The Kansas City Wizards moved into sole possession of 1st place in the Eastern Conference Sunday with a 1-0 victory over the rival Chicago Fire. Midfielder Jack Jewsbury scored his 2nd goal of the season early in the match and has played a part in all three game-winning goals this season for the Wizards. Designated Player Claudio Lopez had the upper hand in his reunion with former teammate Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Chicago, as Lopez recorded his 1st career MLS assist on Jewsbury's game-winner.
Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman had an outstanding day to extend his career MLS records for wins (130) and shutouts (70). Hartman currently leads MLS this season in wins (3), shutouts (3) and holds the longest shutout streak of the season, currently at 230 minutes. Hartman made five excellent saves and was quick off his line throughout the evening to keep his 2nd consecutive clean sheet.
Kansas City opened the scoring in the 4th minute through the brilliance of Argentine forward Claudio Lopez. Lopez dropped deep into the midfield, combining with defender Michael Harrington and midfielder Roger Espinoza. Upon receiving a return pass from Harrington, Lopez looked immediately up field and delivered a perfect long, left-footed pass in front of streaking midfielder Jack Jewsbury at the top of the Chicago 18-yard area. Jewsbury took one touch to elude Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch and calmly finished into the open net with his left foot for an early 1-0 lead.
Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was strong throughout the remainder of the half to keep Chicago off the board. In the 33rd minute, he denied forward Chad Barrett with a sliding point-blank save. Then in the 38th and 39th minutes, Hartman denied long-range efforts from midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco. The first save came on a left-footed drive from 20 yards out that Hartman punched clear. The second came off a 25-yard free kick that was headed for the upper corner before Hartman tipped it over the bar.
Both teams had several chances after halftime to no avail. Chicago's best sequence came in the 54th minute when Hartman denied polish striker Tomasz Frankowski's point-blank effort then Chance Myers cleared a rebound opportunity off the goal line to keep Chicago scoreless.
Kansas City nearly added to the lead twice in the 65th minute after a Kurt Morsink corner kick. After the ball bounced around the area, defender Tyson Wahl lined up a left-footed drive from 20 yards out that was denied by the left post. The ball was sent back into the mixer just after, but defender Chance Myers' header went just over the cross bar.
Chicago continued throwing numbers forward until the final whistle and earned a corner kick in the 94th minute. The Fire sent multiple passes into the penalty area that Kansas City cleared, and the final whistle blew after Hartman cleanly grabbed an attempted cross to end the game.
Kansas City next travels to face an improved Toronto FC squad at BMO Field next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT on Metro Sports (English) and TWC Channel 5 (Spanish). The Wizards earned a victory in the first-ever match at BMO Field, winning 1-0 over TFC last April in the stadium's grand opener. The Wizards will not play another home game until facing the Columbus Crew on Saturday, June 14 at 7 p.m. CT. Kansas City has been in 1st place at the end of every week of MLS play so far in 2008.
