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Kansas City Beats Real Salt Lake 2-0
A brace by Josh Wolff notched the first win for a visiting team in regular season play at Rio Tinto Stadium.
May 17, 2009 2:02:24 AM
The Kansas City Wizards did something that no other team had done in the regular season by beating Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. The 2-0 win came thanks to two goals by Josh Wolff as he and the Wizards punished the home team throughout the match.
RSL head coach Jason Kreis explained the loss after the game saying, "Just too many players had bad nights tonight. Bad nights – not average nights, not mediocre nights, but bad nights.”
First Half
Like many matches, the opening spell was a feeling-out period with neither team exerting superiority. The first real chance was by Real Salt Lake in the 6th minute, as forward Robbie Findley found the ball in the Wizards end and built up a head of steam heading down the center of the pitch. Two defenders chose to follow his fellow forward, Yura Movsisyan, who was pushing up field to Findley’s right. This opened up space for a shot as Findley entered the goal area, but attempt went right to 'keeper Kevin Hartman.
The Wizards' first chance came just three minutes later as Wolff slid a diagonal ball to the left side of the box to Claudio Lopez, who became open as defender Robbie Russell slid to stop the advance of the ball. Lopez was in alone on 'keeper Chris Seitz but his shot went wide of the far post.
It appeared that Kansas City would open the scoring in the 18th minute, when Wolff beat his man and distributed the ball to open midfielder Davy Arnaud, whose blast went straight to Chris Seitz.
In the 20th minute, midfielder Jack Jewsbury stole a pass and fed Wolff, who had timed his run perfectly. RSL defender Jamison Olave stepped forward just as the ball was delivered, leaving Wolff with nothing but green space ahead of him. Seitz slid forward at the edge of the box and managed to deflect the ball without handling it, but the ball popped up and caught Wolff’s knee, springing it toward the goal. Wolff’s momentum then carried him forward where he easily knocked the ball into the net for the opener.
Kansas City had started to assert their style of play until the 35th minute when RSL had a throw in to the left side of the field, and quickly switched the ball to the right side of the goal. Russell had pushed forward and settled the ball just outside of the box, to the right of the arc. His blast was parried wide by a diving Hartman. On the ensuing corner kick, Salt Lake had two chances at the ball, but could not connect. The first attempt by Kyle Beckerman was blocked by the traffic in front of the goal, and the Olave could not get his foot on the rebound.
As the half came to an end, Kansas City nearly netted another one. Wolff tried a pass across the goal mouth which was deflected by Olave. The ball settled just outside of the penalty area, but Jewsbury could not connect as he made a sliding shot on the ball.
Second Half
Real Salt Lake appeared set to start the second half with an equalizer as Clint Mathis set up Beckerman nicely for a shot, but it was saved by Hartman for a corner kick.
After that point, the Wizards appeared to try to turn the match into a possession game as they strung together a number of passes searching for an opening. They found that opening in the 67th minute when substitute Michael Harrington played a ball forward into the box to an onrushing Wolff. The ball went past the outstretched foot of sliding defender Nat Borchers. Wolff tapped the ball forward just as Seitz arrived at the ball, and the goalkeeper collided with Olave as the ball went bounding by him and into the net. Seitz ended up with a contusion to his right shoulder from the play.
Real Salt Lake responded with an attacking mentality for the remainder of the match, but Hartman came up big with several nice saves. RSL's best chance came in the 82nd minute when substitute striker Luis Escalada got off a side volley blast that hit the post.
Kansas City managed to dominate the game tactically. Individual play from veterans Wolff, Jewsbury and Lopez exploited the attacking style of RSL, using well timed runs against the high back line of Real Salt Lake and finding the open space wide that was vacated by the RSL fullbacks.
“We had a little bit to prove," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. We haven’t played well over the past couple of games. We’re a team that feels like we can be really good. We felt like we’ve been underperforming, so we challenged our guys and they rose to the challenge.”
For Kansas City this gave them 14 points on the season and their first win in their last four matches for a record of 4-4-2. They next play at home against Chivas on Saturday. For Real Salt Lake they dropped their first match at home, with only one point earned in the last four. They remain at 10 points on the season, with a 3-5-1 record. Next up they travel to DC United for a tough road test on Saturday.
