The Kansas City Wizards, playing without four regular starters, kept first place in their sights after an exciting, four-goal performance on the road in New England. Forward Eddie Johnson scored three world-class goals and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made four well-timed saves to secure three points for the Wizards in an extremely tough environment. The Revolution had outscored opponents 7-1 in two previous matches at Gillette Stadium in 2007 and had not lost in its previous nine home games dating back to last year. Defenders Jimmy Conrad, Nick Garcia, Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. and forward Scott Sealy all sat out due to injury.
Kansas City and New England wasted no time displaying their offensive prowess, combining for five goals in the action-packed first half.
New England opened the scoring in the 11th minute after a long run of Kansas City possession. The Revolution countered quickly, eventually finding veteran winger Steve Ralston open in the right side of the Wizards penalty area. Ralston's initial shot was stopped by goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, but Ralston followed it up, collecting the ball calmly and taking a touch toward the center of the goal area before roofing the ball past defender Jack Jewsbury on the goal line.
In the 23rd minute, the Revs took a two-goal lead through MLS scoring leader Taylor Twellman. Twellman made a long run up the left flank, taking on two Wizards defenders. Twellman cut the ball toward the center of the pitch and fired with his right foot from 25 yards out. His shot hit defender Tyson Wahl and deflected past Hartman who had begun diving toward the back post.
Kansas City answered immediately, pulling one back through midfielder Davy Arnaud just two minutes later. Midfielder Sasha Victorine played a perfectly-weighted pass to the chest of Arnaud who controlled the ball down and one-touched it past an onrushing Matt Reis to bring the Wizards within one.
Just one minute later, Kansas City's leading scorer made his first contribution of the night. Defender Jack Jewsbury played a long ball ahead to forward Eddie Johnson. Johnson took a quick touch around his man and found himself immediately into the penalty area. Johnson picked out his spot inside the far post and fired a low ball with his right foot past Reis to level the match 2-2.
Johnson was far from finished on the night. In the 38th minute, he collected a long ball from Davy Arnaud just inside the Revolution penalty area. Johnson held the ball up and worked toward the center of the area before firing a right-footed shot across his body that wrong-footed Reis and found the back of the net for a 3-2 Kansas City lead.
The Wizards took a 3-2 lead to halftime for the second time this season after controlling the run of play for much of the first half, but the score line would not hold up.
Both defenses seemed to settle down after the half, with the first significant scoring chance coming off the foot of forward Ryan Pore in the 51st minute. Pore found himself open inside the Revolution penalty area to the right of the goal. Pore stutter-stepped around a defender then fired a shot on goal that was deflected away by Reis at the near post.
The Revolution had a good opportunity in the 60th minute on a free kick 23 yards from goal. Veteran winger Ralston took the shot, his right-footed effort banging off the cross bar and back into play. Revolution defender Jay Heaps dove to head the ball, but his effort went high and over the bar.
Johnson and midfielder Carlos Marinelli almost connected in the 62nd minute. Hartman collected a ball in his penalty area and immediately found Marinelli streaking through the midfield. Marinelli took two quick touches before playing the ball ahead through a seem in the New England defense for Johnson. Johnson carried the ball toward the goal, attempting to round Reis on the goal line, but Reis knocked the ball off Johnson and out of play.
In the 69th minute, the Revolution pulled level through a penalty kick. Midfielder Shalrie Joseph raced to the end line before pulling the ball back to cross. His attempted cross hit the hand of Jewsbury two feet inside the area. Joseph stepped to the spot and sent Hartman the other way for the Revolution's third goal.
The up-and-down game had not seen its last tally, however, as Marinelli and Johnson connected once more for Johnson's first-career MLS hat trick and the game-winning goal eight minutes from the end.
Marinelli collected the ball in midfield and again threaded the needle with a perfectly-timed pass for Johnson. This time, Johnson took the ball at full stride and rounded Reis cleanly, slotting the ball home into the open net for his third on the night and his sixth on the year. It was Marinelli's first career MLS assist and the fourth game-winning goal of 2007 for Johnson.
Thanks to Hartman, Johnson's goal eventually held up. In the 84th minute, Twellman found himself alone in the penalty area after a restart taken by Ralston. Twellman took a shot that appeared destined for the back of the net, but Hartman extended his left hand at the last moment to deflect the ball over the bar at full extension and deny a bewildered Twellman.
The Wizards Reserve squad takes on the New England Reserves Sunday at 9:30 a.m. CT at Gillette. Kansas City is 1-1-1 in reserve division play so far in 2007.
