KANSAS CITY - The Kansas City Wizards put an emphatic end to their nine-game winless streak Saturday with a 4-0 victory against the Columbus Crew at Arrowhead Stadium.
Four different players scored for the Wizards, who scored two goals in the first 17 minutes and two more in the final 12 minutes. Davy Arnaud and Scott Sealy gave the Wizards the early two-goal lead, then Sasha Victorine and Ryan Pore rounded out the scoreline.
The Wizards got busy on the attacking end early. Sealy hit a right-footed blast from about 20 yards that went about a foot wide of the right post in the second minute.
Then Arnaud put the Wizards ahead with a right-footed blast from nearly 30 yards in the fourth minute, a shot that skimmed the grass the entire way.
While the Crew defense looked shaky in the first few minutes, the Wizards defense had some shaky moments as well.
Crew defender Chad Marshall put a header in the Wizards net in the 10th minute from a free kick by Jacob Thomas from near the right corner. But referee Mark Geiger said Marshall fouled Wizards defender Shavar Thomas along the way and waved off the goal.
Crew forward Ryan Coiner missed a great opportunity to tie the game in the 15th minute when he failed to deflect Sebastian Rozental's cross from inside the six-yard box.
A minute later, Rozental broke loose through the middle of the Wizards defense, sprung by a pass from Jose Retiz. But Wizards goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi stopped Rozental's shot with his left leg.
Having withstood these three Crew scoring opportunities, the Wizards increased their lead to 2-0 in the 17th minute on a goal by Sealy, who deflected Dave van den Bergh's low cross into the net after Sealy pulled ahead of Chad Marshall.
Sealy almost scored two minutes later, but Crew 'keeper Bill Gaudette batted Sealy's shot over the net for a corner kick. Sealy worked in some tight space in the penalty area as Wizards forward Eddie Johnson found Sealy with a short, quick pass after a throw-in.
The Wizards tightened their defense the rest of the half, but Coiner almost trickled a shot past Oshoniyi during second half stoppage time. Coiner was pressured by Wizards defender Nick Garcia enough to be thrown off balance as he tried to score from a cross that took a couple of deflections.
The Crew concentrated on keeping the ball and building an attack in the second half. Crew defender Ezra Hendrickson had a point-blank header in the 58th minute from Rozental's cross, but Hendrickson headed the ball over the crossbar.
The Wizards killed the game off in the second half, but in an alternative way. They took a three-goal lead.
Victorine scored in the 78th minute and paid for it with a knock to the shin by Hendrickson. The sequence began with a corner kick by Jose Burciaga, Jr., that eluded both Gaudette and Hendrickson before it fell to Victorine.
Pore, who came on as a second-half substitute, almost scored a minute after that. Pore got another chance in the 89th minute after he intercepted some sloppy passing by the Crew defense. Pore worked the ball onto his right foot and blasted a shot past Gaudette into the lower right corner of the goal from just beyond the restraining arc.
The only thing left to do was to preserve the clean sheet for Oshoniyi. And the Wizards succeeded, posting their second consecutive shutout and their biggest margin of victory on the season.
Robert Whitman is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
