the first of three penalty kick attempts to beat Crew 'keeper William Hesmer this season.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-1-3-1-1): William Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall, Danny O'Rourke, Ezra Hendrickson - Brian Carroll - Robbie Rogers, Adam Moffat (Emmanuel Ekpo 54), Eddie Gaven (Brad Evans 73) - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Alejandro Moreno (Nicolas Hernandez 86). Substitutes Not Used: Jason Garey, Andy Gruenebaum, Andy Iro, Stefani Miglioranzi
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-3-1-2): Kevin Hartman - Chance Myers, Jimmy Conrad, Tyson Wahl, Michael Harrington - Eloy Colombano (Ryan Pore 74), Jack Jewsbury, Roger Espinoza - Kurt Morsink (Carlos Marinelli 61) - Ivan Trujillo (Scott Sealy 46), Claudio Lopez. Substitutes Not Used: Aaron Hohlbein, Eric Kronberg, Sasha Victorine, Kerry Zavagnin
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards finally saw their long road odyssey come to an end, playing to a scoreless draw with Real Salt Lake at Rice-Eccles Stadium last Saturday. The Wizards are in the throes of a five-game winless run, now in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 12 points from 10 matches, a point behind D.C. United.
LAST MATCH
• Real Salt Lake were at home for the second week in a row, after a 3-1 win against San Jose that kept them undefeated on the Wasatch Front. The Wizards were playing the last of their six consecutive matches on the road, with three losses and a draw in their last four outings.
• Real had the advantage in play, recording 19 shots in all and putting seven on target, but getting nothing past Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman.
• The Wizards nearly grabbed a vital early goal on the road, but Davy Arnaud saw his blast strike the underside of the crossbar and bound away to safety after just seven minutes.
• Kansas City head coach Curt Onalfo made five changes to the team that lost 3-1 to the Los Angeles Galaxy two weeks before. Jonathan Leathers and Aaron Hohlbein came into the back four, for Chance Myers and Tyson Wahl. Ivan Trujillo was preferred to Scott Sealy in attack, and Ryan Pore and Kerry Zavagnin came in for Sasha Victorine and Carlos Marinelli in a rebuilt midfield.
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Jonathan Leathers, Jimmy Conrad, Aaron Hohlbein, Michael Harrington - Davy Arnaud, Jack Jewsbury (Kurt Morsink 56), Kerry Zavagnin, Ryan Pore (Carlos Marinelli 76) - Ivan Trujillo (Sasha Victorine 46), Claudio Lopez. Substitutes Not Used: Eloy Colombano, Eric Kronberg, Chance Myers, Tyson Wahl
• "I thought our team competed very well. They were a little tired, having played a lot of minutes on Wednesday in a game we put a lot into," Onalfo said. "I thought Kevin Hartman had a great game in goal. I thought we played well for the first 30 minutes; the last 15 [minutes of the first half] we really didn't have the energy to compete with them, and the second half was pretty much even."
TEAM NEWS
• After the Open Cup match at midweek, on the road for a sixth consecutive match and playing at altitude, the Wizards were hoping to get an early goal and then ride out the advantage.
• "We came out and really pressed them, and we were hoping to try and get a goal early; that was our game plan. When you put that kind of energy on the road, we didn't decide to sit back we tried to press them, you expend energy," said Onalfo. The hope is that you get a goal and all of the sudden you can drop off and look to counter a little bit. But, we weren't able to score a goal, and they started to get part of the game. And they should, they're playing at home."
• Over the final hour of the match, Hartman came up with seven saves to backstop his team to the result. "He's been doing it all year. He's always been making key saves for us, being in the right spot at the right time, and that's why we pay him the big bucks," said defender Jimmy Conrad. "This is just another example of him keeping us in the game and making the saves that we expect him to make. He's a good goalkeeper and I expect nothing less from him."
• Said Hartman: "I thought our guys battled well tonight. We were able to get a shutout, so hopefully that helps our confidence defensively a little bit. We have to continue to try to be more effective offensively, and get more chances. We were able to keep our shape in the second half, and they were not necessarily able to get as many chances as they did in the first half."
• Onalfo changed his formation some for the RSL match, playing with two deeper-lying central midfielders with the wide midfielders advanced more. Davy Arnaud was able to make his first start of the year at one wide role, while Kerry Zavagnin returned to the lineup for the first time in four games.
• "As we move forward I think it is a real positive that Davy Arnaud gets some more minutes. We are trying to work him back into playing fitness through playing games so we can get him up to speed. As we continue to progress, we will continue to get better," Onalfo said.
• Onalfo then gave his team many different looks over the final 45 minutes, bringing on Sasha Victorine to start the half as Arnaud moved up top, and bringing on Kurt Morsink and Carlos Marinelli with 34 and 15 minutes left, respectively.
• "Sasha Victorine and Carlos [Marinelli] have struggled a lot with groin injuries; getting them back to health is good, but we need to get them some good training before they can really be able to contribute for more than 45 minutes or so," Onalfo said.
