With both teams desperate points in their respective playoff races, neither Real Salt Lake nor the Kansas City Wizards ended up with what they were looking for, playing to a 3-3 draw Saturday night at Arrowhead Stadium.
Real grabbed their share of the points thanks to a late goal from Jason Kreis. After Josh Wolff gave the Wizards an early lead, Atiba Harris scored twice late in the first half to give Real a halftime lead. But Scott Sealy and Jose Burciaga Jr. scored nine minutes apart to give the Wizards a second-half lead and set the stage for Kreis.
The Wizards put together a great combination to open the scoring on the first shot of the match. Davy Arnaud threaded through the Real defense in the center of the field, before sliding a perfectly weighted through ball into the penalty area for Wolff. He ran onto it and blasted the ball first time past RSL goalkeeper Scott Garlick.
The Wizards owned much of the opening half hour, but RSL evened the score in the 35th minute on a header from Harris. Chris Klein sent in a cross from the right side of the penalty area and Harris drove a textbook header past Wizards 'keeper Bo Oshoniyi.
Harris then put Real into the lead in the 44th minute. Wizards defenders Jimmy Conrad and Ryan Raybould both tried to head away a high ball floated into the K.C. penalty area. Conrad wasn't able to knock the ball far enough away to clear it, and Harris came running on to side foot the ball inside the far post.
But the Wizards were able to pull level in the 54th minute. Arnaud successfully navigated the ball through the RSL defense to Wolff. Wolff quickly fed the ball to forward Scott Sealy with a flick of his foot, and the Trinidadian found the near corner of the net with a low shot that banged against the base of the goal.
Wolff then set up the Wizards' third for his second assist of the match, getting the ball to Dave van den Bergh on the left flank. Van den Bergh laid the ball back for Burciaga, who cut to his left to elude the RSL defense before hooking a curling shot inside the far post for a 3-2 Wizards lead in the 63rd minute.
But Real earned the tie when Kreis rose up to meet a Chris Klein cross, but headed the ball off the near post. Yet he was quickest to the rebound and tapped it home past a fallen Oshoniyi in the 81st minute to provide the tying goal.
With the tie and Colorado's loss in New England, Real are now two points out of fourth place in the Western Conference with two games left to play. The Wizards are now tied with the New York Red Bulls for fourth place in the Eastern Conference, after New York's 1-0 win against the Chicago Fire earlier on Saturday.
Thomas Foote is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
