Kansas City Wizards vs. San Jose Earthquakes Preview

"The Story of the Season", the words used by San Jose Earthquake forward Cornell Glen to describe the team's tepid performance against the defending champion Columbus Crew. The last two matches have shown great promise for the Quakes as they demolished a very promising Seattle Sounders team 4-0 at home before a let down in the second half of the Columbus match at Candlestick Park. However, with only 10 games left in the season, the Earthquakes sit at a crossroads as they hold on to slim playoff hopes going into a must win against the Kansas City Wizards at Estadio Buck Shaw.

Ahead of the match on Saturday, Frank Yallop's side made a big splash by signing Brazilian defender Fabio Da Silva from Brazilian side Rio Branco. While it appears unlikely that Da Silva will be asked to start immediately as new additions Ramon Sanchez and Andre Luiz have been asked, his signing shows that San Jose is still looking to salvage this season. Apart from the Da Silva signing, the buzz around Quakes camp is that Ramon Sanchez will be dropped from the Starting XI due to his inability to return to Silicon Valley after international duty with El Salvador. In his absence, it appears that Yallop will go with the midfield duo of Ramiro Corrales and Andre Luiz against the Wizards. In addition, Arturo Alvarez looks to return to the starting lineup after injury with Ryan Johnson the likely candidate to fall to bench according to Centerline Soccer. With the team at full strength for the first time in weeks, San Jose will likely seek to push the envelope against the Wizards defense and seek to control the game early.

Facing San Jose on Saturday will be a desperate Wizards team in a similar situation as they hold on to faint hopes for the season as it slowly slips away with each negative result. Kansas City arrives in the Bay Area having not registered a victory since their June 13th win over New England. This awful slide saw the firing of their coach, Curt Onalfo (a former member of the San Jose Clash) and the installation of Peter Vermes (a former Earthquakes broadcaster) along Hillside Road. On the field on Saturday, the Wizards will be boasted by the return of two of their star contributors midfielder Claudio Lopez and forward Davy Arnaud who missed last week's 2-0 loss to Chicago due to yellow card accumulation. However, the Wizard's biggest addition looks to be reemergence of star defender and captain Jimmy Conrad. Conrad who leads the Kansas City back line has missed substantial time this season with US international duty as well as a series of injuries. For the Wizards to get their first result in several months at Buck Shaw, Conrad must be on the top of his game to negate the threat of the returning Arturo Alvarez who looks likely to get the start for San Jose.

Saturday's match will be Filipino Heritage Night at the pitch and if you can't make it to the match be sure to follow along with BSB as we provide you with all the analysis of this vital match.