• It's now a return home for the Wizards, who last played a league home match on April 12. "We always want more points, but we have to keep things in perspective. It was a six-game road swing. If we had won tonight we would have got seven points from six road games, which is not the worst thing in the world. Fortunately we were able to come out with five points," said Hartman.
COLUMBUS CREW
The Columbus Crew saw their winless run continue and goalless streak reach record proportions, falling 2-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday evening at Crew Stadium. The Crew have 19 points from 11 matches and still sit tied for second in the Eastern Conference, level with the Chicago Fire, now four points behind the New England Revolution.
LAST MATCH
• The Crew were coming into the game off a draw and two losses in their last three games -- all shutouts -- after reeling off five wins in a row, while the Earthquakes had won just twice on the season, fewest wins of any club in the league.
• Yet it was the visitors who took the lead after just 10 minutes. Ronnie O'Brien tracked down a loose ball near the right touchline and swung in a high cross, where Ryan Johnson headed home for his second goal on the season.
• The Quakes doubled the lead on the hour mark. Again it was O'Brien providing the service, this time from a freekick in the right corner, and Ramiro Corrales rose up unmarked to snap home a header for his second goal on the campaign.
• Both teams were left a man short over the final 10 minutes as the Crew's Brad Evans was sent off with a straight red and San Jose's James Riley was expelled after a second bookable offense, but the Earthquakes held out for their victory in 14 all-time trips to the Ohio state capital. The Crew now have not scored in 367 minutes, the third-longest streak in club history, but the first time ever they've been shut out in four consecutive complete matches.
• Crew head coach Sigi Schmid made two changes to the team that lost 2-0 to Chivas USA the previous weekend. Jed Zayner came into the back four in place of the suspended Danny O'Rourke, and Emmanuel Ekpo started in place on Eddie Gaven on the flank.
• Here's Schmid's team (4-1-3-1-1): William Hesmer - Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall (Andy Iro 27), Jed Zayner, Ezra Hendrickson (Ryan Junge 44) - Brian Carroll - Emmanuel Ekpo (Eddie Gaven 73), Brad Evans, Robbie Rogers - Guillermo Barros Schelotto - Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Cory Elenio, Steven Lenhart, Duncan Oughton, Kenny Schoeni
• "Obviously, we had chances," said Columbus coach Sigi Schmid. "So we're not catching any breaks. I can't say we're not getting the ball into the attacking end or we're not creating chances. I think we are creating chances, but we are not catching a break when we give up two soft goals."
TEAM NEWS
• The biggest issues Schmid had to deal with over the first 45 minutes were in his back four. Columbus started the night with Jed Zayner in the backline replacing the suspended Danny O'Rourke. Then Chad Marshall was forced to leave the game with a neck injury and Schmid brought on Andy Iro, the Crew's first-round pick in the 2008 SuperDraft.
• Ezra Hendrickson was next to go down, leaving the contest just before halftime, and Schmid brought on Ryan Junge, the lone defender still available for the match. At the end of the night Frankie Hejduk was the only Crew player with really any MLS experience in the back four.
• Iro had all of three minutes of experience coming into the game, making three late substitute appearances before playing more than an hour against San Jose. Junge had not played a single minute with the first team this year, while Zayner had seen nine minutes, in one substitute outing, entering the match.
• "I thought that Zayner played well. He got off to a fast start and I thought that he played well. I thought Iro did well coming in," said Schmid. "It's like we said, we have confidence in them. The issue is not that we have to use young defenders. It was that we had to sub them in. So it restricted what we could do on substitutions. I thought those guys did well. When I look at the flow of the game, there is not a lot where I can say San Jose created a lot."
• On Tuesday night, the Crew were bounced from the U.S. Open Cup, falling 3-2 in extra time to the Chicago Fire in the final MLS qualifying match at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. Stephen King gave the Fire a 10th-minute lead, but Emmanuel Ekpo equalized in the 63rd minute. Andy Herron scored two minutes later, but Jason Garey again brought Columbus level in the 67th minute.
• In the 116th minute, Crew goalkeeper William Hesmer tripped up Herron in the area, and the Costa Rican converted from the spot to send the Fire into the third round (round-of-16) in the 95-year-old competition.
• Here's Schmid's team: William Hesmer, Ryan Junge, Andy Iro, Danny O'Rourke, Jed Zayner (Andrew Peterson 95), Emmanuel Ekpo, Eddie Gaven (Duncan Oughton 75), Brian Carroll, Brad Evans (Robbie Rogers 56), Steven Lenhart (Jason Garey 66), Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Nicolas Hernandez, Kenny Schoeni
• "We showed some fight and we never quit. We kept fighting to find a way back into the game," Crew forward Alejandro Moreno said. "I thought we were going to go to penalty kicks but they got that late goal. It's a tough way to lose. You play 120 minutes and have nothing to show for it."
• Garey and Oughton had been limited only to reserve team duty this season because of injury; each has yet to play in a league match. But there could be an injury situation after the match: midfielder Eddie Gaven was carted off in the 75th minute with an ankle injury. Schmid is unsure how long he will be out.
• As well, Adam Moffat will be lost for the season after undergoing surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. "It's definitely gut-check time going into Kansas City. We're pretty banged up," Schmid said.
