been called up by the Sierra Leone national team for their upcoming friendly in Holland against Willem II of the Eredivisie. Kamara's Facebook status talks about going to the game in Holland. I've found that the Leone Stars will be playing the match as a charity match for the Ibrahim Kargbo Foundation, Kargbo plays for Willem II and his foundation was set up to help rebuild Sierra Leone after their Civil War. The game is actually free for fans to watch.

KC Kings Season Getting Close

2009-11-10T21:45:00.002-06:00

The Wizards season is over, and the indoor season for the KC Kings is gearing up. The two time defending Midwest Regional Champions and runner up at the PASL International Finals last year, Kings will be hosting tryouts on Wednesday, November 25th at the KC Soccer Dome. Registration starts at 12:30. The schedule shouldn't be too far behind, so when it does come out, make plans to attend a game or two or more out at the KC Soccer Dome.

Vermes Official

2009-11-10T18:43:00.002-06:00

As speculated last night, the Wizards have officially removed the interim tag from Peter Vermes and he is now the Wizards "new" head coach. My reservations from last night still stand. I'm worried about the fact that on the surface there appears to be no change from last year. Most of these players are Vermes' players and while he's said there will be a roster overhaul it's hard to see how that overhaul will actually take place.

I personally would have liked to have seen some new blood/new ideas brought in to try to switch things up a bit. But I understand to a point why the team did it, they probably don't want to have to deal with another 2-3 "rebuilding" years as a new coach brings in "his" players. This does put all the pressure on Vermes now, he is the sole public figure in the creation of this team, he doesn't have a coach below him like last year. If this team doesn't produce than it's all on Vermes and he'll have to be the next one to go.

Wizards Naming Head Coach Tomorrow

2009-11-09T22:23:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow at the Wizards Swope Park Training Complex, the team will announce their new head coach in a press conference at 2:30 pm. There's been speculation on who the new head coach would be since the end of the season. With many of the other favorites only recently finishing their season (Preki), or still being in the playoffs (Spencer, Hamlett, Sarachan), I think the announcement is not going to be very surprising. I suspect that the team will be announcing that Peter Vermes will be taking over as the full time head coach.

Under Vermes, the Wizards finished the season 3-6-3. And while the record didn't show it, the play on the field did improve under Vermes.

The Star has now confirmed my assumption, as they're reporting that it will in fact be Vermes that will be named head coach tomorrow.

Overall I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this move. I like that the team is making the move before the expansion draft, but would have liked to have seen KC go in a different direction. Vermes has been part of the organization that has been a borderline playoff team for 3 years now. There's been really no movement from the team and bringing in some new blood I thought might help to start that process.

Former Wizards Up for Hall of Fame

2009-11-09T18:42:00.003-06:00

The US National Soccer Hall of Fame has come out with their 24 finalists for this years induction into the Hall of Fame. Six former Wizards are on the list this year, as Mike Burns, Chris Henderson, Roy Lassister, Preki, Mike Sorber, and Peter Vermes are all up for induction. Sorber, the Wizards first allocation back in 1996 is in his final year of eligibility before being moved to the veterans ballot along with Thomas Dooley, John Doyle, and Dominic Kinnear. The Wizards 2000 leader in points, Chris Henderson, is in his first year of eligibility with John O'Brien and Eduardo Hurtado.

For me, Preki is the only surefire Hall of Famer in the list of former Wizards that are up for election with Sorber and Vermes being the next two most likely. The other 3 I think have very minimal chances. Voters can select up to 10 names of players on their ballot, if I had a vote, here'd be my ballot: Preki, Thomas Dooley, Earnie Stewart, Shannon MacMillan, and Joe-Max Moore.

Conrad Called Up by US

2009-11-09T18:32:00.003-06:00

Wizards defender and captain, Jimmy Conrad has been called up by the US national team for their upcoming game against Slovakia. Conrad is one of 22 players that were called up by Bob Bradley for the first of two friendlies next week in Europe. While the US will play Dennmark only a few days after playing Slovakia, Bradley has said he's going to consider making changes to the roster before the game in Denmark.

Conrad will have a fight on his hands to get playing time, as Carlos Bocanegra, Clarence Goodson, and Chad Marshall have also been called into camp and will all be competing for the starting centerback positions against Slovakia. Congratulations to Conrad.

