The Kansas City Wizards and Chivas USA put on a second dramatic performance in as many meetings this season Saturday at The Home Depot Center.
In their first encounter at Arrowhead Stadium on July 29, Chivas outplayed the Wizards only to see the hosts steal a win with a goal one minute from the final whistle.
This time, it was the Wizards who controlled the match for long stretches before being sent home pointless after Ante Razov buried a long-range shot in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to give Chivas a 2-1 victory.
"They outplayed us at home last time and we won in the last minute," said Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad. "Tonight, we outplayed them here and they got the result in the last minute. I guess we're even and I look forward to facing them in the playoffs."
Chivas, however, are the only ones secured of a playoff spot with the result. The Wizards remain in seventh place in the overall standings with only four regular season matches remaining.
And, with the playoffs looming, the late loss left Wizards coach Curt Onalfo disappointed.
"I'm very disappointed that we didn't walk out of here with at least a point," he said. "We created numerous chances and, overall, we had a good performance. It's extremely disheartening to walk out of here losing 2-1."
It looked like the Wizards would hold true to their come-from-behind style late in the match.
Chivas took a 1-0 lead in the 69th minute when Razov slammed home a Francisco Mendoza cross from inside the penalty area.
Only three minutes later, though, the Wizards responded when substitute Eloy Colombano knocked in a loose ball that had clanged off the crossbar from an Eddie Johnson shot. The goal was the Argentinean's first of his MLS career.
"Colombano can provide an excellent spark for us off the bench," Onalfo said of the striker who entered the match after Ryan Pore left with an injury midway through the first half. "He was one of the few players always looking to get in behind the defense and that's a good thing."
Colombano nearly scored the go-ahead goal with five minutes remaining but his shot sailed over the crossbar.
Minutes later, Razov would produce dramatics.
In the second minute of stoppage time, the veteran forward collected a pass from Lawson Vaughn and, from 22 yards out, hit a shot with his trademark left foot into the upper left corner of the goal past the outstretched arms of Hartman. The goal was Razov's 109th of his career, putting him in sole possession of second place atop the league's all-time goal scorers.
"Ante is a goal scorer," Conrad said. "He was pretty quiet, didn't touch the ball too much but then he gets two goals. He's one of the all-time leading scorers for a reason."
Added Hartman: "You can't really give Ante that much time to line up a shot from there."
With the Wizards sitting in seventh place overall, things are shaping up for a close finish as the playoffs approach. The Wizards now sit two points behind sixth-place New York, while they are five points in front of the eighth-place Chicago, ahead of the Fire's home game Sunday against D.C. United.
"We're not happy about where we're at," said Conrad of their playoff position. "It's clear that we have a lot of talent, if you look at our team on paper we should be a lot farther ahead than we are but for some reason we like to make it dramatic down the stretch. The last two years we've made it really dramatic and didn't get into the playoffs but this year I hope we don't put ourselves in that position."
If and when the Wizards do clinch a playoff berth, Hartman believes that they will present a challenge to anyone they face.
"I don't think anyone really wants to play us in the playoffs because we can play with anybody," the veteran goalkeeper said. "But first we have to take this lesson and continue to grow and hopefully make a playoff run."
