The Kansas City Wizards stretched their unbeaten streak to six games Sunday in a 0-0 tie against the Chicago Fire in front of the Wizards 4th sellout crowd of the season. Goalkeepers Kevin Hartman of Kansas City and Jon Busch of Chicago each turned in excellent efforts, making 5 and 8 saves, respectively. Former open tryout participant Nelson Pizarro made his MLS debut for Kansas City, entering in the 80th minute for defender Aaron Hohlbein and playing in midfield as the Wizards pressed numbers forward into the attack.
Wizards goalkeeper Hartman made his first strong save of the night in the 14th minute to deny a long-range blast from Fire forward Chris Rolfe. Rolfe collected a loose ball in midfield, dribbled toward goal and unleashed a right-footed effort from 25 yards out. Hartman extended fully to push the shot destined for the upper-right corner wide of goal to keep the score sheet clean.
In the 34th minute, Kansas City threatened through quick combination play out of midfield. Central midfielder Sasha Victorine lofted the ball down the right wing for Davy Arnaud running toward the end line. Arnaud cut the ball back and held off a defender while picking out striker Josh Wolff running toward goal. Wolff received a quick pass from Arnaud, but Busch covered his redirect effort at the near post.
Rookie midfielder Roger Espinoza nearly scored his 2nd goal in the last two matches in the 52nd minute after a bit of fancy footwork. Espinoza brought the ball down after a full switch from Arnaud and neatly cut his defender twice before lofting a chip toward the upper corner of the goal at the back post. Busch stumbled backward but was able to tip the ball off the cross bar and out of bounds for a corner kick.
Kansas City continued to push forward through the remainder of the game, brining on three offensive-minded players in the game's final 10 minutes. Pizarro entered for defender Aaron Hohlbein in the 80th minute, playing wide right in midfield. Kansas City switched to a 3-4-3 at the time, with Arnaud assuming a role alongside Wolff and Designated Player Claudio Lopez up top. In the 84th minute, Kansas City subbed strikers Ryan Pore and Ivan Trujillo for Wolff and Lopez, respectively.
The moves almost paid off three minutes later when Pore dribbled aggressively toward goal and was brought down by a pair of Fire defenders. The ensuing free kick by Davy Arnaud deflected off the wall and clear, and the teams played out the remainder of the game in scoreless fashion. Kansas City and Chicago are now tied with Real Salt Lake for the MLS lead with seven shutouts on the year.
The Wizards travel to face D.C. United next Saturday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will be shown live in Kansas City on Metro Sports (English) and Time Warner Cable Channel 5 (Spanish). Watch parties will be held at Barley's Brewhaus in Shawnee and O'Dowd's Little Dublin at Zone Rosa in the Northland.
Notables:
• Following the match, Kansas City sits 5-5-7, 22 pts. in a tie for 4th place tie in the Eastern Conference with Toronto FC, the New York Red Bulls and D.C. United.
• The Wizards are now 9-19-5 all-time against the Fire, including a 7-6-4 mark at home.
• The Wizards are now 1-0-1 this season against Chicago.
• Kansas City is 2-0-4 in its last six matches and hasn't lost a home game since June 14.
• Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made five saves tonight for his MLS-best 7th shutout of the season.
• Hartman is tied with Chicago's Jon Busch and Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando for the League lead.
• Hartman now has 1089 career saves, trailing only former Wizards standout Tony Meola on the all-time MLS list.
• Meola retired with 1136 career saves, and Hartman is on pace to surpass Meola's mark this season.
• Hartman and defender Jimmy Conrad are the only Wizards to play all 1530 minutes so far this season.
• Forward Josh Wolff started his first game of the season at right midfielder. With Wolff's start, the Wizards have now started 21 different players in 2008.
• When Nelson Pizarro made his first-career appearance in the second half, the Wizards played their 22nd different player of the season.
• Pizarro is a first-year player, signed in April after first impressing Wizards brass at an open tryout held in February.
• Pizarro currently ranks second on the Wizards in Reserve Division goals with three in six matches.
• Kansas City recorded its 4th sellout in eight games so far in 2008.
• Fire midfielders Diego Gutierrez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco will miss Chicago's next match due to yellow-card accumulation.
