Atlas victory a tale of two K.C. squads
Lineup for friendlies, Open Cup games gives starters relief
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"Our guys have played enormous minutes," said Wizards coach Curt Onalfo. "We felt the best way to go about them was to stick with two clear teams for the most part."
It was the third game for the Wizards in four days. The stretch began Tuesday with a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal in Seattle, where the Wizards lost on penalty kicks after a scoreless draw through 120 minutes. Then came Thursday's league game against New York, a 2-1 Kansas City win. The Open Cup loss to the Sounders featured a nearly identical lineup. The only difference was that forward Michael Kraus was not in the starting lineup. Kraus scored the winning goal against Atlas in the 91st minute.
"There was a handball and I think I was the only one on the field who knew the handball was on," Kraus said. "Everyone on their team was kind of confused about it.
"The first half we had a number of set pieces and we just thought we needed to improve the ball," he continued. "It turned out that we got a quick set piece and we was able to catch them off guard and capitalize on it."
Kraus' quick thinking led to eye contact with Pizarro -- who had replaced him in the starting lineup. Kraus sent the quick free kick to Pizarro. They found an opening in the defense and quickly Kraus was there to finish the play on Pizarro's rebound.
Pizarro put the Wizards in front in the 37th minute on a textbook goal after defender Jonathan Leathers made a crisp square pass. It was old school soccer, a play from the wing to the middle.
"Our team was passing well and somehow they got to Jon Leathers and he took off down the line," Pizarro said. "He was able to beat one guy and another defender came in, the center back. He crossed it back to me and I stopped with my right. And I turned and I sharpened it up."
The Wizards looked sharp in their second match in two days. Of course, one could argue that there were two teams operating in the same blue uniforms.
"We said from the beginning, we have a deep roster," Onalfo said.
There was little argument to that fact with the win against the Mexican Primera Division side. A young, relatively inexperienced team took on Atlas and came away with a victory.
"It was a great opportunity for our young players to play against experienced players with a lot of savvy," Onalfo said.
Thomas Foote is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
