The Kansas City Wizards ended their East Coast road trip with a hard-won 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls on Saturday at Giants Stadium, courtesy of Josh Wolff's early strike.
The Wizards, who had not won at the Meadowlands since 2000, were gifted a dream start after just 10 minutes when Red Bulls midfielder Jorge Rojas failed to deal with a header from his teammate Ernst Oebster. Kansas City playmaker Claudio Lopez quickly capitalized on Rojas' hesitation, racing away with the ball.
With Lopez charging down on his goal, New York keeper Bouna Coundoul sprinted out to the edge of his area to block the shot, which rebounded to Josh Wolff about 30 yards out from goal. The Wizards forward then calmly side-footed the ball into the empty net for his ninth goal of the season.
The Wizards should have doubled their lead just eight minutes later. With the home team pushing forward in search of an equalizer, Herculez Gomez released Wolff with a wonderful diagonal ball. Completely unmarked, the striker had plenty of time to pick his spot, but placed his shot just wide of Coundoul's goal.
Despite dominating possession for most of the first half, the home side were unable to find a killer pass, and most of their through-balls ended up in the grateful arms of Kansas City 'keeper Kevin Hartman. The goalkeeper, however, was tested a couple of times by Red Bulls forward Macoumba Kandji, most notably in the 40th minute, when he pushed a powerful shot wide of his goal.
The Red Bulls were much more purposeful in the second half, with Rojas, in particular, peppering Hartman with shots, although the Wizards weathered the storm. Hartman was also forced to rush off his line to challenge Kandji near the touchline, and was fortunate to put the ball out for a corner when the forward appeared to have beaten him.
Similar to the first half, however, the Wizards started to impose themselves, and Santiago Hirsig should have added to their lead just before the hour, but was denied by Coundoul. Latching on to a header, Hirsig raced into the 6-yard box, but Coundoul pulled off an impressive point-blank save.
Kansas City, however, came close to conceding in the 66th minute. With Hartman stranded after punching away a Red Bulls cross, the impressive Jonathan Leathers headed away Rojas' goal-bound volley.
Leathers looked solid throughout the game, and saved his team again moments later when he lunged to clear a cross with Kandji poised to score.
The Red Bulls lacked both the cohesion and patience need break open the dour Wizards defense. The athletic Hartman again came to his team's rescue in the closing minutes, pushing Carlos Johnson's close-range volley past the post.
Referee Mark Geiger showed seven yellow cards during an increasingly tense encounter, with Hirsig, Leathers, Jewsbury and Hartman all going in his book, the latter for time wasting. The game's biggest flashpoint, however, occurred just after the final whistle when Geiger sent off Johnson after an altercation with Michael Harrington and another Wizards player.
With the win, Kansas City kept its slim playoff hopes alive, and will be hoping for a similar performance next week when FC Dallas visit CommunityAmerica Ballpark. The Red Bulls, who were officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss, play host to Eastern Conference rival New England next Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
James Rogers is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