MLS Attendance 2009

2009-11-08T21:52:00.005-06:00

The 2009 MLS regular season saw overall average attendance drop to an average of 16,037. Down from last years 16,459. It did, though, see a new record for attendance set by the expansion Seattle Sounders FC, who averaged 30,897 over the course of the season. Here are the averages of all the teams in the league this year.

1. Seattle - 30,897
2. LA - 20,416
3. Toronto - 20344
4. Houston - 17, 047
5. Salt Lake - 16,375
6. DC - 16,088
7. Chivas - 15,092
8. Chicago - 14, 689
9. Columbus - 14,447
10. San Jose - 14,114
11. New England - 13,732
12. New York - 12,491
13. Dallas - 12,441
14. Colorado - 12,331
15. KC - 10,053

Yes, once again KC was at the bottom of attendance, down an average of 633 this year, or about 6% this year. KC did up their number of sellouts from 5 to 8, but lost the bigger ticket bump that the LA game last year at Arrowhead brought. Still not the greatest numbers this year.

The other thing about the above numbers is how some are higher because of teams playing double headers with more marketable games. Three teams; Dallas, New England, and San Jose benefited from being the "opening act" for a double or triple header of soccer. The biggest beneficiary was San Jose, who added 3,389 to their average attendance for a double header that included Barcelona playing Chivas Guadalajara. Second was Dallas, who saw a bump of 2,755 for their double header with the Mexican national team playing Colombia. Finally, New England got a small 743 person bump in their average from the Gold Cup triple header back in June that included the US team playing.

Without those double headers, here is the average attendance looks.

1. Seattle - 30,897
2. LA - 20,416
3. Toronto - 20344
4. Houston - 17, 047
5. Salt Lake - 16,375
6. DC - 16,088
7. Chivas - 15,092
8. Chicago - 14, 689
9. Columbus - 14,447
10. New England - 12,989
11. New York - 12,491
12. Colorado - 12,331
13. San Jose - 10,275
14. KC - 10,053
15. Dallas - 9686

San Jose falls to 13th, while Dallas is the lowest attended team in the league without the help of that double header at the Cotton Bowl.

Chet North Athletic Trainer of the Year

2009-11-07T08:27:00.003-06:00

Forgot to make this post yesterday, but Wizards head athletic trainer, Chet North has been named MLS Athletic Trainer of the Year. Thad over at The Back Post has a great interview up with North that you can check out as well.

North is the only person with the Wizards organization who has been there since the first season 14 years ago. Which makes him one of the only people in the league who has been there since the first season, a huge accomplishment. I know from my short discussions with him during practices and the open tryouts that he has some amazing stories to tell about the history of the league. He talks a little bit about some of those stories in the interview with Thad. But he'd be one person that I'd love to read a book from because I'm sure it'd be full of great stories.

Congratulations to North on winning the award.

Conrad Named Humanitarian of the Year

2009-11-06T19:41:00.002-06:00

Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad has been named Co-MLS Humanitarian of the Year along with Chicago Fire midfielder Logan Pause. Conrad had won the award for his work being a spokesperson for Athletes Against Autism and the Child Protection Center. He's also helped with the UN's Nothing but Nets campaign. Congratulations to Conrad on winning the award, yet another award to add to his long list of awards he's earned in his career.

Down the Byline

Verbal Agreement on Assistant Coach

KC's World Cup Bid

Who to Protect?

Expansion Draft Rules for 2009

2009 MLS Expansion Draft Rules

Conrad Appears for the US

Former Wizards Update

New Assistant Coach Rumor

Espinoza and Myers on Way to South Africa

Hirsig Agreement with San Lorenzo (Over Back Pay)

More Post Season Awards

Conrad to Remain with US Team for Denmark Friendly

End of Season Grades

Wizards with National Teams

Conrad on Bench for US

Former Wizards Update

Award Finalists

Kamara Called Up By Sierra Leone

KC Kings Season Getting Close

Vermes Official

Wizards Naming Head Coach Tomorrow

Former Wizards Up for Hall of Fame

Conrad Called Up by US

MLS Attendance 2009

Chet North Athletic Trainer of the Year

Conrad Named Humanitarian of the Year