On a wet night in the nation's capital, the Kansas City Wizards got their 2007 campaign off to a lightning-quick start as Eddie Johnson notched two assists and a goal and strike partner Scott Sealy added a goal and an assist en route to a decisive 4-2 victory against D.C. United at RFK Stadium.
There was no shortage of action in the early going, with five goals in the first half, including three in the opening 11 minutes.
Wizards rookie winger Michael Harrington opened the scoring only three minutes in when he slipped behind United defender Facundo Erpen and collected a pass from Johnson. Erpen lost his footing, Harrington carried the ball deep into the penalty area, cutting in from the goal line, and placed a hard shot from close range inside the near post. Harrington's goal was the fastest in MLS history for a player making his league debut.
Five minutes later, Sealy played a cross from the left side into Johnson, who was waiting deep inside the box. Johnson settled and took a touch near the penalty spot and turned ominously, but instead of shooting, waited for Sasha Victorine's well-timed run. Johnson slotted the ball off to his overlapping teammate, who hammered it home from close range.
In the 11th minute, however, Erpen made amends for his early misstep with an accurate deep ball to Brazilian newcomer Luciano Emilio, who was surprisingly wide open at the top of the box. Emilio took a deft touch with his right foot and calmly put the ball to the left of a diving Kevin Hartman, halving the Wizards' lead with his second MLS goal.
The Wizards mustered a few chances of their own in the game's next 20 minutes. A cross from the right side in the 19th minute got through to the ever-dangerous Sealy, who settled at the top of the box. The Trinidad & Tobago international ripped a low line drive on goal but Troy Perkins was in position to make the save for D.C.
The steady drizzle at RFK Stadium factored in prominently again when the reigning league MVP took matters into his own hands in the 34th minute. Victorine earned a yellow card from referee Jozef Batko for a foul as United's Christian Gomez sliced through the Wizards defense. Gomez drilled the resulting free kick from 23 yards out; Hartman dove and batted the ball down but couldn't keep it from continuing its trajectory into the back of the net to draw the Black-and-Red even.
The goal spurred the United faithful into life, but sloppy play was the norm for the remainder of the first half, with fouls aplenty, one intercepted pass after another and countless bodies hitting the turf.
Yet just before the halftime whistle, Johnson capped a stellar first half and helped Kansas City reclaim the lead with his 27th career goal. He opportunistically collected a routine pass out of the United backline that was deflected in his direction and simply outran center back Bobby Boswell to goal. An onrushing Perkins was unable to cut off Johnson's advantageous angle, and the U.S. international calmly tucked it home.
Less than 10 minutes into the second half, the visitors picked up right where they left off. Victorine played a long ball forward to a streaking Johnson, whose shot on goal was turned away by Perkins but directly into the path of Sealy. He put the rebound into a wide-open goal to once again restore the edge to two.
K.C.'s pressure was relentless following Sealy's goal. Five minutes later, a Harrington cross from the left side was headed down on goal by an airborne Davy Arnaud, but Perkins made an impressive sprawling point-blank save.
The home side wasn't ready to roll over just yet, controlling the run of play for most of the second half. In the 63rd minute, a scramble at the top of the box culminated in a violent right-footed rip by Gomez which Hartman did well to fist away as he fell to his right. A sequence of quick passes in the 70th minute resulted in an ambitious Emilio try from 20 yards out, but it sailed high.
Tense moments for Wizards fans ensued four minutes later when Johnson was shaken up upon rising to meet a high ball and catching an inadvertent elbow from Devon McTavish. After a brief stint on the sidelines, though, the youngster stepped back onto the field.
New Wizards coach Curt Onalfo, making his debut in a locale he recently called home and in a stadium where he once played, gave his two star forwards a well-deserved rest in the game's final minutes. Shortly thereafter, he was able to celebrate a first professional victory as a coach.
Omar Garriott is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
