Wizards Shock The World, Upset Columbus Crew, 1-0

Welcome home, young fella.

Okay, maybe it’s not quite “The Shot Heard ‘Round The World,” or “The Miracle On Ice,” but when you’re a fan and you endure a month like Wizards fans have just come out of, hyperbole is mandatory.

For all the fire coach Peter Vermes has been under of late, he was stellar tonight. Vermes’ management of this game is to his previous managements, starting XI’s and subs; what Ned Yost’s management of the Royals bullpen is to that of Trey Hillman’s. It was that important in tonight’s win. Masterful work, Peter.

What did we actually just do?

• For starters, we scored a goal for the first time in 332 minutes, dating all the way back to June 10. That’s more than a month, folks. Granted, the league didn’t play a single game for two weeks, but no way should we be going on four games without a goal.

• Teal Bunbury, as you’ve heard ad nauseam already, scored his first career MLS goal. It wasn’t exactly a sitter waiting to be tapped in, either. That was as well a taken strike as you’re going to see all season in MLS. He hit it hard and low, right between the wickets of Will Hesmer. Well done, Teal. Here’s to the first of many.

• We beat a first place team. On the road. After Chivas on Saturday, this was the part of the league schedule that was supposed to be brutal – at Columbus, at Colorado, vs Salt Lake and at San Jose. We kicked off that stretch with a win, on the road.

• First road win since September 12, 2009 – a streak that stretched 9 games.

Man of the Match: The Wizards TV broadcast gave the award to Bunbury for scoring the lone goal of the game, which also happened to be the first of his career. Any other night, I completely agree and follow suit. Not tonight, though. Had it not been for keeper Jimmy Nielsen, the final score could have easily been 3-1, in favor of Columbus. Nielsen continues to come up huge and shows why the Wizards were willing to part with Kevin Hartman after last season. The fact that Nielsen isn’t in the Starting XI for the MLS All-Star game later this month is a minor crime.

At the halfway point of the season, we now sit on 15 points, good for 5th in the Eastern Conference. Not to mention, we sit only 2 points behind Chicago for 4th in the East. Although, the final playoff spot is currently 7 points clear, a strong second half could at least give the fans something to cheer about and look forward to next season for.

Saturday, we trek back halfway across the country, back past Kansas City and play at the Colorado Rapids. Colorado is one of the 4 teams tied for that final playoff spot. Pull out a result Saturday, and then we can talk crazy thoughts.

Until then, enjoy tonight and be happy. Who knows how long it might be until this feeling resides in us again.

Wizards @ Columbus Crew – Live Thread

As will be a regular practice for as long as The Daily Wiz is on the WordPress network, I’ll be doing a running live thread for tonight’s game (6:30 p.m. CDT) against Columbus. I’ll be updating with thoughts leading up to the game and as big moments in the game occur. If you haven’t already, check out my Three Questions post regarding tonight’s game. Also, it’s time for Davy Arnaud to step it up. (Shameless self-promotion, yes.)

Feel free to jump in in the comments section when I say something completely insane. Hell, you could still probably be the first comment on The Daily Wiz.

Hopeful Starting XI

—Smith—–Kamara—–Bunbury—

———Zusi———Arnaud——–
————–Auvray—————-

Espinoza-Conrad-Besler-Harrington

Nielsen
=============

Forwards: Smith and Kamara are really no-brainers. The right side, though, would be really wide open – if I were the coach, that is. As far as coach Peter Vermes is concerned, Josh Wolff is a world beater and the be-all end-all right side forward answer. Little does Vermes know, Wolff has less pace remaining than Akebono.
Expected starting unit: Smith, Kamara, Wolff

Midfield: Arnaud will start; we know that. We can likely assume Auvray will start and play 60 minutes, or so due to still regaining full fitness after arthroscopic knee surgery. The third midfield spot needs to be someone attack minded and creative; someone that isn’t afraid to go forward and let one rip from outside the box, or play a through ball 20 yards ahead. Jack Jewsbury doesn’t offer that anymore and the midfield is stagnant when he and Arnaud are paired together. That said…
Expected starting unit: Jewsbury, Auvray, Arnaud

Defenders: While Jimmy Conrad was the latest culprit in the “who’s going to allow every goal this game?” contest against Chivas USA on Saturday, he’s the best we have in the center of defense, and he’ll start as long as he’s here. Espinoza and Harrington are locks on the outside, one would hope. Personally, I’m a big fan of Matt Besler. He and Conrad were a stonewall the first two games of the season until Vermes inexplicably started Pablo Escobar at Seattle, and the wheels fell off. Besler is far more a prospect for the future than Shavar Thomas. I wish we could let him play.
Expected starting unit: Espinoza, Conrad, Thomas, Harrington

Davy Arnaud, I’m Callin’ You Out

Who, me?

Now, normally I’m not the type to go all postal on a player for letting his performance slip. It happens, and I realize that. “Form is temporary, class is permanent.” That’s what the announcers on FIFA ’10 say, right? So, what are you gonna do?

But, watching this Wizards team week in and week out, I’ve finally reached the point where the frustration has become unbarable. To have scored only 11 goals in 14 league games, that’s downright pathetic, and embarrassing. But, more than anything, it’s an indictment on a player responsible for creating goals and opportunities on goal for the squad’s forwards. Yeah, you guessed it – Davy Arnaud.

So Davy, just listen up now, ya hear?

You’re Not A Scrub. Don’t Act Like One.

To this point in your career, you’ve really got to be considered one of the better players in Wizards history. Halfway through your 9th season, you’ve appeared in 214 MLS games in a Wizards uniform. You’ve scored 42 goals. As a midfielder, a goal every fifth game is a rather nice scoring rate. You’ve (officially) been credited with assists on 34 more.

You were the pseudo-savior in 2004 when Preki went down and you lead us to a U.S. Open Cup trophy, tying for 2nd in goals (3) in the process. You’ve appeared in 7 U.S. men’s national team games. You’ve even scored a goal while dawning the colors of your country. Do you know what sort of feat that is? I would kill (literally kill) to be able to say I’ve done that. Like Ron Burgundy says, you’re kind of a big deal. Now, can you start playing like it, instead of it just letting it be a known fact?