The red-hot Kansas City Wizards are home tonight for a New York Red Bulls squad coming off its first win — and first two goals not as a result of an own goal — of the year.
After losing its first two games of the year, the Wizards have reeled off three consecutive victories and currently sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, two points behind leaders Chicago. After scoring a brace in the final 12 minutes to forge a 2-2 draw with the Fire, Josh Wolff is the reigning MLS Player of the Week, while the Red Bulls will be led by the scoring tandem of Juan Pablo Angel and Mac Kandji, who combined for both goals in a 2-0 win against Real Salt Lake Saturday night.
It is Jimmy Conrad bobblehead night at CommunityAmerica Ballpark (insert your joke here). I will be providing commentary of the match throughout the night and, as always, we at SBI encourage reader feedback, as well.
Sit back and enjoy.
FINAL — The game is over and Lopez's penalty kick early in the first half holds up for the Wizards, who are now unbeaten in four straight games. While KC gets the three points, the Wizards didn't do themselves any favors with a predictable vanilla attack. The Red Bulls, meanwhile, showed great effort, but were done in by the second red card of Carlos Johnson's young MLS career.
The Red Bulls will return home Sunday to host Eastern Conference rival D.C. United, while the Wizards head to Toronto to take on TFC on Sunday.
Thanks everyone for checking in and making this another successful live commentary. Hope you enjoyed it, even if the game might have left a lot to be desired for you.
90+1 MINUTE — We're in first of two minutes of stoppage time and Hartman comes up with the game-saving stop, robbing Angel, who got a piece of Mbuta's flick in the box.
90TH MINUTE — Sassano with a deep throw, but couldn't find a teammate. Espinoza, on the other end, blows a chance to kill the game, missing the net badly on a spinning attempt.
89TH MINUTE — Desperation time for the Red Bulls. By the way, apparently some of you do not quite get my sarcasm. I'm aware Johnson will be suspended Sunday against D.C. The Open Cup game is Wednesday against San Jose, btw.
86TH MINUTE — Angel lays off a long ball from Stammler. Ubiparipovic steps up to hit the shot, but it is deflected away.
83RD MINUTE — Angel is visible frustrated with Mbuta, who failed on a give-and-go. Red Bulls with a free kick from distance. Angel and Pacheco are over the ball. Angel takes it and fires well over the net from 30 yards out.
81ST MINUTE — Pacheco with solid defending on Kraus and wins a free kick. Mbuta and Richards shank chances on the other end for the Red Bulls. If this scoreline holds up, you've got to think neither team will be happy with the result. Sure, the Wizards will extend an unbeaten streak to four games, but they weren't dangerous enough with the extra man. And the Red Bulls surely will rue the early red card and the inability to take the game when it was up for grabs.
79TH MINUTE — Espinoza tries to connect with Harrington on an overlapping run, but the ball eludes Harrington and KC again loses possession.
76TH MINUTE — Kansas City is just looking to hold possession and kill the game in the final quarter hour. Gomez comes off for Kraus, while Ubiparipovic is on for Mendes.
74TH MINUTE — Richards with a hopeful run down the flank, but the ball deflects off of him and out. On the other end, Wolff takes a touch and fires a shot into Conway from the edge of the 18.
67TH MINUTE — This game is there for the Red Bulls to at least get an equalizer. Espinoza is on for Besler. Conway makes a big save on a Hohlein attempt.
64TH MINUTE — Richards is fouled at the edge of the box. Pacheco takes the free kick and curls it just over the bar.
59TH MINUTE — Dane Richards comes on to bring some pace off the bench, replacing Kandji for the Red Bulls' second change of the game.
55TH MINUTE — Some miscommunication between Conway and Mendes as the defender plays the ball away with Conway calling for it. Dellacamera suggests perhaps Mendes couldn't hear Conway. Really? I think fans in New Brunswick heard him.
52ND MINUTE — Borman does a good job putting pressure on the ball and he is fouled by the left touchline. Pacheco to take. Angel off a deflection rips a shot into Hartman, who punches the Red Bulls' first shot on goal away.
49TH MINUTE — Mbuta takes a long cross off his chest and does a good job to force a corner. Borman takes it far post, but it deflects out and KC is off on a counter. Harrington pings a ball to the far post, but Wolff isn't able to corral the ball and it goes out for a goal kick.
46TH MINUTE — Second half just started and the Red Bulls make one change — Luke Sassano is on for Rojas.
