Result after result, the Wizards are quickly establishing themselves as a team nobody wants to face down the stretch.
But as easy as it would be to sit back and savor Sunday night’s comprehensive 2-0 victory against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center, these aren’t normal circumstances for Kansas City.
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Only minutes after putting in a shutdown defensive performance against the Goats and scoring two highlight reel goals, the Wizards were back at it, preparing their bodies for another critical match on Wednesday against the Dynamo.
“It’s already there,” Vermes said Sunday when asked how quickly the focus would shift to Houston. “We’re trying to recover right now to get ourselves ready to play on Wednesday.”
After stifling Chivas USA on the Goats’ home turf and continuing their own run of positive results, the Wizards will have plenty to build on as they prepare to take on the Dynamo. Kansas City are now 5-1-3 in the last nine games and just six points out of the eighth and final playoff spot with seven games remaining.
Maybe even more impressive than the result itself Sunday was Kansas City’s reaction to a sluggish first half that saw neither team muster a shot on goal.
“It was a battling game in the first half,” said Wizards forward Kei Kamara, who broke the deadlock after the break. “Chivas needed to win, and we needed to win.”
In the end, it looked like the Wizards simply wanted this one more. Despite the lack of action and cohesive play in the first 45 minutes, the second half played out much differently for both Kamara and Kansas City.
Instead of pulling back and playing for the draw, the Wizards took the onus on themselves to manufacture a result, using their pressing game to win the ball high up the field to handcuff Chivas’ attackers and hold the majority of possession.
“Our pressing was fantastic,” Vermes said. “It was difficult for them to play out of.”
And eventually that pressure and the possession that followed help set up the go-ahead goal.
Kamara opened the scoring in the 70th minute with an impressive bit of improvisation, heading the ball up and over his defender at the top of the 18-yard box before turning and smashing the ball just inside the post and past helpless Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton.
“It was like a dream,” said Kamara, who now has nine goals and four assists on the season. “After I flicked it, I got it in my head that I had to just go and I had to do it.”
And just 13 minutes later, Kamara fed fellow forward Teal Bunbury for the team’s second goal, a breakaway finish that put to bed any concerns about a sluggish first half.
“I thought in the first half we were a little hesitant to play it forward into the attack,” Vermes said. “We were just getting the feel of the game. But in the second half, our running off the ball excellent.”
The hope now is that the same form continues as the team returns home for the season’s defining stretch.
“This one is over now,” Kamara said. “We have to get back to KC, and get ready.”
