Two weeks ago, the Kansas City Wizards hoped that a two game home stand could reverse their fortunes. However, the Wizards could only take one point from both games, and after Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Columbus, the club’s winless streak reached six games.

The loss to Columbus was a microcosm of Kansas City’s winless streak. The Wizards enjoyed more of the ball throughout the game and created far more opportunities than their opponents, but they simply could not find a way to score. Meanwhile, a huge defensive blunder led to Columbus’ only goal, an Emilio Renteria wide-open header in the six hard box.

Kansas City must now travel to the Wasatch Front and face a Salt Lake squad that has not lost at home all season. The defending champions enter Saturday’s game on the heels of a 2-1 road win over Chivas USA. Defender Chris Wingert scored in first half stoppage time, but Chivas appeared that they would at least take a point from the game when Justin Braun equalized in the 80th minute. However, the visitors stole all three points when Fabian Espindola received a clever pass from Alvaro Saborio and drove a shot past goalkeeper Zach Thornton.

Both teams will be missing key players due to injuries and World Cup call ups. For Kansas City, Roger Espinoza is with the Honduran World Cup squad, and Michael Harrington will once again slide over to the left side to cover Espinoza’s spot in the back line. Midfielder Stephane Auvray will miss his third consecutive game as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery. Jack Jewsbury will remain in the holding midfield position, where he will have to keep a close watch on Javier Morales as well as initiate Wizards attacks.

Real Salt Lake will not have Robbie Findley after the striker’s surprise selection in the American World Cup squad. However, Salt Lake has quality depth at the forward position, particularly with Saborio and Espindola scoring several goals already this season. The depth in midfield will be tested with Kyle Beckerman missing the game after suffering a foot injury last week against Chivas USA. Jean Alexandre came on for Beckerman after his injury, but Ned Grabavoy may also feature. Whether it is Alexandre or Grabavoy, it will be a major task for Salt Lake to replace their do-everything captain, and it could benefit the Wizards captain Davy Arnaud, who excels in making storming runs forward from central midfield.

The form book would indicate an easy victory for Salt Lake, particularly due to their impressive record at home. However, the game may not prove to be so simple. Other than the 3-0 loss to Houston in which they played over half of the game with 10 men, Kansas City has not played played off the park during this losing streak. In fact, they have out shot opponents by more than a two to one margin in their last three games. Real would also be wise to remember when a Kansas City team struggling to find victories came to Rio Tinto Stadium and left 2-0 winners. It was Salt Lake’s last defeat and home, and it serves as a reminder that recent form is not the be-all and end-all.

Still, if the Wizards want to pull the upset, they must turn their possession into goals and avoid the defensive miscues that have plagued them for over a month. Head coach Peter Vermes feels that his team is significantly better than last year. However, they must start to find some victories, or 2010 could end just as 2009 did.

Wizards Unbeaten Run Extends to 7

For the Kansas City Wizards, Sunday’s game at CommunityAmerica Ballpark against the Columbus Crew seemed like a recurring nightmare. The home side had more of the play and created more scoring chances than their opponent and seemed the livelier of the two sides. Once again, however, lack of finishing and an error in the back gave the Wizards a disappointing result.

This time, it was a wide open Emilio Renteria header midway through the second half that gave the still unbeaten Crew the victory over Kansas City and left the Wizards looking for answers.

“I am very frustrated,” said head coach Peter Vermes. “There are a lot of games where have played well. We just haven’t gotten it.”

Vermes made three changes in his starting lineup from last Saturday against Chicago. Jonathan Leathers received his first start of the season in place of Roger Espinoza, who is currently with the Honduran National Team. Matt Besler regained his spot in the back line in favor of Pablo Escobar, who seemed particularly at fault for several opposition goals, and rookie Teal Bunbury, who set up the late equalizer against the Fire last week, started in place of veteran Josh Wolff.

Kansas City looked to apply pressure early and often against a Crew side that had played only three days prior against New York. Columbus was able to absorb most of the pressure thanks to a back line anchored by Andy Iro, and in the tenth minute, they nearly capitalized on the Wizards high defensive line. Guillermo Barros Schelotto played in Eddie Gaven behind the Kansas City defense, but Jimmy Nielsen denied the Crew winger and kept the game scoreless.

For the rest of a rather first half, Columbus seemed content to sit back and preserve their energy on a warm, humid afternoon, and the home side were relegated to hopeful shots from distance. In the last minute of the first half, the Wizards nearly had the breakthrough. Graham Zusi, getting his second consecutive start for the injured Stephane Auvray, stormed down the left side and played a ball to Kamara at the top of the penalty area. Kamara laid the ball back to an onrushing Davy Arnaud. Arnaud’s wicked drive beat goalkeeper Will Hesmer, but the ball glanced the goalpost and out for a goal kick.