HALFTIME — So I'm reading some of the comments now that it's halftime and I'm intrigued by the comment made by "Someone who has played soccer." Guess what? You're right, I haven't played soccer. Point for you. But I think I know a thing or three about the sport. I know what a keeper is supposed to do on that play, but you clearly think what he did was good? Did he attempt to dive to one side? Make it difficult for the PK taker? He just fell over like he was drunk. And I do know a thing or two about that, too.
HALFTIME – The early penalty kick holds up and the Wizards head into the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
45+1 MINUTE — Gomez with a shot from about 22 yards out, but it's punched away by Conway.
44TH MINUTE — First half is winding down. KC still leads, but the Red Bulls have done well to keep themselves in the game.
36TH MINUTE — After being a bit shellshocked in the early moments after Johnson's red card, the Red Bulls have done a good job of late with possession and getting into the attacking third.
34TH MINUTE — Pacheco takes a free kick from distance and hits a low, hard shot, but it well wide to Hartman's left.
32ND MINUTE — Harrington now comes up for Jewsbury for the game's first substitution. Curt Onolfo gave Jewsbury a chance to clear the cobwebs, but saw something he clearly didn't like and made the move.
29TH MINUTE — Rojas slips a great ball through to Kandji on a counter, but Kandji missed the net badly. Conrad gets booked for a harsh tackle on Rojas at the top of the box.
26TH MINUTE — Pacheco with a deep throw, attempted to give Mbuta his first taste of the ball, but he missed the flick header and Angel fouls in the box.
23RD MINUTE — Gomez shot deflects out for a corner, third for the Wizards. Lopez goes far post where Gomez attempts a diving header, but Conway dives to his left to push the ball away.
22ND MINUTE — Wizards again called for offside. Every venture into the attacking third looks like a dangerous one for KC. Congratulations Carlos Johnson, you've been awarded the earliest red card in Red Bulls history.
20TH MINUTE — Jewsbury is up, but appears groggy. Michael Harrington may come on. Lopez takes the free kick from the right edge of the 18-yard box, but puts it right into Conway's chest.
17TH MINUTE — Mendes with a hard foul on Jewsbury, who remains on the grass. This will be a dangerous scoring chance for the Wizards once Jewsbury is carried off. Mendes lunged forward in an attempt to play the ball, but missed and collided with Jewsbury.
15TH MINUTE — Another wasted corner for KC. Wizards, of course, have the better of possession. Wolff gets off a cross and Conway leaps up to grab it with no target man in sight.
12TH MINUTE — Lopez with a great service from the left, forcing Conway to dive off his line to get a paw on the cross but Wolff is offside on the play.
10TH MINUTE — Rojas dances on the ball at the top of the box, but held on to the ball way too long. Wizards get out on a quick counter, but Conway grabs Gomez's attempted cross to Wolff.
EIGHTH MINUTE — I might be going out on a limb here, but I think Jeremy Hall will find his way back in the starting lineup for the Red Bulls against D.C. on Sunday. First corner goes to KC, but Conway grabs Lopez's attempt. And back to the penalty kick, I might be nitpicking here, but Conway needs to do a little better than just falling to one side.
FIFTH MINUTE — Johnson took a poor touch on the ball and it fell right to Gomez. He desperately tried to lunge back and knock the ball away, but clearly got the man and he is sent off for a second time this season. Pacheco has pushed over to the right and Borman has dropped back to fill the void on the left.
THIRD MINUTE — GOAL KANSAS CITY. Claudio Lopez had no problem pushing the ball past goalkeeper Jon Conway, slotting the ball to his right as Conway guessed left. 1-0 KC.
SECOND MINUTE — Penalty kick for the Wizards and a straight red card issued by referee Michael Kennedy as Herculez Gomez is tripped by Carlos Johnson in the box. That's two red cards for the Costa Rican international and changes the entire course of the game.
PREGAME — We've got lineups for you.
Kansas City Wizards
——————Lopez———-Wolff—————-
Arnaud——————–Hirsig——————Gomez
————————Jewsbury————————
Besler——–Hohlbein———Conrad———Watson
————————–Hartman————————–
Bench: Pardo, Kraus, Thompson, Morsink, Espinoza, McKenzie, Harrington
New York Red Bulls
———————Angel——–Kandji——————
Borman——————–Rojas—————–Mbuta
————————Stammler————————-
Pacheco——Goldthwaite——–Mendes——–Johnson
————————–Conway————————–
BENCH- Cepero, Wolyniec, Sassano, Ubiparipovic, Boyens, Smith, Richards
Bulls deserved a point, Mean nothing and may not actually help but a very positive performance that should be a building block
All of a sudden they want to score.
