(Sports Network) - The Kansas City Wizards will try to string together a winning streak when they travel to Texas to take on FC Dallas to kick off the Major League Soccer fixtures on the 4th of July. The game will be the first of three matches throughout the league on Friday. The Wizards (4-5-4) are coming off a 1-0 win over Real Salt Lake at home in their last league match that saw the club snap a seven-game winless streak.

"It was an extremely hard-fought game," Kansas City coach Curt Onalfo said. "All I care about is three points. In this league it's not always about how pretty it is, but at the end of the day it's about getting three points. I'm extremely pleased with the win and we're just going to build on it."

"It was great to get the monkey off our back," Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad said. "We've been looking for a win for a long time. Now we don't have to worry about a winless streak or talk about it anymore. It's huge for our confidence. There's a real thin line between success and failure in this league and confidence is the real difference maker."

The Wizards have another reason to be optimistic as well, even though they boast MLS' second worst offensive production this season. Earlier this week the club announced that U.S. forward Josh Wolff signed a four-year contract with the team to return to MLS after 1 1/2 seasons in Germany.

The Stone Mountain, Georgia native has played with 11 current Wizards teammates and is set to rejoin the club in the middle of next week and will be able to play in MLS games after the transfer window opens on July 15.

"Josh Wolff is a player we know well and we are very excited to bring him back to the Kansas City Wizards," Technical Director Peter Vermes said. "We are glad to have the opportunity to do this and we told him when he left that we had always valued him as a person and player. He has great speed and ability to stretch out the field."

"I am very excited to be back in Kansas City," Wolff said. "My family and I obviously have great ties here and it was a difficult decision to leave the first time, but it was something that we had to do. In coming back to the United States and MLS, Kansas City was first and foremost in our minds. It is a new organization, new management and new staff and all I have heard are great things. K.C. is a tremendous city and the fans have always been wonderful."

In the meantime, the Wizards will have to find a way to get their first road victory since April 20 on Friday at Dallas (4-6-5), which is coming off a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo.

Kenny Cooper, who has been the Hoops best player this season, scored a late equalizer for his team to earn a point and a draw with their Texas rivals.

"We knew [the June 26th match] was going to be a 90-plus-minute battle, with them being the league champs," Cooper said. "We just needed to keep our composure coming out in the second half."

The Hoops will be gunning for just their second win in seven league fixtures, so there will be a lot on the line for both teams on Friday.



Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved