MLS Game #7
Saturday, May 15, 2010, 7:30 p.m. CT
English TV: Fox Soccer Channel
Spanish TV: Fox Sports Español
CommunityAmerica Ballpark | Kansas City, KS
Weather: 55 degrees, rain
Attendance: 8,155
Score: 1 2 F
Kansas City Wizards (2-3-2, 8 pts) 0 2 2
Chicago Fire (2-3-3, 9 pts) 1 1 2
Kansas City Wizards: Jimmy Nielsen; Michael Harrington, Jimmy Conrad, Pablo Escobar, Roger Espinoza; Davy Arnaud ©, Jack Jewsbury, Graham Zusi (Teal Bunbury 72’); Josh Wolff, Kei Kamara, Ryan Smith
Subs not used: Eric Kronberg, Matt Besler, Jonathan Leathers, Birahim Diop, Craig Rocastle, Chance Myers
Chicago Fire: Andrew Dykstra; Dasan Robinson, CJ Brown ©, Willman Conde, Krzysztof Krol; Julio Martinez (Mike Banner 46’), Baggio Husidic, Logan Pause, Patrick Nyarko; Marco Pappa (Peter Lowry 84’), Collins John (Brian McBride 46’)
Subs not used: Sean Johnson, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Denis Umanzor, Peter Lowry, Stefan Dimitrov
Stats:
KC CHI
Shots 18 8
Shots on Goal 12 6
Fouls 11 6
Corner Kicks 11 1
Offside 0 6
Misconduct Summary:
KCW – 32’ – Jack Jewsbury (Caution – reckless tackle)
CHI – 45’ – Dasan Robinson (Caution – delaying a restart)
KCW – 45’ – Roger Espinoza (Caution – unsporting behavior)
CHI – 63’ - Krzysztof Krol (Caution – reckless tackle)
KCW – 64’ – Pablo Escobar (Caution – reckless tackle)
KCW – 70’ – Jimmy Conrad (Caution – reckless foul)
Scoring Summary:
CHI – 14’ – Julio Martinez 1 (Marco Pappa 3, Logan Pause 1)
CHI – 48’ – Brian McBride 3 (Patrick Nyarko 5)
KCW – 50’ – Kei Kamara 4 (Unassisted)
KCW – 89’ – Kei Kamara 5 (Unassisted)
(May 15, 2010) – The Kansas City Wizards mounted a thrilling comeback from two goals down on Saturday, drawing 2-2 with the Chicago Fire on a wet and wild night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.
Julio Martinez and Brian McBride scored for the Fire at the beginning of each half, while Kamara netted both his goals in the second half. With his strikes, Kamara now has five goals on the season, giving him sole possession of third place in the Budweiser MLS Golden Boot standings.
The Fire were the first to get on the board in the 14th minute. Logan Pause started the attack with a nice through ball to Marco Pappa at the left of the Wizards’ penalty area. With space, Pappa hit a pinpoint service to the feet of Julio Martinez at the far post, and the Salvadorian made no mistake with his finish past stranded Wizards goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.
Patrick Nyarko tested Nielsen from long range in the 18th minute, but the big Dane was up to the challenge with a solid diving save to deny the goal.
With the Wizards struggling to generate chances, Kei Kamara took the team’s attacking responsibilities on his shoulders in the 21st minute. The Sierra Leone forward burst through the center of the Fire defense, beating three defenders with power and pace. Though Kamara’s attempt at a finish got under Fire goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra, the angle was too narrow, and the ball hit side netting.
The Wizards had five chances to get on the board in a wild goalmouth scramble in the 26th minute, but Andrew Dykstra and the Fire defense came up with a string of sprawling saves and blocks to deny the Wizards the lead. Pablo Escobar had the first chance of the melee in the box, poking a ball bobbled by Dykstra back towards goal only to have it blocked by the Fire defense. Escobar’s second attempt and follow-ups by Jimmy Conrad and Jack Jewsbury were also blocked before the ball was cleared out of play.
After a period of extended possession, the Wizards finally broke through with a long-range goal from Davy Arnaud on the stroke of halftime. However, the strike was called back due to referee Michael Kennedy blowing his whistle to stop play just before Arnaud’s shot. Kennedy stopped play due to an injured player, Fire defender Willman Conde, lying down injured in the penalty area.
The Fire made two changes at halftime with Mike Banner coming on for Julio Martinez and Brian McBride coming on for Collins John. The introduction of McBride would have an immediate impact for the Fire, as the Illinois native scored a goal within a few minutes of coming on.
Patrick Nyarko was responsible for the play, as the midfielder slid a perfectly weighted through ball to a well-positioned McBride in the box. The former U.S. National Team star only needed one touch to finish past Nielsen to make the score 2-0 Chicago.
