KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The relief, the absolute jubilation after Thursday night’s 2-0 win over the Philadelpha Union, couldn’t have been any clearer. That feeling is what the Wizards had worked and fought hard for during a fruitless, brutal two-month stretch. This was when .
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More importantly, Kansas City finally got some of its swagger back after their Thursday night, an event that signified the Wizards taking back control of a season marred by an eight-game winless streak in league play.
“We needed this big time,” captain Davy Arnaud said. “It felt like this was a game that can maybe define what direction the season might head.”
Another loss at home would have been a devastating blow to a team that hadn’t tasted victory for exactly two months, when they beat Colorado on April 10, and the lack of results had clearly weighed on the team as bad breaks and silly mistakes stretched the streak longer and longer.
“My wife will be happy for a few days,” head coach Peter Vermes jokingly said.
During those eight games, the Wizards hadn’t led once. But Kei Kamara changed all that when, in the 9th minute, he unleashed an rocket just inside the back post after Ryan Smith broke down the defense off the dribble and Davy Arnaud, playing his 200th game for Kansas City, fed Kamara on the edge of the box.
It was Kamara’s sixth goal of the season, and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.
“It was the perfect pass, the perfect roll,” he said. “The pace on the ball just encouraged [me] to hit it.”
“He absolutely tattooed that [into] the upper side panel,” Vermes added. “You don’t hit a lot of those.”
Smith, as he has done so many times this season, instigated both goals with his speed and elusiveness on the left flank, cutting into the middle of the field to open the defense and then finding the open man.
Vermes said he made an adjustment this week to utilize the service the Englishman provided, pushing Kamara onto the right flank and moving Arnaud from left to right to take advantage of Smith’s creative abilities and change of pace.
“We call it the pause,” Vermes said of Smith’s affect on opposing teams. “You give him the ball, and he can kind of pause a team. It’s like ‘Uh oh. He’s got it.’”
The Union must have had déjà vu in the 35th minute, when a clearance came off the head of Graham Zusi and into the path of Smith, who promptly took off down the field.
With Zusi doing his best to keep up, Smith cut across two defenders and slotted the second-year midfielder through on net. Zusi then coolly slipped the ball past keeper Chris Seitz and proceeded to celebrate his first career goal with a raucous Cauldron.
“The fans were out tonight,” Zusi said. “I just wanted to celebrate with them.”
Perhaps the only negative was the pressure the 10-man Union exerted on the Wizards in the second half. Although Philadelphia held control and ventured deep into the home team’s half, they were unable to crack a resolute back line decimated by injuries.
Starting center back Pablo Escobar went out in the 10th minute with a groin issue, and Jonathan Leathers even replaced Escobar’s substitute, Matt Besler, in the second half. Without any substitutions left, Kansas City had no choice but to play conservatively to preserve the win.
“We had to blow three subs,” Vermes said. “I never would have subbed until probably the 60th or 70th minute, and we would have brought fresh legs on.”
But it didn’t matter in the end. Faced with more than two weeks to think about it, Kansas City made sure the World Cup break would be enjoyable and nothing was more important to that aim than finally finding itself in control.
“Getting that first goal just gave us that life,” Kamara.
