ST. LOUIS - When the Kansas City Wizards and FC Atlas arrived for their SuperLiga game on Sunday at Robert R. Hermann Stadium on the campus of Saint Louis University, they were met by a sun-splashed 93-degree day and an excessive heat warning.
The teams opened their SuperLiga campaigns with a scoreless draw, one in no small part affected by the heat.
"It made for a slower game," Wizards coach Curt Onalfo said. "It made for a game that has less chances and a game in which you have to make sure you make the most of your opportunities. The difference in the game today is we had a couple clear chances and we didn't finish."
The Wizards were coming off a 3-1 victory against New England, last year's SuperLiga champions, in their final MLS match. But Kansas City was not able to capitalize on its opportunities, which included 12 shots but only five that managed to make it on goal.
"You're never satisfied when you don't win the game and you don't score, but having said that, you have to be realistic," Onalfo said. "On a day like this you're going to have less chances. We talked at that little water break. I said, 'It's going to come down to one chance, guys, who's going to be the guy that makes it.' Unfortunately we had that chance and we didn't put it away."
The game might have featured more cards than legitimate scoring chances. Kansas City was given three yellow cards - to Jewsbury, defender Aaron Hohlbein and midfielder Santiago Hirsig - and one red card.
Roger Espinoza, who entered the game in the 38th minute because midfielder Herculez Gomez was suffering from symptoms of heat exhaustion, was ejected in the 94th minute after a hard foul on Atlas' Diego Campos, who was taken off the field on a stretcher but came back on the field just moments later.
"We had a few chances," Wizards forward Josh Wolff said. "I thought we did OK. We didn't give up a whole lot, but you could see both sides were a little more determined to not give anything up. It was kind of a stalemate from the beginning. They didn't want to make a mistake; we didn't either. Therefore there wasn't a lot of taking too many risks at either end. It's 95 degrees and humid. It's a tough day."
Atlas received two yellow cards, to defenders Hugo Ayala and Ricardo Jimenez, but also had coach Ricardo La Volpe ejected from the game in the first half. He received a red card in the 41st minute for arguing with the referees and watched much of the second half behind a chain fence that was 25 yards beyond his team's goal.
"We're finishing up our preparation for the start of the season," La Volpe said. "Now were in this tournament. It was very hot, but the youngsters responded very well. The opponent was a very solid team and it's all within what we were expecting and we'll achieve where we want to be physically before the start of the season."
The best scoring chance of the game for Atlas came in the 29th minute when midfielder Dario Bottinelli's free kick from 21 yards out was knocked away by Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who stretched and just reached the ball with his fingertips.
Atlas goalkeeper Jose Francisco Canales made five saves, while Hartman was credited with two.
"It was tough. I think we had our chances and it was one of those games where if you put one away early you can kind of control the pace of the game, keep the ball and make the other team run, said Kansas City midfielder Jack Jewsbury, who played his college soccer at Saint Louis University. "Unfortunately we couldn't bury one. I thought we had enough chances to, we just weren't sharp enough in front of the goal."
Nate Latsch is a contributor to MLSnet.com
