Match Report: KC Wizards 2, FC Dallas 0
October 22nd, 2007 . 7:56 am . By: Jamie FougerousseIn a game with only a few chances to either side, Scott Sealy capitalized on the space given him by the Dallas back line on two occasions. Both goals came off balls switched from the right side to Sealy lurking on the left. Dallas, on the other hand, really never found their way into the Wizards’ defensive third as Kansas City won their way into the postseason. Wizards coach Curt Onalfo made two changes to his lineup that lost 2-1 last Saturday at New York. Left back Jose Burciaga, who was involved in both of New York’s goals last week, was on the bench as Michael Harrington dropped into the back line. Sasha Victorine slotted into Harrington’s wide midfield spot, while Carlos Marinelli replaced the suspended Kerry Zavagnin. The Hoops made several changes to the team that tied Chivas USA 0-0 last Thursday night. Clarence Goodson returned from injury to replace Aaron Pitchkolan at center back, while the suspension of Bobby Rhine meant Michael Dello-Russo made his MLS debut at right back. In the midfield, Pablo Ricchetti started in place of Denilson, pushing Juan Toja up into Denilson’s place. Team captain Carlos Ruiz, although finished with his suspension from the Ricardo Clark incident, was on the bench after playing for Guatemala mid-week. While the game had no meaning for Dallas, a win for Kansas City would get them into the playoffs. A tie could have been enough, but only with help from other results. From the beginning of the game, the battle was in the middle third of the field. Kansas City, however, showed a little more initiative in the attack early on, looking to spring their speedy forwards and wingers behind the Hoops’ back line. The Wizards’ real danger came in the way they liked to overload one side when attacking, then look for a quick switch to catch the Dallas defense sucked to the overloaded side. The first real chance came for them in the 28th minute as Arnaud received a switched ball on the right after beating the Dallas offsides trap. Arnaud had a good look at the open goal from the top right corner of the Dallas penalty area, but his shot was high. Just three minutes later Eddie Johnson found himself in the same position, beating the trap on the right side. Goalkeeper Ray Burse came out to meet the former Dallas striker, but Johnson got around him. Defender Drew Moor recovered to the goal line to try to block Johnson’s open-goal shot, but Johnson skied it over the goal as the Dallas fans roared. Around the 37th minute, Carlos Marinelli went down after a collision on the left sideline. At that point Eddie Johnson was already out getting attention from the trainer, so the Wizards played with nine men for a couple minutes. Just after Johnson went back on, but with Marinelli still out, that overload-and-switch strategy paid off for KC. Davy Arnaud found himself with the ball and a little space on the right side. He quickly switched it to a wide open Scott Sealy on the left, taking advantage of Dello-Russo being pulled into the middle to cover for the shifted defense. Sealy chested the ball down and fired over Burse into the goal at the far post to give the Wizards a 1-0 lead in the 39th minute. Carlos Marinelli’s ankle injury forced a substitution, and Ryan Pore entered the game in the 42nd minute. Pore played wide and Victorine pushed into Marinelli’s more central role. In first-half stoppage time, Dallas had their first hint of a chance as Arturo Alvarez did some good work to keep the ball to the left of the KC goal. He held it up until he could feed Ricchetti crashing into the six-yard box, but Ricchetti’s shot went high. In general, the failure by Dallas to penetrate into the attacking third allowed the outside backs of Kansas City to get forward. Their presence let the KC wingers push all the way out to the sidelines, thus spreading out the Dallas back line and creating channels for Sealy and Johnson. The overloaded attack also meant the two Dallas center backs were almost always man-marking the KC forwards. The Wizards picked up right where they left off in the second half. Sealy put a shot over the goal in the 49th minute after receiving another switch from Arnaud. One thing the Dallas back line did do well was handling Eddie Johnson. Besides his breakaway in the first half, his speed never troubled Goodson or Moor, and their pressure generally produced negative play from Johnson when Kansas City attacked up the middle. In the 56th minute, however, the Wizards returned to attacking on the flanks, and the numbers they got forward created the second goal. Davy Arnaud collected the ball on the right side near the corner of the Dallas penalty area. He dropped the ball inside to Jack Jewsbury. Jewsbury had switched sides and was making a run forward from his right back position. Arnaud dropped him the ball as he cut inside, and Jewsbury ripped what looked like a shot that pulled well wide at the far post. Sealy was lurking there unmarked, and the Wizards striker finished it to make the score 2-0. Jewsbury and Sealy were essentially unmarked throughout the sequence as Arnaud had drawn most of the pressure out right. Kansas City kept attacking, even as Dallas threw Dominic Oduro and Carlos Ruiz in to spur the attack. The Hoops first decent chance of the half, however, came through Kenny Cooper in the 80th minute. Cooper hit a bouncing Adrian Serioux throw-in with a bicycle kick that was on frame, but Davy Arnaud deflected it out. Nine minutes later Cooper ran onto a nice long ball from David Wagenfuhr in the back. As KC keeper Kevin Hartman came out to meet Cooper, the Dallas forward hit a half-volley with the outside of his foot, flicking the ball over Hartman and just wide of goal. In stoppage time, Dax McCarty sent a good cross in that Dominic Oduro headed just over, keeping the clean sheet intact for the Wizards. With the loss, Dallas finishes 3rd in the Western Conference at the end of the regular season. Including Sunday’s result, Kansas City finishes 5th in the East and enters the Western Conference playoffs as the bottom-seeded team. The Wizards will host leg one of the semifinals Saturday against Chivas USA, while Dallas will host the Houston Dynamo the same night.
Kansas City Wizards (11-12-7) vs. FC Dallas (13-12-5) Scoring Summary: Kansas City Wizards Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Jose Burciaga Jr., Eric Kronberg, Ryan Raybould, Tyson Wahl FC Dallas Lineup:
Substitutes Not Used: Chris Gbandi, Denilson, Aaron Pitchkolan, Dario Sala
Misconduct Summary: Referee: Abiodun Okulaja 7 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Time to look forward now, try this:
Ruiz Oduro
Alvarez Richetti Serioux Toja
Gbandi Goodson Pitch/Yi Moor
Sala
WE need all MEN and no passengers is this one, Houston tends to punk us with physical play. If we out-foul them we can win these games and shock to world.
Dax, Abe & Pitch could see some useful minutes but Denilson and Cooper simply haven’t shown enough to make the subs bench.
Cooper is just now back from a broken leg so give him a break. He led the league in gwg last season and must play. The problem is the woeful passing from the m/f in particular and the team in general, they must work on keeping the ball, not forcing it.
I think Denilson showed some class during the game – after Ruiz went in as the 3rd sub, Denilson spent the rest of the game by the stands, signing autographs for kids. Not quite the contribution we’d like to see, but I think it made a lot of kids happy.
I know this has nothing to do with the FCD game, but with RSL winning and TFC tying does that gice FCD the number two pick in the next draft?
from somebody who hasnt been able to follow for a while: wheres gbandi?
David, yes. FCD would have been the #1 pick in the Super Draft as TFC finished last overall, but the SJ expansion team will be picking first.
Nate, Gbandi has been benched since his last red card a few games ago.
The teams with the hardest working midfields win games and ultimately chapionships. Ours has been awful for two months but let’s hope they can come up with some big efforts in these next few games.