While the Kansas City Wizards and Chicago Fire played to a 1-1 draw Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium, the Wizards felt their performance was more than good enough to win.
"This game can be cruel because of the better team doesn't always win," Wizards coach Bob Gansler said. "They know we were the better side, we know we were the better side. But you have to give them credit. They battled and they found a way to get that one goal, offside or not."
The Fire's goal came on their only shot on goal in the first half. Chad Barrett put the Fire ahead in the 18th minute after strike partner Chris Rolfe played ball to him through the middle of the field.
The Wizards spent the rest of the game trying to come up with the goals needed to overturn the deficit.
Eddie Johnson stepped up to take a penalty kick after Davy Arnaud was tripped in the penalty area in the 24th minute. Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton saved Johnson's attempt.
Josh Wolff is the Wizards player who usually takes penalty kicks. But Wolff yielded to Johnson on this occasion.
"We're all a team," Johnson said. "I felt confident in taking it and (Wolff) let me take it."
The Wizards went into halftime behind by a goal. But since they were dominating possession and creating good scoring chances, the mood in the dressing room was upbeat.
"We came in with a good attitude at halftime. There wasn't any kind of panic," Arnaud said. "We said, 'Hey, let's just keep doing what we're doing because it's working well for us.'"
But Kansas City scored only an equalizer. Johnson followed Arnaud's shot in the 48th minute after Thornton did not hold on to it.
The goal was Johnson's second of the season and he became the first Wizards player to score two goals this season. Seven other Wizards have scored one goal.
"We got points but you always want to get three points at home, especially the way we played tonight," Arnaud said. "In my opinion, I think that was our best performance of the year, with the chances we created and how we limited them and were putting pressure on them all over the field."
Thornton's failure to hold Arnaud's shot that Johnson put away was just about the only thing that went wrong for the veteran Fire goalkeeper.
Thornton stopped Arnaud twice in the first half, then received some good fortune on Sasha Victorine's shot in the 33rd minute.
With the ball and unmarked outside the penalty area on the right, Victorine placed a right-footed shot that had Thornton frozen in his tracks, but bounced off the left post.
Thornton also tipped Jack Jewsbury's shot from about 30 yards over the crossbar in the 45th minute.
"Sometimes you don't quite have that little bit of good fortune. Zach Thornton played a great game. We created enough chances but you have to put them away. And we didn't do that," Gansler said. "I can't be upset with our guys. They worked hard. They worked intelligently."
The Wizards almost gave up another Chicago goal after the Fire were awarded a penalty kick in the 67th minute. Jewsbury tripped Fire midfielder Justin Mapp in the Wizards penalty area.
Ivan Guerrero stepped up to take the penalty kick for the Fire, but Wizards goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi saved the kick.
"I just know how he likes to strike balls and he's good at bending balls so I kind of figured he was going to do something like that," Oshoniyi said. "Then you just have to figure out which way he is going to go. He kind of opened up his hips (as he approached the ball) a little so I was able to read it and save it. He didn't hit it particularly hard so I was able to give myself some time to get to it."
The Wizards then got back to the business of dominating the game, implementing one minor halftime adjustment.
"We attacked almost exclusively on their right side (in the first half) and found a lot of joy there," Gansler said. "But we said (at halftime), 'The other side is there also.' In the second half I think we were a little more balanced and worked out a whole slew of opportunities once again."
But one point was all the Wizards could gain from the 90 minutes.
"It's kind of frustrating really because I think it's the best we've played all year," Oshoniyi said. "Guys were moving for each other, fighting for each other. I think just the finishing part let us down a little bit."
But on the bright side, the Wizards added to their lead in the Eastern Conference. They are now two points ahead of D.C. United, which lost at Colorado on Saturday.
"We got a point. We're two points ahead in the table," Johnson said. "We can't look at it as a disappointment."
Robert Whitman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
