KANSAS CITY WIZARDS vs SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
COMMUNITYAMERICA BALLPARK, Kansas City, Kan.
April 5, 2009 (WEEK 3) / MLS Game #19
2 p.m. CT (MetroSports; CSN-Cal)
The Kansas City Wizards return home looking to gain their first points of the season when they take on the San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday afternoon. The Wizards have fallen to defeat in their first two games of 2009, against Toronto FC and at Colorado. The Quakes fell to New England in their season opener, but rebounded to win the second of back-to-back home games to open the year, defeating Houston.
REFEREE: Edvin Jurisevic. SAR (bench): Anthony Vasoli; JAR (opposite): Craig Lowry; 4th: Abbey Okulaja MLS Career: 2 games; FC/gm: 28.0; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 0; pens: 0
INJURY REPORT: KANSAS CITY WIZARDS - OUT: FW Adam Cristman (fifth metatarsal fracture); GK Eric Kronberg (shoulder surgery); DF Chance Myers (fifth metatarsal fracture); QUESTIONABLE: MF Davy Arnaud (neck strain); PROBABLE: FW Josh Wolff (hamstring strain) ... SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES - OUT: DF Jason Hernandez (L calf strain); PROBABLE: DF Chris Leitch (L ankle sprain)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
SUSPENDED: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (40 meetings): Wizards 16 wins (4 shootout), 48 goals ... Earthquakes 18 wins (3 shootout), 52 goals ... Ties 6
AT KANSAS CITY (20 meetings): Wizards 12 wins (2 shootout), 30 goals ... Earthquakes 7 wins (2 shootout), 21 goals ... Ties 1
RETURN MATCH: 8/22: Kansas City Wizards at San Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m. PT
LAST YEAR (MLS):
8/30: SJ 2, KC 1 (Alvarez 43; Huckerby 83 - Arnaud 64)
10/18: KC 3, SJ 2 (Lopez 18; Arnaud 27; Gomez 90 - Sealy 20; Salinas 71)
• Kansas City has won the last three home contests between the clubs, including the first-ever game at CommunityAmerica Ballpark last season. The San Jose victory in Kansas City came Aug. 14, 2004.
• Kansas City's last victory in San Jose came Aug. 16, 2000, a span now of 10 matches. The Quakes have won six of those games, with four draws.
• The road team has won just three games in the last 20 in the series, dating back to the start of the 2001 season.
• Coaches record: Curt Onalfo vs. SJ: P2 W1 L1 D0 ... Frank Yallop v KC: P18 W10 L4 D4
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards are still looking for their first point on the season, falling 2-1 to the Colorado Rapids last Saturday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Kansas City is joined by FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake as the only teams without a point thus far, K.C. now six points back in the Western Conference.
LAST MATCH
• Both the Rapids and Wizards were looking for their first point of the campaign. In the first half, Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman made two saves in short order late, becoming the all-time MLS saves leader. Hartman ended the night with four saves and 1,139 for his MLS career, now three ahead of previous record-holder Tony Meola.
• Hartman saw his shutout bid ended in dramatic fashion in the 65th minute. Terry Cooke came on the field as a substitute and immediately took a free kick from outside the area on the left, whipping it off the inside of the near post for a 1-0 Colorado lead.
• The Wizards tied the game five minutes later in equally dramatic circumstances. Michael Kraus, who had come on just two minutes earlier in his first ever MLS regular season game action, ripped a rising shot that bounced off the underside of the crossbar and down into the goal.
• But the Rapids took the lead back just four minutes later. Cooke found Colin Clark on the left with a long ball, and he in turn sent Omar Cummings through with a diagonal ball, and the Jamaican striker hit home for the second time in as many weeks.
• Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo made two changes to the team that lost 3-2 to Toronto FC. Davy Arnaud and Josh Wolff were both injured, and Lance Watson and Abe Thompson each made their first starts of 2009.
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman - Jonathan Leathers, Jimmy Conrad, Aaron Hohlbein, Michael Harrington - Herculez Gomez (Matt Besler 87), Jack Jewsbury, Lance Watson, Graham Zusi (Santiago Hirsig 57) - Claudio Lopez, Abe Thompson (Michael Kraus 67). Substitutes Not Used: Davy Arnaud, Rauwshan McKenzie, Kurt Morsink, Boris Pardo
• "We had enough chances to walk out of here with a win. We had a depleted roster and a disciplined game plan that we executed perfectly for 45 minutes," Onalfo said. "Unfortunately we conceded in the second half, we tie the game and then gave it away on a corner kick which is something we can't do. I'm extremely disappointed; we played well enough to walk out of here with a win."
TEAM NEWS
• Just before halftime, Kevin Hartman made two saves in quick succession, allowing him to surpass Tony Meola as the MLS all-time saves leader. Already the league's career leader in wins and shutouts, Hartman made his record-breaking save in stoppage time and was able to whisk the milestone ball to the locker room when the half expired a moment later.
• "I've been able to stay healthy, and it comes down to great training staffs and fitness coaches and goalkeeper coaches...so many people have gone into helping me with it," Hartman said. "Looking beyond the game, it is something I will look back and look really, really fondly on, just like the wins record and shutouts record."