Kansas City maintained their pressure after halftime, and they nearly broke through again in the 47th minute. Bunbury beat Danny O’Roarke to the byline, but his cross was just off the mark as Kamara could not direct his header on goal. Less than a minute later, Bunbury stormed forward through the middle of the field. Bunbury control, but was able to tap it back to Zusi, who blasted a shot just wide from 20 yards.

Poor defending, however, reared its ugly head once again for the Wizards in the 64th minute. From a Schelotto corner kick, substitute Emilio Renteria was left criminally unmarked in the six yard box, and the Venezuelan headed home his second goal in as many games.

The Wizards had two opportunities to equalize in the later stages of the game. In the 71st minute, Ryan Smith’s tempting cross looked like it would result in an easy Kamara goal, but Iro intervened with an excellent last ditch header. In stoppage time, substitute Birahim Diop played a ball into fellow substitute Wolff. Wolff controlled the ball well, but he could not direct his half-volley on target. The last chance came one minute later when Kamara’s low cross just missed a sliding Wolff as Hesmer secured the loose ball and the Crew victory.

In the end, it was a game that seems to separate the top teams from the rest of the league. The Crew had everything going against them in this game, but they found a way to steal three points. For all of the Wizards efforts, they simply could not get a postive result, which has become a rather disturbing pattern for the club.

“I think we are a better team than our record shows right now,” said Arnaud after the game. “But having said that, we have got to get results.”

Shalrie Joseph has returned to the New England Revolution and will join the team for today’s match against Toronto FC. Joseph’s absence left the Revs in a difficult bind; without him they have been winless in their last six league matches. ASN’s Hank Alexandre has full coverage.

No rest for the productive. The Columbus Crew visit the Kansas City Wizards after a midweek victory at Red Bull Arena. The visitors bring a three game winning streak into CommunityAmerica Ballpark, while the home side is winless in their last five. One of those streaks will end. Which one will it be? Nate Brinson provides a preview of the affair.

Further west, Jason Kreis’ Real Salt Lake squad looks to keep the momentum going against Chivas USA. It was last week’s result — a 3-1 win over the Dynamo — that gave Real a surge of confidence. “It was huge – biggest game of the season for us so far,” said captain Kyle Beckerman. Kali Korbis reports from Salt Lake City.

Kamara Double Rescues Wizards

Never has a wide open sitter caused so much consternation for so many. With the home side Kansas City Wizards trailing 2-1 in the 89th minute, Chicago Fire goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra failed to control Teal Bunbury’s tight angle shot, and Kei Kamara found himself all alone in front of a gaping goal.

Less than a month ago in similar circumstances, the Wizards striker garnered worldwide attention when he slipped, missed the ball, and handled on his way to the ground. This time, Kamara remained on his feet and easily tapped it in to complete a two goal, second-half comeback for the Wizards.

“This time I was wearing blue shoes,” joked Kamara after the match. “It’s kind of a blessing to have kind of a do-over less than a month apart.”

“I hope this gets as much attention as the other goal he missed, and people will say that ‘look, the guy came back and made it in the same situation,’” added head coach Peter Vermes.

The tap in was a great relief not only to Kamara, but to his teammates, coaches and fans after nearly 90 minutes of near misses and bad luck for the home side.

Both the Wizards and the Fire entered the game coming off bad losses in their previous games, and it was the visitors who had the better start. Collins John was denied a penalty in the 12th minute, but two minutes later when Logan Pause played in Marco Pappa as defender Pablo Escobar failed to step up with the rest of his teammates. Pappa found Julio Martinez at the far post, and the Salvadoran beat both Roger Espinoza and goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen to the ball to give the Fire the lead.

Kansas City seemed destined to draw level in the 26th minute when Dykstra fumbled a Ryan Smith corner kick. Escobar’s shot was cleared off the line by Pappa. Escobar tapped the rebound to Jimmy Conrad, but his shot was blocked. The ball came to Jack Jewsbury, but his shot was also blocked before Dykstra made a key save on Jewsbury’s rebound attempt before John finally cleared the danger.

The Wizards thought they had an equalizer before halftime when Davy Arnaud’s shot from 25 yards out beat Dykstra, but referee Michael Kennedy disallowed the goal as he had just blown the play dead to tend to injured Fire forward Wilman Conde. Arnaud and his teammate’s were furious with the decision as Conde had been on the ground for some time, but Kennedy waved away the protests.

