The Kansas City Wizards utilized a second half goal from Davy Arnaud to come back from a first half deficit to earn a 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The toll of the draw, however, particularly on their back line, could have significant implications for their continuing battle with New England and New York for the top position in the Eastern Conference.
The Wizards capitalized on a particularly strong defensive performance to neutralize the Rapids center of attack. Although the Rapids, as is their preferred strategy on their wide home field, attacked frequently on the wings, the Wizards were able to neutralize forwards Herculez Gomez and Roberto Brown for most of the game.
"I think we gave [Terry] Cooke a little too much room to do his thing on the wing," said K.C. center back Nick Garcia. "Before the game we wanted to go out there and nullify his ability to cross the ball and in that regard we could have done a better job in pushing up on him. I thought we handled the guys up top pretty well. On the whole I think we did a pretty good job."
Wizards captain Jimmy Conrad agreed. "Cooke doesn't have to always have to hit the greatest ball, he just has to put it in the right spot, and it causes all kinds of dangerous moments," he said. "At the end, when the game opened up, they started to create some chances, but overall I think we came in and played one of our best games in Colorado in a long time."
The strong defensive performance came at a cost, however, as both Conrad and Garcia picked up knocks that could see them miss the impending clash with the New England Revolution next weekend.
Garcia received treatment on the sideline at a few points in the game for an abdominal strain, but did not come out, while Conrad left the game at halftime.
"The hamstring is sore," said Conrad. "It was just a little twinge. I was trying to be a hero, which probably made it worse. I don't get these injuries often, which makes it difficult to know when to pull the trigger. I wanted to try to make it to halftime, which made it worse. I have a hero complex and we'll see how long it puts me out."
As for Garcia, he was a little more optimistic in his prognosis.
"There was a play there where I passed the ball back to Kevin Hartman -- it was a bit of a hot potato and after I played it with my left foot I felt a bit of a high abdomen strain," said Garcia. "It doesn't feel feel like a hernia, just a high strain, so we're going to get it checked out."
Kansas City has not had much recent success playing in Colorado. Since 2002, they have one win and one tie in games played against the Rapids. In that light, their 1-1 tie Saturday night seems much more significant then the scoreline would suggest.
"You can't look at the results, you need to look at our performance over 90 minutes," said Wizards coach Curt Onalfo. "I felt today it was a pretty good performance. We just need to get better every day, we need to stay healthy, and you have to have a little bit of luck. I'm pleased with where we are."
Geoffrey Urland is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