• Entering the season, Michael Kraus was one of two players in MLS history to have made an appearance in the MLS Cup Playoffs without having played a minute in a regular-season match (along with LA's McKinley Tennyson in 2002). But Kraus was able to make his league debut in Colorado, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute - and three minutes later he scored his first professional goal.
• "I feel like I've worked hard for the past three years just to get the opportunity to win and try to help the team, get the equalizer. It felt great and would have felt 100 times better if we were able to maybe get another one and get a tie to help ourselves here on the road. It still feels good to be able to contribute," he said.
• Said Onalfo: "We told (Kraus) with the way we were playing, he would get a chance with a flick-on or something in behind. He's a slippery player. I said, 'You're going to have one chance, you have to bury it.' And he got one chance and he buried it. He did exactly what I told him. God bless him for that."
• All three of the Wizards goals this season have come on long-range strikes from outside the penalty area, the two from Davy Arnaud in the season opener and Kraus' goal in Colorado.
• Arnaud wasn't able to overcome neck spasms to figure in the Rapids match, though he is hopeful of returning to the lineup against San Jose.
• "We were hoping maybe that it wouldn't be so many guys so early on," Arnaud said of team's extensive early-season absences. "But, it's something that our team is going to have to deal with. I think it is something our team can deal with."
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
The San Jose Earthquakes remained at home and rebounded from a First Kick loss, knocking off the Houston Dynamo 3-2 at Buck Shaw Stadium. The Quakes have three points, tied with the Colorado Rapids for third in the Western Conference, three points behind Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC.
LAST MATCH
• Two teams sharing a common ancestry renewed their burgeoning rivalry both looking for a first victory on the season.
• The game burst into life at the half-hour mark. First, Cam Weaver popped a through ball forward for Ryan Johnson to run onto, and he slotted home for the 30th-minute opener. Then Arturo Alvarez doubled the Quakes lead just three minutes later, cutting through the Dynamo defense on a mazy run from the right flank and lashing home a low shot inside the right post.
• But it took the Dynamo barely a minute to respond. Stuart Holden cut in a cross from the right corner and Chris Wondolowski nodded it home on the run for his first goal of the season. Then just two minutes later, the Dynamo had pulled level, Brad Davis curling home a wonderfully placed strike from outside the area.
• Yet just before the half, the Quakes took the lead for good. A Chris Leitch shot bobbled toward goal where Weaver ran onto it, bundling it home past Houston goalkeeper Pat Onstad for his first MLS goal.
• Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop made no changes to the team that lost 1-0 to New England Revolution in the season opener.
• Here's Yallop's team (4-1-3-2): Joe Cannon - Chris Leitch, Nick Garcia, Kelly Gray, Eric Denton - Ramiro Corrales - Arturo Alvarez, Bobby Convey, Darren Huckerby (Shea Salinas 70) - Ryan Johnson (Quincy Amarikwa 65), Cam Weaver (Pablo Campos 91+). Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Cochrane, Brandon McDonald, Andrew Weber, Michael Zaher
• "I'm very happy with scoring three goals at home and getting three points," Yallop said. "It could've gone either way. It was an early season game where we still looked a bit disjointed at times as a unit, but three points is three points, and I feel good about that. I liked that our guys didn't lose focus from last week. We worked hard on our finishing, all types of finishes. The three goals we got were decent goals."
TEAM NEWS
• After the tight season opener where the game's lone goal was scored on a bit of a fluke play, suddenly the floodgates opened with five goals in 14 minutes, equaling the sixth-fastest span for five goals from both teams in a game in league history. The fastest ever was 10 minutes (Miami Fusion at D.C. United, Sept, 9, 2000.
• "I haven't seen anything like that in a long time," goalkeeper Joe Cannon said. "It was open-ended, and I don't think that's the game we want to play right now."
• In the opener, Cam Weaver had a glorious opportunity to open his MLS account, but missed an open goal from close range. He finally broke through against Houston for what was the eventual match decider.
• "I think the goal Cam got really helped," Yallop said. "We come in at halftime and it's 3-2. At 2-2, (Houston) has got their tails up and are ready to go. At 3-2, it's a different story. The goal won the game, and it also changed the game. I told our guys at halftime, let's try to kill the game a bit, not go helter-skelter trying to get another one and concede a goal. I think we did a pretty good job of that. They had a couple sniffs (at goal) in the second half, but so did we."
• While the Earthquakes showed signs of improvement, there were some problems at the defensive end of the park. "I think our team defending (has to improve)," Yallop said. "In the two goals (Houston scored) they had somebody ran with the ball for about 30 or 40 yards unopposed, and I told our guys we can't allow that to happen. We did a way better job in the second half. We're still learning as a team."
• The Quakes' second-half drive last season was guided with the addition of Darren Huckerby on the left side of the midfield. Yallop has liked the balance he's seen thus far from Arturo Alvarez on the other side of the park.
• "[Alvarez] has finally got the position right," said Yallop of his right midfielder. "I think he's got the balance beautifully. It's taken a little bit of time, but just needed a bit of guidance. He worked his tail off defensively on Saturday."
