Wizards under pressure to improve

In August of 2006, Kansas City-based OnGoal, LLC purchased the Kansas City Wizards from Hunt Sports Group and answered many of the players' nagging questions about their future.

So, when he was hired in November, new Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo could concentrate solely on answering how to make the team better.

And sides that fail to make the MLS Cup Playoffs two years running have a lot to answer for.

"When I took over the job, there were certain areas I felt that I wanted to improve on and one was the goalkeeping situation, which we felt we've done with the trade for Kevin Hartman, and we wanted to get better at right back and in the midfield," said Onalfo.

The addition of long-time MLS stalwart Hartman places the all-time league leader in goals against average between the posts in Kansas City. The Wizards only new big-name acquisition is an important upgrade for certain, but not an all-encompassing solution for a team that allowed the third-most goals in MLS in 2006.

To improve at right back, Onalfo has moved savvy utility man Jack Jewsbury to the backline to join with much-decorated and respected veterans Jose Burciaga, Jr., Jimmy Conrad and Nick Garcia. The club hopes the experiment will see Hartman and those four gel into a cohesive and stubborn unit so characteristic of past winning Wizards sides.

"If we cut out some of those goals we gave up on set pieces and corners, we become a much better team because we're not trailing [much of the game]," said midfielder Sasha Victorine.

Indeed, the 2006 Wizards had little margin for error with 12 of their 14 losses coming by only one goal. Victorine and fellow former U.S. national teamer Kerry Zavagnin, along with outside midfielders Davy Arnaud and 2007 first-round SuperDraft choice (third overall) Michael Harrington will be expected to help reverse those one-goal margins.

But the changes are not one-dimensional.

"The whole team has to possess the ball. Sometimes last year, we got the attitude that when we'd win the ball, everybody would take a deep breath and relax. That mentality, I don't think, is what works well for us," said Victorine. "We're changing that mentality this year. We work on it all the time."

The comfort with the ball that Jewsbury brings to the backline and Harrington's offensive abilities, evidenced by his three goals in preseason from the left side of midfield, both point to a stronger, more possession-oriented attack.

And attack often brings talk of forwards and strikers, the one area Onalfo didn't mention needing improvement. The apparent negligence is likely because Onalfo feels he has a trump card ready to be wielded - a renewed Eddie Johnson.

"Eddie Johnson is really playing very well right now, and we anticipate that he will have a good season," Onalfo stated. "Eddie Johnson playing well is like adding a new player because he didn't play well last year. In our mind, that's a real positive."

It had better be, because even with Trinidad and Tobago international Scott Sealy, finisher of 19 goals in his two years with the Wizards, returning as striker, along with the evolving Ryan Pore and Yuri Movsisyan providing potential firepower from the bench, Johnson faces even more pressure to produce due to the departure of Josh Wolff to 2.Bundesliga outfit 1860 Munich.

"There are no two ways about it. Josh is a big loss. He's a national team player. He was, in my opinion, one of the better attacking players in the league in terms of how he combined and was dangerous on a consistent basis. He's going to be sorely missed," said Onalfo.

Johnson's physical makeup and clear abilities were valued so much that his own impending transfer to Europe was quelled immediately by OnGoal when they took over, despite his feeble two-goal output last year and rumored dissent.

"He is a big part of the team because he is our marquee forward, our big-name guy. He has all the pressure on him to do well," said Victorine. "If he does well, he does a good job for himself and what he wants to be, but he also helps our team get to where we need to go."

One automatic answer that Onalfo, Victorine and the rest of the Wizards can give is where they need to go.

"Our goal is to make the playoffs. Once we do, our goal is to get farther along. We're being very realistic and smart about the way we go into the season," Onalfo said.

Whether the improvements all over the field are the needed answers to regain glory for the club franchise remain to be seen. Can the Wizards tighten their defense? Can they consistently possess the ball and find the right space to attack and then finish? Can Eddie Johnson, or someone else, be the difference maker that all teams need to make it into the playoffs?

The answer will likely come quickly, as Kansas City opens its season at D.C. United, the first of five games in 13 days to kick off the slate and the first of four matches on the road in their first five.

Robert Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.