Randy Davis covers Real Salt Lake for Goal.com
RSL head coach Jason Kreis explained the loss after the game saying, "Just too many players had bad nights tonight. Bad nights – not average nights, not mediocre nights, but bad nights.”
First Half
Like many matches, the opening spell was a feeling-out period with neither team exerting superiority. The first real chance was by Real Salt Lake in the 6th minute, as forward Robbie Findley found the ball in the Wizards end and built up a head of steam heading down the center of the pitch. Two defenders chose to follow his fellow forward, Yura Movsisyan, who was pushing up field to Findley’s right. This opened up space for a shot as Findley entered the goal area, but attempt went right to 'keeper Kevin Hartman.
The Wizards' first chance came just three minutes later as Wolff slid a diagonal ball to the left side of the box to Claudio Lopez, who became open as defender Robbie Russell slid to stop the advance of the ball. Lopez was in alone on 'keeper Chris Seitz but his shot went wide of the far post.
It appeared that Kansas City would open the scoring in the 18th minute, when Wolff beat his man and distributed the ball to open midfielder Davy Arnaud, whose blast went straight to Chris Seitz.
In the 20th minute, midfielder Jack Jewsbury stole a pass and fed Wolff, who had timed his run perfectly. RSL defender Jamison Olave stepped forward just as the ball was delivered, leaving Wolff with nothing but green space ahead of him. Seitz slid forward at the edge of the box and managed to deflect the ball without handling it, but the ball popped up and caught Wolff’s knee, springing it toward the goal. Wolff’s momentum then carried him forward where he easily knocked the ball into the net for the opener.
Kansas City had started to assert their style of play until the 35th minute when RSL had a throw in to the left side of the field, and quickly switched the ball to the right side of the goal. Russell had pushed forward and settled the ball just outside of the box, to the right of the arc. His blast was parried wide by a diving Hartman. On the ensuing corner kick, Salt Lake had two chances at the ball, but could not connect. The first attempt by Kyle Beckerman was blocked by the traffic in front of the goal, and the Olave could not get his foot on the rebound.
As the half came to an end, Kansas City nearly netted another one. Wolff tried a pass across the goal mouth which was deflected by Olave. The ball settled just outside of the penalty area, but Jewsbury could not connect as he made a sliding shot on the ball.
Second Half
Real Salt Lake appeared set to start the second half with an equalizer as Clint Mathis set up Beckerman nicely for a shot, but it was saved by Hartman for a corner kick.
After that point, the Wizards appeared to try to turn the match into a possession game as they strung together a number of passes searching for an opening. They found that opening in the 67th minute when substitute Michael Harrington played a ball forward into the box to an onrushing Wolff. The ball went past the outstretched foot of sliding defender Nat Borchers. Wolff tapped the ball forward just as Seitz arrived at the ball, and the goalkeeper collided with Olave as the ball went bounding by him and into the net. Seitz ended up with a contusion to his right shoulder from the play.
Real Salt Lake responded with an attacking mentality for the remainder of the match, but Hartman came up big with several nice saves. RSL's best chance came in the 82nd minute when substitute striker Luis Escalada got off a side volley blast that hit the post.
Kansas City managed to dominate the game tactically. Individual play from veterans Wolff, Jewsbury and Lopez exploited the attacking style of RSL, using well timed runs against the high back line of Real Salt Lake and finding the open space wide that was vacated by the RSL fullbacks.
“We had a little bit to prove," said Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo. We haven’t played well over the past couple of games. We’re a team that feels like we can be really good. We felt like we’ve been underperforming, so we challenged our guys and they rose to the challenge.”
For Kansas City this gave them 14 points on the season and their first win in their last four matches for a record of 4-4-2. They next play at home against Chivas on Saturday. For Real Salt Lake they dropped their first match at home, with only one point earned in the last four. They remain at 10 points on the season, with a 3-5-1 record. Next up they travel to DC United for a tough road test on Saturday.
Randy Davis covers Real Salt Lake for Goal.com
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