When the fans behind that goal see Arnaud winding up for a long range strike, do they get excited or duck and cover?
He should be shot for missing that! Twice!
I’m not looking to drag the conversation back to the poor quality of the MLS, but I think Arena hit the nail right on the head a few years ago when he said that MLS teams need motivation.
We have not touched on that. There is more than just a skill difference. If this league was setup like a lot of other leagues around the world with the exact same players, this league would be considerably better. There’s just no real need to win a lot of games until the end of the season.
Went back and looked– ref blew it on the handball no call after Mbuta was loose in the box. Terrible.
@aristotle
Agreed. 1-1 is really the fair result.
That was an excellent field goal. Right through the middle of the uprights with plenty of height.
Shawn M. Smith:
I guess I walked right in to that one!
damn, i’ve got watson as a midfielder in my fantasy league. he is playing in defense!
This game should finish 1-1. K.C. doesn’t deserve to win this game.
“Take our present national team pool and remove all the guys who never developed in MLS. Yep.”
Precisely. There is no doubt that US soccer is much improved today – in just 13 years – thanks to MLS.
So, it’s agreed. The league sucks and we should all stop watching now.
@aristotle Don’t want to be too much of a jerk, but the EPL was only founded in 1992, so it’s technically 17 years old 😛
ahh dane richards and is awful touch, knew i was watching a rbny game
“It’s debatable how much MLS is helping US soccer when all of our best young players leave the league and most teams replace that talent with cheap internationals, since that’s all they can afford under the frugal salary cap.”
Take our present national team pool and remove all the guys who never developed in MLS. Yep.
Sure Eugene, this isn’t the most attractive game any of us have ever watched, and sure, plenty of more young players are getting to watch European games, and yes, that is a good thing. But to sit and complain about the production and all is what bothers me most, when at least you’re able to watch it, unlike we can other “fringe” sports in most regions. There’s Lacrosse leagues, we only get the finals of the biggest, and I think that may not be around anymore. Just watch the game and comment on it, just don’t whine about ESPN doing what they do.
There are some thoughts best left unsaid. One of those thoughts is “MLS is not as good as EPL, so why am I watching”. Everyone thinks it, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the world wants to hear it constantly repeated over and over again.
On an unrelated note, Jon Conway rocks!
Oooh Braden, I’m whining, oooh you’ve got me shaking in my boots now with your tough talk.
Open your eyes man. I’m calling a spade a spade, this is crap. Even the commentators are disappointed.
I do care about US soccer; I’m strictly commenting on MLS. It’s debatable how much MLS is helping US soccer when all of our best young players leave the league and most teams replace that talent with cheap internationals, since that’s all they can afford under the frugal salary cap.
BTW, I think most of the young soccer talent in this country is also watching foreign leagues and looking at world-class, star players as role models, rather than MLS guys. I think most young players in this country would do better watching Chelsea and Man United play (just as examples, not strictly picking those teams) than watching guys in MLS hack their way through the sport.
only thing that we could remotely compare mls to is the A-league and even that isnt the best that started in 2004. Harkes is never positive is he?
Eugene:
If everybody felt the way you do, there would never be any start-up leagues ever again. It’s painful but it’s an infant league up against massive competition. If the EPL had started 14 years ago how do you think they would look right now?
@Eugene
I’d invite you to do so because your rather pathetic whining about the quality of MLS is tiring. It is what it is. I watch it because I care about U.S. soccer. If you don’t, than good for you.
pacheco at least is looking like a good move
Also, Ives is not doing this commentary
JoeW, as long as that red card holds up, Johnson is guaranteed not to start. He’ll be suspended.
Yawn, waah waah. This game is pretty mediocre, and not just because of the card. Watching Gomez shank balls is pretty sad too. ESPN may be “trying” but this is a competitive business and a competitive market, and their production usually leaves a lot to be desired for soccer, whatever they do with other sports (NHL). I really couldn’t care less about how it fits into their whole programming, as a soccer fan I just want to get the best possible product when I turn on the TV and put my time into watching.
Seriously, with MLS this year, I really wonder how I’m not better served spending the few hours a week watching soccer in the EPL, La Liga, Serie A or Bundesliga. That’s just me. I know plenty love to watch Argentine, Brazilian or Mexican soccer and those also are a better product than this.
I’ve been watching MLS because it’s the local product. But when I speak with other soccer fans IN THE US, I find it hard to convince people they should be watching this when so much better soccer is available on TV. Makes me wonder if I should just do what they do and watch the good stuff (with the good calls, the good teams and the good players).