“It was definitely frustrating,” said Arnaud. “It would have come at a good time for us.”

The frustration grew less than three minutes after the opening of the second half. Patrick Nyarko found space on the right wing and slipped a clever pass into substitute Brian McBride. The veteran striker made no mistake as his first time shot beat Nielsen to the far post to give the visitors a two goal lead.

However, instead of sulking over a two goal deficit as well as the dreadful conditions, the home side gained a vital lifeline two minutes later as Smith cut inside and played a pass to Kamara. Kamara turned away from CJ Brown and beat Dykstra from just outside the area to cut Chicago’s lead in half.

Smith then had two chances to equalizein the next 20 minutes only to be denied by Dykstra. Just after the hour mark, he out-foxed both Nyarko and Baggio Husidic, but Dykstra turned Smith’s right-footed shot around the post. In the 71st minute, Jimmy Conrad played an excellent ball through to Smith, but the Englishman’s half-volley was stopped by the Fire’s rookie goalkeeper.

The Wizards found their moment in the 89th minute when Bunbury turned away from Husidic and drove past Krzysztof Krol towards the byline before firing a shot. The ball slipped under Dykstra, and Kamara delicately placed in the equalizer for his second of the game.

Kansas City did not seem content with a two goal comeback and in stoppage time, the home side came close to getting a winner. Jewsbury forced a turnover just outside the Chicago penalty area, but Josh Wolff’s turnaround half-volley just missed finding the top corner.

It was a terrific comeback, but the Wizards were also disappointed in only getting a draw. Kansas City let in to soft goals in their 2-1 loss to DC United last Thursday, and Vermes was upset with his defense again against the Fire.

“We gave up two soft goals. I can tell you right now that will not become a theme,” said a frustrated Vermes. “We have to be able to keep the ball out of the back of the net.”

“We got to get better about the mistakes in the back as a team,” added Espinoza, who played his last match with the Wizards before joining the Honduran national team for their World Cup preparations.

Still, Kansas City can take satisfaction at being able to storm back after trailing by two goals, and perhaps the club has figured a way to end their goal scoring problems.

“One of the things we wanted to see with this team was how we would react when we went down by a couple of goals,” said Vermes. “Obviously, the resiliency of the group to get back in the game was excellent.”

The LA Galaxy hoped to send Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle off to national team camp in style, with a win over Toronto FC Saturday night at the Home Depot Center. It didn’t happen thanks in no small part to the exploits of TFC keeper Stefan Frei. “A goalkeeper can always be a great equalizer in our sport and he was great tonight,” Donovan said of Frei’s effort after the match. Still, the 0-0 draw allows the Galaxy to keep their unbeaten start to the season intact. ASN’s Ivan Yeo reports from Carson, Calif.

Three thousand miles away, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., Fred Montero single-handedly put an end to the New York Red Bulls unbeaten run at their new ground. Montero slotted home the only goal of the match in the 85th minute. ASN has tons of coverage from that match.

Down the road in Philadelphia, FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea scored his first ever MLS regular season goal, which stood up until the very last minute of stoppage time when Philadelphia’s Danny Mwanga got his first career goal. The Union rookie rocketed a shot from just inside the box for a 1-1 final at Lincoln Financial Field. Breton Bonnette wrote a match report while Sam Toma rated the Philadelphia players.

Philip Woodruff followed the proceedings from Dallas and supplied a match report and FC Dallas player ratings.

In the nation’s capital, the Colorado Rapids ended one of the longest streaks in MLS history, defeating DC United 1-0 at RFK Stadium for the first time in 11 years and sending the home side further into the abyss of the MLS table. Chris Snear has that report.

For just the second time this season and the first time in over a month, the New England Revolution were able to keep a clean sheet as they held their opponents the San Jose Earthquakes scoreless. Although the Revs were not able to find the back of the net themselves, they proved not only to have the defensive mettle necessary to earn a draw, but showed strength in the midfield for the second league game in a row. Hank Alexandre reports from Gillette Stadium.

Finally, in Kansas City, with the home side trailing 2-1 in the 89th minute, Kei Kamara found himself all alone in front of a gaping goal. Less than a month ago in similar circumstances, the Wizards striker garnered worldwide attention when he slipped, missed the ball, and handled on his way to the ground. This time, Kamara remained on his feet and easily tapped it in to complete a two goal, second-half comeback for the Wizards. “This time I was wearing blue shoes,” Kamara explained after the match, which was covered by Nate Brinson.