The Kansas City Wizards were on the verge of hitting arguably their lowest point of the season Wednesday night. They were behind 1-0 to conference rival Chicago Fire at halftime, after losing to the Eastern Conference-leading New England Revolution twice in the last two games.
They were in danger of losing points at home for the seventh time this season, and they were doing it all in front of a crowd that was cheering every touch of the Fire's Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco, one that erupted when the Fire took the lead in first half stoppage time.
But their guts, sprinkled with some cerebral stimulation, pulled them out of the downward spiral as they came back to win 3-2.
"They showed up the whole game. It wasn't 90 minutes of perfect performance, but it was 90 minutes of heart," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. "But you have to commend the group of guys for their effort and strength of character to find a way to come back when they were pretty disappointed at halftime."
The first half saw the Fire dominate the chances before pulling ahead through a Chad Barrett goal on an assist from Blanco that drew a load roar from the crowd.
"'Nobody ever said it was going to be easy,'" Onalfo said of what he told his team at the break. "And we've come back before, we've made our job more difficult, [and] we need to try and get a goal early on."
Those words were for the gut, his team's instinct of despising losing. The rest was for the brain.
"I told them that we're doing a good job of creating two-v-ones wide [but] our service needs to be better. We need to play balls on the ground ... and understand their mechanism of attacking. They do a really good job of keeping a guy on the weak side and they play that long ball, switch the point of attack. They're a very well-coached team," Onalfo said.
The Wizards took it to heart as Sasha Victorine's 54th-minute goal pushed them on to win for the fourth time when falling behind in a match, something they've done 13 times this season. The rest of the MLS teams have combined for only seven come-from-behind wins.
"We're at home, and it's a huge game. That opportunity to get a goal, tie the game back up, changed the pace of the game," said Victorine of his finish from right in front of the goal from a Jose Burciaga Jr. rolling cross from the wing, just like Onalfo ordered. "The game opened up from that point."
But with the Wizards' recent habit of dropping points at home, a win was in no way assured. That is, until Scott Sealy showed his mettle. In the 34th minute, a Davy Arnaud free kick rebounded off the post right to him in front of a wide open goal -- and he whiffed.
"After the chance I had first half, it couldn't get any worse. I kept plugging away, kept my head up," said Sealy. "I knew I was going to get a chance sometime out, and I was able to put it in that time."
Sealy astutely lifted the ball over a defender in the box from another Burciaga cross and subsequently finished it into the far corner, typifying the Wizards' fighting spirit.
"We played as a team tonight. We fought. We gave it all we had. ... It's a big three points here at home. We need it, and we need to get results now," said Burciaga.
Burciaga finished off the scoring for the Wizards in the 82nd minute off a cross from Ryan Raybould and a back heel flick from intended target Eddie Johnson. Burciaga used the occasion to make a point to much of the crowd who continued to cheer for Blanco, wearing the gold jersey of his former Mexican team, Club America.
"I told them, 'You're rooting for the wrong team, and you're wearing the wrong jersey,'" Burciaga said.
The message sent showed the Wizards' belief in themselves -- belief they hope transfers to the fans who came out and to the rest of the season, which begins Saturday at Chicago.
"I commend the guys' efforts, and I'm happy we got three points, but we have to learn from the game for sure," said Onalfo. "Now we just need to piece together 90 minutes of intelligence and understanding how to manage the game."
Bob Rusert is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
