Kei Kamara and Teal Bunbury scored in the final 20 minutes Sunday as Kansas City continued their late-season surge with a 2-0 win over Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center.
Kansas City’s victory upped the pressure on the rest of the playoff contenders. The Wizards (8-9-6) now sit on 30 points, six behind both San Jose and Seattle, who hold the last two playoff spots.
The Wizards, however, have two games in hand over the Sounders. And they still have potentially fateful dates with both Seattle (Oct. 9) and San Jose (Oct. 24) to come.
Chivas USA (7-13-4), meanwhile, remain stuck on 25 points and appear to need a miraculous turn of events in order to reach the playoffs. The Goats trail both the Sounders and Earthquakes by 11 points and would need to overtake four other teams to avoid missing the postseason for the first time in five seasons.
The goals from Kamara and Bunbury came after a neither team managed a shot in goal during a sluggish first half.
But Kamara’s goal in the 70th minute more than made up for the game’s early moments. Wizards defender Michael Harrington sailed a ball into the penalty area from the right sideline to Kamara, who with his back to the goal, headed the ball over himself, turned and eluded Chivas USA’s Dario Delgado.
Kamara then knocked the ball past Goats goalkeeper Zach Thornton for the finish, his team-leading ninth goal of the season and his third in the last five games.
Bunbury put the game out of reach in the 83rd minute, the third goal of a promising rookie season with the Wizards. Kamara sent a through ball to the former Akron star, who ran into the penalty area and fired a 17-yard shot past Thornton to punctuate the Wizards’ third win in four games and extend the team’s road unbeaten streak to three games.
The chances were few and far between for Chivas USA, who saw a goal by Ben Zemanski waived off in the 52nd minute. Zemanksi – who played with Bunbury at Akron – was whistled for controlling a cross with his hand before slotting it past Wizards goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen.
Michael Lahoud also trickled a shot wide of the post in the 23rd minute for Chivas USA, who managed just one shot on goal in the match.
The Wizards return to action on Wednesday against Houston, while Chivas USA face Philadelphia at PPL Park next Saturday.
Scoring Summary:
KC -- Kei Kamara 9 (unassisted) 70
KC -- Teal Bunbury 3 (Kei Kamara 4) 83
Kansas City Wizards -- Jimmy Nielsen, Michael Harrington, Jimmy Conrad, Shavar Thomas, Roger Espinoza, Kei Kamara, Davy Arnaud, Stephane Auvray, Craig Rocastle (Jack Jewsbury 67), Ryan Smith (Graham Zusi 84), Birahim Diop (Teal Bunbury 56).
Substitutes Not Used: Korede Aiyegbusi, Jonathan Leathers, Josh Wolff, Eric Kronberg.
Chivas USA -- Zach Thornton, Mariano Trujillo, Dario Delgado, Michael Umana, Ante Jazic, Michael Lahoud, Ben Zemanski (Sal Zizzo 62), Paulo Nagamura, Rodolfo Espinoza (Jonathan Bornstein 66), Justin Braun (Jesus Padilla 79), Alan Gordon.
Substitutes Not Used: Carlos Borja, Yamith Cuesta, Jorge Flores, Kevin Guppy.
Misconduct Summary:
CHV -- Mariano Trujillo (caution; Tactical Foul) 54
CHV -- Michael Umana (caution; Tactical Foul) 75
Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee's Assistants: Kermit Quisenberry; Ian Anderson
4th Official: Ricardo Salazar
Attendance: N/A
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Clear-and-70-degrees
