Ten-man Wizards hand Rapids first loss
A red card to left back Jose Burciaga Jr at the end of the first half reduced the Wizards to 10 men after a dominating first-half performance. But the home team adjusted in the second half, containing the Rapids and scoring two goals on its only three shots of the second half.
Goalkeeper Tony Meola recorded his MLS-leading 51st career shutout in the process, as he and the Wizards' back line has allowed just one goal in four regular season matches to start the 2004 season.
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Still, the 10-man Kansas City squad shut down a punchless Rapids side before finding the back of the net in the 63rd minute. A long ball from the back found a streaking Davy Arnaud down the right side, who attracted several defenders and played a square ball to Klein at the top of the box, who blasted a first-time shot which deflected off defender Ritchie Kotschau and rolled past Rapids goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
With seven minutes remaining the Wizards sealed the match on a goal created by an enterprising run from Gutierrez, who moved to left back at the start of the second half. The veteran defender advanced 50 yards on a spectacular solo run down the left flank, beating several Rapids players before toward an unmarked Wolff. The U.S. international forward calmly advanced into the box and drew Cannon off his line before beating him at the near right post with his shot.
The Rapids, who were without injured captain and forward John Spencer, were unable to gain a rhythm to their game and had trouble stringing passes together, especially in the final third of the field. Despite holding most of the second-half possession, the only real scoring threat produced by Colorado came on a 25-yard shot by second-half substitute Seth Trembly which was blocked by Meola.
The Wizards controlled first-half action and they outshot the visiting Rapids 8-1 with Meola not having to make a save in the opening 45 minutes. The best chance of the first half fell to Arnaud in the 22nd minute, but his header off a Diego Walsh cross was right at Cannon.
But the match could have changed when Burciaga was sent off after making his first MLS start almost a year to the day since he tore an ACL on May 3, 2003. He replaced Nick Garcia in the Wizards back line, who was out with an inflammation in his right foot.
The Rapids had some injury issues of their own aside from Spencer, with Darryl Powell and Zizi Roberts also out. Spencer's absence meant that central defender Pablo Mastroeni wore the captain's armband and regular right-sided midfielder Chris Henderson moved to a withdrawn forward role behind lone striker Jean Philippe Peguero to start the match. Zach Kingsley assumed Henderson's place on the right flank for his first start of the season.
The Rapids return to action in a rare Friday night home match on Friday when they host the New England Revolution at 9:30 p.m. ET. On Saturday the Wizards welcome the Chicago Fire for an 8:30 p.m. ET matchup.
MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Chris Klein (Kansas City Wizards)
Scoring Summary:
KC -- Chris Klein 1 (Davy Arnaud 1) 64
KC -- Josh Wolff 1 (Diego Gutierrez 1) 84
Colorado Rapids -- Joe Cannon, Matt Crawford, Nat Borchers, Pablo Mastroeni, Ritchie Kotschau, Zach Kingsley (David Castellanos 44), Kyle Beckerman, Antonio de la Torre (Seth Trembly 69), Mark Chung, Chris Henderson, Jean Philippe Peguero (Jordan Cila 77).
Substitutes Not Used: Adrian Cann, Scott Vallow.
TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Chris Henderson 2, Jean Philippe Peguero 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Chris Henderson 1, Seth Trembly 1); FOULS: 12 (Kyle Beckerman 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 8 (Antonio de la Torre 5); SAVES: 4 (Joe Cannon 4)
Kansas City Wizards -- Tony Meola, Alex Zotinca, Jimmy Conrad, Shavar Thomas, Jose Burciaga Jr., Diego Walsh (Matt Taylor 46), Diego Gutierrez, Kerry Zavagnin, Chris Klein, Davy Arnaud, Josh Wolff (Taylor Graham 89).
Substitutes Not Used: Justin Detter, Francisco Gomez, Will Hesmer, Jack Jewsbury, Bo Oshoniyi, Vuk Rasovic.
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Chris Klein 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Chris Klein 2); FOULS: 9 (Davy Arnaud 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3 (Chris Klein 3); SAVES: 2 (Tony Meola 2)
Misconduct Summary:
KC -- Jose Burciaga Jr. (ejection; Serious Foul Play) 45
COL -- Antonio de la Torre (caution; Professional Foul) 58
COL -- David Castellanos (caution; Reckless Foul) 67
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee's Assistants: -Thomas Supple; Bahij Salman
4th Official: Ricardo Salazar
Attendance: 27,969
Time of Game: 2:18
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-58-degrees
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