Kansas City's next match comes Saturday, June 2 against another strong Eastern Conference opponent. The Wizards take on the New York Red Bulls at 7 p.m. at Arrowhead Stadium in a match-up featuring two of the top offensive teams in all of MLS. Kansas City will enter the match one point behind both New York and New England who are now tied atop the standings with 17 points. The Red Bulls defeated the Chicago Fire 3-0 Thursday to move into a first-place tie with the Revolution.
Wizards Notables
The match was part of an international double header. Prior to the MLS game, Ireland and Bolivia played to a 1-1 draw in an international friendly. Shane Long scored for Ireland in the 13th minute. Miguel Hoyos answered for Bolivia one minute later.
Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman broke another tie with former Wizards goalkeeper Tony Meola, moving into first place on the MLS all-time games played in goal list. Hartman has now played in 251 matches as a goalkeeper. April 25, Hartman moved past Meola into first place on the MLS all-time shutout list with a 3-0 victory over Toronto FC. Hartman now has 65 career shutouts. Meola retired after recording 62 clean sheets and playing in 250 matches.
Midfielder Kerry Zavagnin wore the captain band for the second time in 2007 due to the injury of defender Jimmy Conrad. Zavagnin, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and midfielder/forward Davy Arnaud are the only players to have played all 720 minutes for the Wizards this year.
Wizards attacking midfielder Kurt Morsink made his first MLS start Saturday. He had played in four matches previously and started all three of the Wizards reserve matches in 2007. Morsink joined the Wizards in the off-season from James Madison University after being drafted in the 4th round of the MLS SuperDraft.
Kansas City defender Tyson Wahl made his first start of 2007, filling in with rookie Aaron Hohlbein for injured center backs Nick Garcia and Jimmy Conrad. Wahl started six games last year as a rookie while Conrad recovered from a broken jaw.
Forward Ryan Pore made his first start of 2007. He had started eight games entering the third year of his MLS career. Pore has played well in reserve division play this season, leading the Wizards with three reserve division goals. He is tied for the MLS Reserve Division lead.
Rookie forward Willy Guadarrama made his first appearance in the 18-man roster. Guadarrama was drafted with the final pick in the 4th round of the 2007 MLS Supplemental draft. He was the last player selected in the MLS draft process.
New England had only allowed one goal at home through two MLS matches. The Wizards tallied three in the first half and four total Saturday.
Saturday marked the second time in 2007 the Wizards held a 3-2 halftime lead, both coming on the road. In the season opener, the Wizards led D.C. United 3-2 at half prior to winning 4-2.
After scoring only one goal in each of the last four games, the Wizards exploded for three goals in the first half and four total on their way to defeating the Revolution 4-3.
Coming into today, MLS teams were 32-3-9 when scoring the first goal and no team had come back from a two-goal deficit to win. The Wizards bucked both trends.
The Wizards have now faced a league-high three penalty kicks in 2007. All three have come on the road. The opposing team has converted all three penalty kicks this year.
Eddie Johnson became just the fourth player in Wizards history to record a hat trick. Teammate Davy Arnaud, Preki and Vitalis "Digital" Takawira have the previous three.
It was Johnson's first-career MLS hat trick but not his first in major competition. On October 14, 2004, Johnson entered at halftime for the United States in a World Cup Qualifier against Panama. Johnson scored three second-half goals to become the only United States International ever to score three goals after entering as a substitute.
Johnson now has four game-winning goals in 2007 to lead MLS. Johnson moved into a tie with teammate Davy Arnaud for tenth all-time in game-winning goals for the Wizards with four.
Johnson now ranks second in MLS with six goals. He trails only Taylor Twellman of New England who sits on seven after his first-half goal against the Wizards. Both players have been selected by United States Head Coach Bob Bradley to compete in the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Midfielder Carlos Marinelli recorded his first assist for the Wizards, setting up Johnson's game-winning goal with a brilliant through ball in the 82nd minute.
Jewsbury and Marinelli each recorded their first assist of the season. Nine different Wizards have now registered assists in 2007.
Davy Arnaud has now recorded either a goal or an assist in three straight matches. He scored the game-tying goal last Saturday against Colorado in a 1-1 road draw and assisted on Michael Harrington's 90th minute goal against FC Dallas May 12.
The Wizards have three game-winning goals after the 75th minute this year. Johnson scored in the 81st minute April 28 as the Wizards defeated Toronto FC 1-0 in the first-ever match at BMO Field. Defender Jose Luis Buciaga Jr. broke a 0-0 tie in the 90th minute May 5 to defeat the Columbus Crew at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kansas City has now scored four goals twice in 2007. They have only allowed opponents to score two or more goals four times. Saturday marked the first time the Wizards allowed three goals in a game.
