The Kansas City Wizards earned the only point of their week-long road trip with a 1-1 against Houston Dynamo on Saturday night at Robertson Stadium.
Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo thought his team played well in the match, especially considering that the team has been run ragged over the past two weeks.
"I thought it was a good overall performance," Onalfo said. "I thought the first half was very good. I loved the fact that we created all the way and got ourselves a goal in the 45th minute."
That goal was scored by forward Eddie Johnson, who is now tied with D.C. United forward Luciano Emilio and Juan Pablo Angel of the New York Red Bulls for the league lead in goals scored, with 14. Johnson's goal came when he turned home a Scott Sealy cross with a first-time shot in first-half stoppage time.
"It was a tough game," Johnson said. "We knew it was going to be a tough road trip. They were real physical today, and they made it difficult for us."
The match was the last of a hard road trip that took the Wizards from Chicago to Salt Lake City to Houston. The tie represents the only point that Kansas City brings home from that trip, after a 2-0 loss to the Fire and a 3-1 loss to Real.
"There are some things that we wanted to shore up in our game," Onalfo said, "and we played five games in 14 days, which is very difficult. Our guys gave everything they had to walk out of here with a point."
Houston's attack wore down the exhausted Kansas City defense as the match progressed, aided in part by a total of 10 corner kicks that kept the pressure in the Wizards defensive end. Dynamo pulled even in the 69th minute with a goal from forward Joseph Ngwenya, assisted by a perfect through ball from midfielder Dwayne De Rosario.
"Good teams find a way to come back," Johnson said. "It was a good run through the middle by Dwayne, a great ball to Ngwenya and a good finish."
Johnson alluded to mental fatigue that allowed Houston to score the tying goal.
"We always work hard as a team, but that one mental lapse we always do to give games away is something we've been really inconsistent with," Johnson said. "The majority of teams that score first in this league end up winning the game. But we'll take the point. It's a positive result on the road against a good team."
The Wizards will have a two-week break before returning to action at home against the Columbus Crew on Sat., Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. CT. Dynamo remain at home, taking on Real Salt Lake on Sat., Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Lucas Ogden-Davis is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
