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US: MLS Preview- Kansas City v Los Angeles [Sat Sep 17th, 2005]
Kansas City Wizards (11-7-9, 42 pts) v Los Angeles Galaxy (11-11-5, 38 pts)
When: 8:00 pm ET, Saturday, September 17, 2005
Where: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City will look to reverse a recent trend of poor results at home and couldn’t have better opponents than the Galaxy, who have been dreadful on the road.
The Wizards had only lost once at home, to New England in June, before dropping a pair of 1-0 losses to Columbus and the MetroStars, the two teams in the Eastern Conference that are out of the playoffs at this point.
Both of these teams are in the playoffs at this point, but in decidedly different standings. The Wizards are in a tightly contested battle with Chicago and DC for second place, while the Galaxy can clinch a playoff berth with a win.
The Gals are coming off a 4-1 shellacking of Colorado, their highest scoring game of the season. Defenders Jimmy Conrad and Shavar Thomas will have their hands full with the red hot Herculez Gomez who has three goals in the Gals’ last two games, as well as Landon Donovan who is also on a recent tear (four goals in four games).
The Zards will look to Josh Wolff to return to his early-August form that saw him post eleven points in three games, while he has scored just a single goal in the past four matches.
Their offense as a whole has struggled in their current three match winless skid, scoring just twice. In addition to Wolff, Kansas City needs Scott Sealy to get back on track, as the August player of the month has not scored in September.
Both teams may prefer next week’s contest when they’ll square off at the Home Depot Center. The Galaxy are a much better team at home, while Kansas City took the full nine points from their last three-match road trip. Expect the sparks to fly in that one after a lacklustre game this weekend.
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