Kei Kamara responded almost immediately for the Wizards. Kansas City’s leading scorer received a pass from Ryan Smith at the top of the box, before turning and launching a low, rolling shot at the Fire goal. The ball took a deflection off a Fire defender and rolled past Dykstra into the back of the net.
The Wizards continued to push up and attack to get an equalizer, with Ryan Smith generating a myriad of chances through the middle section of the second half. The English winger showed sublime skill in the 59th minute, cutting in from the left flank and fighting through a mob of Chicago defenders before having the ball poked away just before attempting a shot.
Smith came through again just two minutes later, as he fired a shot after a mazy run trough the defense, this time from the right hand side. However, Dykstra came up big for the Fire to knock Smith’s rocket out for a corner kick.
Smith had yet another chance in the 67th minute, cutting in from the right and launching a pinpoint curling shot that Dykstra saved with an acrobatic dive. He tested Dykstra again just a few minutes later, as he ran on to a long floating ball out of midfield, controlled it in the penalty area behind the Fire defense, and hit a volley on the bounce that once again forced Dykstra into an impressive save.
Kamara got in on the action again in the 74th minute, firing a low rocket from long range that Dykstra could only parry away. Teal Bunbury, who had just come on for midfielder Graham Zusi minutes earlier, tried to fire in the rebound, but Dykstra cut down the angle and Bunbury’s shot was cleared away with a last-ditch tackle from Dasan Robinson.
The Wizards finally broke through with Kamara’s second goal in the 89th minute. Bunbury started the attack, controlling a throw in, turning past a pair of Fire defenders, and firing a shot at the near post that got under Dykstra and settled tantalizingly on the edge of the goal line. Kamara was there to clean up the rebound, taking his time and tapping the ball over the goal line on the wet turf to pull the Wizards level at two.
Josh Wolff came within inches of giving the Wizards all three points in the game’s waning moments. The striker took control of a short pass at the top of the box from Kamara, turned, and fired a curling shot at Dykstra that floated barely over the bar and out of play.
The Wizards will look to build on the result next Sunday when they host the Columbus Crew at 3 p.m. CT at CommunityAmerica Ballpark. For tickets, call the Wizards at 888-4KC-GOAL or go online to Ticketmaster.com.
Fast Facts:
Fighting Back:
· The last time the Wizards came back from two goals down to tie was also against the Chicago Fire, on April 18, 2009 at Toyota Park.
· Also like tonight’s draw, the April 18th game also featured both Wizards goals coming from one player (Josh Wolff) in the second half.
Special K:
· Kei Kamara’s two-goal performance is the first multi-goal game by a Kansas City Wizards since Josh Wolff scored two goals in the Wizards’ 4-2 away win over the New England Revolution on September 5th, 2009.
· Kamara’s goals mark the second time this season the striker has scored in consecutive games. Kamara scored the opening goal in the Wizards’ 4-0 opening day victory over D.C. United, before scoring the lone goal in Kansas City’s 1-0 win over the Colorado Rapids in the Wizards’ second MLS game. Kamara scored a late goal as a substitute in Kansas City’s 2-1 loss to D.C. United on May 5th.
· Kamara’s two goals give him five for the season, which gives the Sierra Leone striker sole possession of third place in the Budweiser MLS Golden Boot standings. Only Toronto FC’s Dwayne De Rosario (six goals) and the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Edson Buddle (nine goals) have scored more than Kamara).
Offensive Output:
· With Dykstra’s 8 saves tonight, goalkeepers that have faced the Wizards so far in 2010 average 4.8 saves per game, the most in Major League Soccer.
· For the sixth game out of seven this season, the Wizards out-shot their opponent. The Wizards managed 18 shots (12 on goal) to Chicago’s eight (six on goal).
· In total, the Wizards have managed 84 total shots in 2010, with 47 of those being on target – an on goal percentage of 55.9%.
· The Kansas City Wizards were not called offside for the fifth time so far this season. The Wizards are last in the League in offside calls, with six through seven games.
Miscellaneous:
· With tonight’s tie, the Wizards’ all-time record against the Fire moves to 9-20-8. At home, the Wizards are 7-7-6 against the Chicago side.
· Graham Zusi made his first appearance of the 2010 MLS season, starting in central midfield in the absence of regular Stéphane Auvray, who missed the game with a knee injury. The start is Zusi’s first appearance and first start since the final game of the 2009 season against D.C. United at CommunityAmerica Ballpark, when the midfielder played all 90 minutes in another 2-2 draw.
· The Wizards have scored the first goal in two of their seven games so far this season – with those two being the first two games of the year.
The Undercard:
· The Kansas City Wizards Juniors U-16 squad won the first match of the Kansas City-Chicago triple-header, with a late goal from Jordan Rideout sealing the victory for the Juniors in the 78th minute.
