Galaxy Feeling Wizards’ Pressure

When Preki, the two-time Major League Soccer player of the year, suffered a broken left leg and a dislocated left ankle in March -- injuries that have kept him sidelined this season -- the belief was that the Kansas City Wizards would not be a factor in 2004.

Nonetheless, going into tonight’s match against the Galaxy at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., the Wizards are only one point behind the Galaxy in the Western Conference and can overtake Los Angeles for first place with a victory.

Preki’s absence, while keenly felt, has not proved to be critical to the Wizards.

“They’re tougher to figure out,” Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid said.

“Because with Preki you sort of knew the ball was going to go through him, and that other guys had to do a little bit more on the defensive side of the field.

“If Preki was on the field, Davy Arnaud [seven goals and four assists] might not be having the sort of season he’s having because he’d be chasing back a little more, whereas Preki didn’t. It’s become a greater sharing of the workload. Sometimes it’s [Diego] Gutierrez, sometimes it’s [Kerry] Zavagnin, sometimes it’s [Chris] Klein.”

Even without Preki, Kansas City Coach Bob Gansler has a solid mix of veterans and youngsters who have stayed on the Galaxy’s heels all season.

“They’ve got a good team,” Schmid said. “They’ve got some very good players in Klein and [Josh] Wolff and Arnaud, who is having a breakout season, and [Tony] Meola and some others. But they’re also a very workmanlike team, everybody works for each other and everybody works hard.

“Maybe they snuck up on some people. Everybody was still concentrating on San Jose or Chicago, maybe because of what they achieved last year,” in reaching the MLS Cup final.

The Wizards came from behind to defeat the Galaxy, 2-1, at the Home Depot Center on June 5, a loss that still irks Schmid.

Tonight’s game “is important because one of the goals we have as a team is to win every season series with every team, and the only team that that is not possible with is New York,” Schmid said

Gansler feels the same way about the game’s importance.

“We’re a confident team right now,” he said. “We’re aiming to be up at the top of the division. We’re not there yet, but every game we’re getting closer to where we want to be.”