Kansas City chemistry beats New England Revolution formula 4-2

Shalrie Joseph gets a red card
Photo: AP Stephan Savoia

Saturday night, the Kansas City Wizards rediscovered their magic and beat the New England Revolution 4-2 in a match filled with highs and lows and capricious calls by the referee, apparently under the Wizards' spell. The quick feet and sharp teamwork of Claudio Lopez, Josh Wolff, and Davy Arnoud stymied New England's defense, who could not recover despite a second half surge and a massive strike by Edgaras Jankauskas, who earned MLS Goal of the Week. See Jankauskas' goal here.

The Wizards' win, the first under interim head coach Peter Vermes, was their first since June 13 and slightly increased their slim playoff hopes with 24 points and the sixth place slot in the Eastern Conference (6-10-6). The Revolution are tied for third place in the East with 33 points (9-7-6).

Shalrie Joseph ejected, Jankauskas shows up

Kansas City came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and in the third minute Claudio Lopez scored unassisted off defensive blunders by rookies Darrius Barnes and Kevin Alston.

After a weak start, the Revolution's game went straight south in the 23rd minute when midfielder Shalrie Joseph was ejected by referee Jason Anno for attacking the ball cleats-up though he made minimal or no contact with Jack Jewsbury. Anno has issued eight red card ejections in his 11 MLS games. KC capitalized on the momentum and earned an own goal off Jay Heaps and a reeling New England defense. In the 32nd minute coach Steve Nicol replaced Mauricio Castro with defensive midfielder Pat Phelan and in the 63rd replaced central defender Emmanuel Osei, who has a habit of playing the ball in front of the net, with Sainey Nyassi. 

Brad Knighton makes a save
Photo: AP Stephan Savoia

Jankauskus turned the tables on the Wizards with a long range blast in the 64th minute that gave New England a new head of steam.

"It was definitely a boost," said keeper Brad Knighton. "We were needing a spark, we were right back there in the game. I was kind of surprised when he hit it and all of a sudden it was in the back of the net and the place was going crazy."

Jankauskas attributed the long range goal to luck, but it's the leading contender for MLS Goal of the Week, the honor Wells Thompson won last week.

"Not every time you hit at that range the balls go in, but I was lucky," said Jankauskas. "The more important thing is that as a team we showed character in the second half with one man down. We never gave up, we fought till the end and we could have taken something from that game but unfortunately we didn’t. It was an even game, it didn’t even matter that we were one man down."

Josh Wolff responded with a goal in the 73rd minute and Kheli Dube, who replaced Jankauskas in the 74th minute, raised the noisy fans' hopes in the 81st minute by popping in a well-placed cross by Sainey Nyassi. Josh Wolff scored the final blow in extra time off a combination with Chance Myers and Jewsbury. 

Josh Wolff battles Darrius Barnes
Photo: AP Stephan Savoia

Knighton takes responsibility

Knighton, who made his sixth career start as goal keeper, took responsibility for Wolff's first goal.

"Lopez played a through ball and it was kind of a 50-50 ball," said Knighton, "and I went into it, but I don’t think I fully went into it as hard as I could. We met at the exact same time and my hands weren’t strong enough and it slipped right through my hands, so I’ll take all the credit on that one."

"We were trying to keep it manageable till half time," said Knighton, "and then come in here and make a couple changes and go back out and show everybody the real team that we are, the character that we have on this team. We did that in the second half and it stinks for the guys in this locker room because we know we could have won that game. The heart was there and the fans were behind us and it was the one we let slip away, even with a man down."

"New England works hard," said Josh Wolff, "they work toward the ball a lot and sometimes that pulls them out of position and allows a little more space. Again, I think our connection and passing was a little bit better, our coordination off the ball with the runs was a bit better."

September 5, 2009 - New England Revolution vs. Kansas City Wizards (Gillette Stadium)

Scoring Summary:
KC – Claudio Lopez (unassisted) 3
KC – Own Goal (Jay Heaps) 29
NE – Edgaras Jankauskas (unassisted) 64
KC – Josh Wolff (unassisted) 73
NE – Kheli Dube (Sainey Nyassi) 81
KC – Josh Wolff (Chance Myers, Jack Jewsbury) 91+

New England Revolution (4-4-2): Brad Knighton (GK), Jay Heaps, Emmanuel Osei (Sainey Nyassi 63), Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston, Mauricio Castro (Pat Phelan 32), Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Wells Thompson, Steve Ralston ©, Edgaras Jankauskas (Kheli Dube 74)

Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth (GK), Kenny Mansally, Chris Tierney, Mike Videira

STATS: Shots 8; Shots on Goal 5; Saves 4; Corner Kicks 2; Offsides 2; Fouls Committed 8

Kansas City Wizards (4-4-2): Kevin Hartman (GK), Michael Harrington, Jimmy Conrad ©, Matt Besler, Lance Watson, Claudio Lopez (Graham Zusi 89), Jack Jewsbury, Santiago Hirsig, Herculez Gomez (Chance Myers 63), Josh Wolff (Zoltan Hercegfalvi 93+), Davy Arnaud

Substitutes Not Used: Boris Pardo (GK), Aaron Hohlbein, Kurt Morsink, Abe Thompson

STATS: Shots 12; Shots on Goal 7; Saves 3; Corner Kicks 4; Offsides 3; Fouls Committed 8

Misconduct Summary:
NE – Shalrie Joseph (ejection) 23
NE – Wells Thompson (caution) 50
KC – Lance Watson (caution) 63

Referee: Jasen Anno

Attendance: 9,489

More reading:
For Frank Del'Apa's match report for the Boston Globe, click here.
For Sean Donahue's match report for Soccer New England, click here.
For Kyle McCarthy's match report for MLSnet click here.

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