Haha, good response Dylan.
“someone who has played soccer”, you do realize that lots of people who have played soccer have no idea how to analyze it, right? BTW, this is coming from someone who has player soccer with many other people who have also played soccer.
This is a disgraceful game from K.C. They are begging to drop points.
dc game isnt an open game
Ives–great work (as usual). But one small point I’ll differ with you on: Johnson is almost guaranteed to start this weekend now against DC United. Here’s why:
–4 games in 10 days. You’ve got to rest someone. Johnson got his rest this game (played about 10 minutes) and will get his rest in game #3 (against SJ because of the suspension) and quite possibly in game #4 (against LAG).
–he isn’t suspended against DCU b/c that’s a USOC match.
–I think you want give Hall a break (so he’s not playing 3 matches 7 days) or at least have the option of playing him at midfield against DCU.
RBNY is doing very well to go in down only 1 goal. They’ve got the team speed with guys like Kandji and Mbuta to grab an equalizer on a counter. Where I think it’s really bad news is that regardless of how this plays out, the guys who play in this game are going to leave very tired. And that’s a tough way to start a 4 games in 10 days swing (with 3 on the road).
good for johnson becoming a mls record holder…a little late but that 1st half performance was encouraging imop,
Interesting. I was waiting for the replay of the red card foul since I missed it in the game. They showed it once very quickly from one angle and there was no debate at all.
It certainly wasn’t a tackle from behind. I couldn’t see if it was a clear goal scoring opportunity from that replay, but judging by the location of the foul in the penalty area it wouldn’t usually be an obvious goalscoring opportunity unless it was a case of the last man.
RBNY plays just as well a man down as they do with 11 on the field
“This is why people who have never played soccer should not be allowed to write about the sport.”
Stupid statement. There are many people who can understand the subtle nuances without playing: coaches, referees, anyone capable of learning and watching. Using your example, Peter Gammons of ESPN shouldn’t take about baseball because he never played? That’s just ignorant. The reason the “Con man” was caught falling the other way is that he can’t be taught advanced goalkeeper strategy (distribution, counter attack, defense organization) and never learned how to read PKs.
He makes big saves, he’s a shot stopper, but no one would confuse him for Keller, Friedel or even Tim Howard, all of whom studied with the best – Doc Machnik or Dan Gaspar. You’d be crazy to pretend that Des (GK coach who worked under Gaspar) isn’t trying, Jon is just not “cerebral”.
80% of the time he’s not going to make a save on a PK. That’s not his fault, but for a key use of size to intimidate, look at Friedel’s defense of PKs.
I’m not saying it should be done at all times, but when you have the personell (sp?) and opportunity, it’s okay to let it fly if you ask me.
Sorry, last one @Jacob…
USA U-17’s destroyed Canada, 4-2. Game was not as close the scoreline would have it. We qualify for the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.
ETJ,
That was a good one! I had forgotten about that one…
But that’s how the long throw seduces you. Once in awhile it will produce an outstanding goal and then before you know it you’ve signed a $30 million defender because he played minor league baseball in Texas.
Red card was harsh although Johnson probably deserved a red card for that diabolical first touch that got him in problem in the first place !
He is also someone who has not read who’s doing the commentary…
Anyone know how the U-17 team did against canada
Braden and David, here’s an example, at the 35 second mark. No, it’s not direct, but it’s also how plenty of corners and fk’s lead to goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKygZ35zwHk
Someone who has played soccer is NOT someone who has read the comments.
USA wins 4-2, goals by McInerney, Lletget, and Gyau. Nigeria Bound baby!
“I might be nitpicking here, but Conway needs to do a little better than just falling to one side.”
This is why people who have never played soccer should not be allowed to write about the sport. Ugh. While your ability to get interesting news is superb, Ives, your knowledge of the technical aspects of soccer are virtually nonexistent.
Good to hear Harkes criticize Gomez on that shot. Better than blind cheerleading
Doesn’t it seem like everyone is doing a long throw these days. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one lead to a goal. It’s just like the short corner.
you’d think KC would be dominating but they aren’t. and can both team stop the long throw in.
“I’ve watched a lot of games and I haven’t seen such bush league calls in other leagues”
You haven’t watched nearly enough soccer then. What league in the world is without debateable to downright horrible calls?
That was a comparative creampuff – the red card was more than fair.
And why the hell would UEFA care about what ESPN does during USNT and MLS matches?