Gamethread – 04.21.07 – vs. Kansas City Wizards

By: Tom | April 20th, 2007

Wizard of Oz Matchup: 7.30 p.m. CST, Saturday April 21st vs. Kansas City Wizards
Season record: Fire 1-0-1 | Wizards 1-0-0
Last five: W D – - – | W – - – -
Weather: ~65F
TV: HDNet
Key Fire injuries: QUESTIONABLE: MF Logan Pause (R groin strain); PROBABLE: MF Ivan Guerrero (R quad contusion); MF Diego Gutierrez (L calf contusion)
Last meeting: 8/16/06: CHI 3, KC 0 (Jaqua 25; Barrett 61; Mapp 67)
Opponent to watch: Carlos Marinelli. Any Argentinian playmaker deserves respect.

Reason #264 that the Wizards are kind of lame: Perhaps they wouldn’t be if they were still the Kansas City Wiz. “With the “Wiz” moniker, the club created market awareness.” So describes Kansas City’s official site, explaining the origins of their name. Unfortunately, “things do change and on November 18, 1996, the club officially extended its name to Wizards.” Though the official site keeps this quiet, the change was apparently due to the threat of a lawsuit from a northeast electronics chain of stores, “The Wiz”.

One thing that hasn’t changed is Kansas City’s miserable record in Chicago, the Fire being 11-1-1 at home. On the back of a disappointing trip to Colorado, at least performance-wise, and a tremendous start to the season for the Wiz – who crushed DC United 4-2 – there’s reason to be fearful that could change. The Wizards have had a bit of a brutal schedule, though, as this will be their third road game in seven days, following a US Open game against Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, which they lost 2-1.

To win, the Fire will have to generate some creativity. That means getting Mapp going early, or one of the central midfielders doing something other than chasing after the ball and misplacing five-yard passes. It would also help if one of the strikers could show they can hold up the ball consistently. I feel like the Fire will sneak it, but it surely won’t be pretty.

I’ll be at the game, with a full report on the new security measures for Section 8 as I try to sneak in seven firecrackers, four cases of Sam Smith ale and a barrel of drunk monkeys.

Prediction: Fire 1-0 Wiz (Rolfe ‘47)