Kansas City 3, Chivas USA 2
By Robert Whitman
Aug. 9, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Once again, the Wizards created scoring chances at home but put some away Saturday in a 3-2 victory over Chivas USA.
The crowd of 9,597 saw plenty of goals and penalty of chances to score. The Wizards took a 3-0 lead after 58 minutes only to see Chivas USA score two goals in the final 16 minutes.
The victory lifted the Wizards to 25 points in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, level with both DC United and Tornoto FC for fourth place.
The game began with an attacking flurry from both sides.
Michael Harrington, moved up from left back to right midfield, was sprung into the attacking third by a Claudio Lopez pass in the second minute. Harrington ran into the penalty area and elected to return the ball to Lopez instead of shooting. But Lopez could not latch on to the return pass.
Chivas USA responded by creating three good chances in the third and fourth minutes. Roberto Nurse got behind the defense with a pass and Aaron Hohlbein had to save Nurse's shot off the line for a corner kick.
Jim Curtin headed former Wizard Carey Talley's corner on goal, but Wizards goalie Kevin Hartman made the save and caused another corner kick. On the ensuing corner, Shavar Thomas, another former Wizards, shot one foot over the bar.
In the sixth minute, Davy Arnaud shot from inside the penalty box with angle right that was parried by Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton. Sasha Victorine's follow shot was blocked by defender.
Arnaud had another shot in the 10th minute that squirted a foot wide of the left post.
Victorine scored from near the penalty spot in the 22nd minute when he headed in Lopez' cross from the left wing.
Lopez put the Wizards ahead by two goals in the 44th minute with his fourth goal of the season. Arnaud broke behind the defensive line on the right wing with Kerry Zavagnin's pass and crossed to Lopez, who slammed a left-footed shot into the net.
Arnaud gave Kansas City a three-goal lead in the 58th minute. Arnaud took Hohlbein's pass out of the back, outwitted Thornton and guided the ball into the net under pressure from a trailing defender.
Chivas USA pulled one goal back in the 74th minute on a penalty kick by Talley. Hartman fouled Atiba Harris in the penalty area about 15 yards from the goal.
The Wizards gave up a corner a little too easily in the 82nd minute and paid for it when Juston Braun headed in Talley's corner kick, a one-bouncer past Hartman.
The Wizards, though, held on to the one-goal lead and the three points.
Hartman had to save a shot from substitute Keith Savage in the 87th minute and a shot off the ensuing corner by Bobby Burling to preserve the points for Kansas City.
Then Braun got a shot again on Hartman in the 90th minute inside the goal box. But Hartman smothered it and the ball went out of play for a corner kick.