The Kansas City Wizards knew they were in for a battle heading into Saturday night's decisive second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center. Holding a single goal advantage in the 180-minute series, it was obvious that the Wizards would need to withstand all Chivas could muster in front of a raucous home crowd where they have been nearly unbeatable all season long.
Fortunately for the Wizards, they were able to maintain the two qualities that got them to this point: heart and a rock-solid defensive effort when they most needed one.
"All year long, our guys have played with enormous heart, enormous passion, and tonight they played for the organization, themselves and each other," said Wizards boss Curt Onalfo in the locker room amidst the loud celebrations of a team headed to the Western Conference Championship. "I couldn't be more proud of them. You work extremely hard in this sport for very few moments of ecstasy and there was one today."
The Wizards needed every bit of heart and defensive grit to hold Chivas scoreless in the match and series.
"They did what they do best, possess the ball, and we just tried to make it as predictable as possible," said captain Jimmy Conrad. "It wasn't the prettiest thing but in the playoffs it doesn't need to be pretty. We dodged some bullets but you need that luck through the playoffs."
Chivas came out firing looking for the series-equalizing goal and out-shot the visitors by a 16-8 margin. Veteran 'keeper Kevin Hartman -- and the goalposts -- were up for the challenge, however. Hartman made six saves in the match and the crossbar and goalpost each stopped a shot to preserve the result, while another effort was headed off the line.
"Tonight (Kevin) showed the reason we brought him to Kansas City," said Onalfo. "He's a veteran goalkeeper that is able to make big saves and tonight when he had to make the saves, he did. Credit to him."
Conrad was equally impressed by Hartman's performance. "He's one of the best all-time goalkeepers in this league and tonight he showed it," he said.
In the week leading up to the match, the Wizards said that they would not look to sit on their goal-advantage during the game. True to their word, they attacked from the beginning and Eddie Johnson was at the center of several quality scoring opportunities that ended as near misses. Chivas, however, took advantage and had plenty of counterattack opportunities.
"They had some decent chances and we got lucky at times but it's the playoffs and you can have all the possession, the most opportunities, but if you can't put the ball in the back of the net you can't really say much," said Johnson.
After halftime, though, the Wizards refocused their efforts and clamped down defensively.
"We made the adjustments at halftime, we talked about how we can get better, and our guys have responded all year to the coaching we give them," said Onalfo. "We knew that to be a championship caliber team we had to be able to win games 1-0 and not give up goals. It's been a conscious effort and the guys have gotten better every single day and it shows."
The second half improvements mirrored the late-season improvements made by the team that helped them earn a playoff spot. Looking ahead to its conference championship date with Houston Dynamo next weekend, though, it is clear that the Wizards will need to be at the top of their game for the full 90 minutes.
"They're playing at home so they're probably excited about that," said Conrad. "We played them well during the season but it's just a one-off game. They're going to have their fans but we dealt with the Chivas fans tonight and that'll give us confidence."
Johnson sees the challenge posed by the defending MLS champions but also acknowledges the success the Wizards have experienced thus far.
"Houston is a great team and if we put it all on the line and we don't succeed we still had a great season," he said.
Danny Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
