Kansas City Wizards 2 - 0 San Jose

It was a cold, windy and wet day. Big Claudio almost blew away...

Fortunately there were a few people to help him stay grounded...

There were many story lines Sunday. The defense came together to hold San Jose scoreless. Lance Watson started his second game and first at right back. Lance played a very good solid game. When he made a turnover, he fought to contain the other player and won the ball back. Here is Lance going above Cam Weaver to win a header...


In the middle was the normal starters, Jimmy Conrad and Aaron Hohlbein. Aaron not only helped anchor a stingy defense Sunday, he took a page from Jimmy's book last year and scored the winning goal. Here Aaron dives for a header (not the goal). Unfortunately I was not shooting when Aaron scored the goal, I was upstairs thawing out my fingers and cleaning a small layer of ice from the front of my lens.


On the other side was Matt Besler. He got his first start in the MLS, not at center but on the left side when Harrington went down with a hamstring strain in practice. Matt kept his side of the field pretty clean...

Kevin Hartman going horizontal in front of goal. Too bad almost nobody was there to see it...

Herculez Gomez had a good day as well. He made the pass that put Claudio into scoring position.

Here Claudio has received that pass and is shooting...


The ball bounces up in the net (that means it is a goal)...


And Claudio flys again, now in celebration...


While the attendance was a bit low due to the weather and a rare Sunday afternoon game, the Cauldron faithful were there...

It was another miserable day for photography, at least for my efforts. Cold, wet and dark does not make it easy. You can go to KC - San Jose Gallery to see more of my images.

Go read Mike’s Cold, windy, wet and win for more game analysis

2009 interview poll - Week 3

Due to some computer and internet issues, I am quite late getting the poll posted.

Please vote here and over at Down The Byline.

In what turns out to be an all defense poll this week:

Lance Watson - Solid performance in his second straight start, helped shutdwon San Jose
Aaron Hohlbein - Helped shutdown San Jose, first MLS goal, game winning goal
Matt Besler - First MLS start, helped shutdown San Jose

If there are any specific question you would like us to ask, please leave them in the comments.

Kevin Hartman interview 04/01/09 part 1

As most people know by now, Kevin Hartman set the MLS career saves record in last Saturday’s game. Kevin passed former Wizards keeper Tony Meola. Hartman holds the records among MLS goalkeepers for career wins (138), shutouts (77), saves (1139), games played (305) and minutes played (27,315). Pretty impressive huh?

An AP photographer was at practice on Wednesday since Hartman was the big news for the week. He was taking shots from every angle...


Kevin had his own personal paparazzi...


After scrimmaging with the full team, he and Boris Pardo practiced for a good 30 minutes or more after the rest of the team hit the showers. Even after all the scrimmaging, set piece practice, goal kicks and photos, Kevin took time to answer a bunch of questions in thoughtful detail.

I broke it into three posts for convenience. In this first part, I asked Kevin these questions:
Tell us about setting the record?
Any other records that you are shooting for?
Other players you look up to as a goalie?

Kevin Hartman interview 04/01/09 part 2

Coach John Pascarella closely watching Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman...

To continue the interview, the questions in part2:
What does the new Goalie coach bring to you?
Would some teams be better off splitting up the positions of Goalkeeper and fitness coaches?
Will you become a goalie coach?

Kevin Hartman interview 04/01/09 part 3

Kevin Hartman at a practice last year...

We were briefly interrupted so the interview is resumed in part 3:
Kevin resumes talking about the other goalies
As goalies get older, they slow down and have to be better positionaly, is that something you have noticed?
Are you as sharp as you were a few years ago?
Anything you want to say to the fans?
Thoughts on the upcoming game?

Michael Kraus interview 04/01/2009

Michael in one of his many interviews...


I was able to talk to Michael yesterday. I asked him to tell us about scoring the goal.
He talked about how much it means to him that his family comes to every game, the good relationship with his family. I asked him about the work getting into the lineup, if he thought he would be back in the 18 this weekend and his best attributes as a player? When he was asked if there was anything else he wanted to say, he wanted to make sure to mention Molly.