One free kick in a dangerous position Wednesday cost the Columbus Crew two points in the standings and a chance to claim their first victory away from home.
Jose Burciaga Jr. blasted a left-footed shot into the Crew goal in the 76th minute to boost the Kansas City Wizards to a 1-1 draw with the Crew at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Wizards received a free kick just outside the restraining arc when second-half substitute Preki was fouled between two Crew players trying to stop him from dribbling into the penalty area. Diego Gutierrez tapped the ball to Burciaga, whose left-footed shot beat Crew goalkeeper Bill Gaudette in spite of his diving attempt at a save.
"We try to defend as well as we can and not give up dangerous set pieces because they do have a lot of good ball strikers," Crew captain and defender Robin Fraser said. "And they are good on set pieces. Hats off to them, they executed very well on the one that they got."
The Crew had taken a 1-0 lead in the 69th minute on a goal by Mario Rodriguez. It was the first Major League Soccer goal scored by Rodriguez, who is on loan to the Crew from Guatemalan club Municipal.
Rodriguez placed himself in a good position to score, picking up Simon Elliott's shot off the right post. No Wizards defenders were around except Burciaga. Elliott received his chance to score after Chris Henderson's cross bounced heavily off Burciaga's chest and near Elliott.
The Crew lost some firepower in the second half when leading scorer Edson Buddle had to leave in the 59th minute after his Achilles became sore, a condition he has played through for a couple of seasons. With a game on Saturday at home against D.C. United, Crew coach Greg Andrulis said it was prudent to pull Buddle off when he did.
"The field is so hard here and he was battling it at halftime," Crew coach Greg Andrulis said. "He said he could go about another 10 minutes. He's a tough guy but it takes a toll on him."
In six games away from home, the Crew have only two draws.
"When things aren't going your way, they are really not going your way," Crew midfielder Simon Elliott said. "I think we could have sneaked a win but we'll certainly take a point at this stage, sure."
Beyond the near victory, Andrulis said the Crew played well against the Wizards, who have lost only once at home, a 2-0 defeat to Eastern Division-leading New England.
"I thought we played well. Kansas City is a tough team and they are tough to play here," Andrulis said. "We are certainly playing better soccer. If we play better soccer results will follow. Getting a point on the road is not a bad thing."
Said Elliott: "We played as a team the best we've played for quite a while. I don't know if it was pretty exciting for soccer but I thought we stuck together and tried to work as a team and defend as a team. When you do that generally good things happen."
As hot and humid as the conditions were (94 degrees at gametime), the Crew might have had a slight advantage.
"It was tough," Elliott said. "I don't know how hot it was but the humidity was huge. I think it was especially hard on them (Kansas City) because they played on Saturday. We were just dripping wet after about 10 minutes."
The single point pulled the Crew, with 14 points and in last place in the Eastern Conference, closer to fifth-place D.C. United, which remains stuck on 19 points after their loss to Chicago on Wednesday. The Crew has a chance to directly close that gap when they host D.C. United on Saturday at Crew Stadium.
"I thought it was a pretty solid overall game from us that we could have gotten three points out of," Fraser said. "By the same token every point is important for us now."
Robert Whitman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
