Fire Mapp out a win against Wizards
Chicago moves into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with the victory, two points ahead of New England and one behind third place D.C. United. Once again, Kansas City remains in a first place tie in the Western Conference with Los Angeles.
The Wizards answered Mapp's early goal through a Josh Wolff header, but an inspired Fire side that desperately needed to claim all the points overran the visitors. Alex Zotinca didn't help the Wizards' cause when he was sent off in the 75th minute for elbowing C.J. Brown in the head.
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The breakthrough that Chicago needed came in the 23rd minute when Mapp put away his second goal of the season. Williams gained possession in the center circle and picked out Mapp with a diagonal through ball. After a couple of touches in the Kansas City box, Mapp finished to the back post for the early lead.
Gray had a chance to double the lead just a minute later, but his shot towards the near post skewed wide of the mark.
In the 33rd minute Jaqua had yet another look at Bo Oshoniyi's goal after a clever give-and-go with Jesse Marsch. However, Jaqua couldn't find the open twine at the back post and the ball missed wide of the right post.
Kansas City pulled level shortly after the half-hour mark through Wolff. Davy Arnaud set up his fellow front-runner with a cross from the flank and Wolff did the rest, beating Evan Whitfield to the ball and heading past Fire goalkeeper D.J. Countess, who started the match in place of the Fire's regular starting 'keeper Henry Ring.
The Wizards looked to inject some offense into their game for the second half when the 2003 MLS MVP Preki entered off the substitute's bench. Whitfield welcomed him to the game almost immediately with a cracking tackle, for which the Fire defender earned a yellow card.
Chicago's dominance continued in the second stanza as they pressed forward in search of a second goal. Williams often got himself involved in the attack, and he put Chicago on top in the 67th minute. Mapp repaid Williams for his assist in the first half by turning provider on the Jamaican's third strike of the season. Ralph played the ball down the right flank to Mapp, who delivered a cross through the box to Williams for the easy finish.
The advantage was extended four minutes later on a very similar play, Mapp recording his fourth point of the night when he assisted on substitute Capano's goal. Another Mapp cross from the right made it into the Wizards' box and Williams tried to get on the end of it. He went down in the box under a challenge and looked to referee Hector Tobon for a call, but Capano was on hand to sweep the ball into the net to secure the result.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors at when Zotinca was shown the red card for a violent elbow on Brown. After consulting with his assistant, Tobon gave Zotinca his marching orders and the Wizards were reduced to 10 men. Williams narrowly missed adding a second goal on the night when his 87th minute shot beat Oshoniyi, but struck the crossbar before being cleared by the Kansas City defense.
Both sides have a short turnaround time before their next MLS match with all 10 MLS teams in action this Saturday. Kansas City will face another Eastern Conference opponent when they host the MetroStars (8:30 p.m. ET) and Chicago stays home where they will welcome D.C. United in an Eastern Conference match with major playoff consequences for both sides (8 p.m. ET).
MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Justin Mapp (Chicago Fire)
Kansas City Wizards (10-8-5) vs. Chicago Fire (6-10-8)
September 01, 2004 -- Soldier Field
Scoring Summary:
CHI -- Justin Mapp 2 (Andy Williams 6) 23
KC -- Josh Wolff 7 (Davy Arnaud 7) 36
CHI -- Andy Williams 3 (Justin Mapp 3, Damani Ralph 3) 67
CHI -- Craig Capano 1 (Andy Williams 7, Justin Mapp 4) 71
Kansas City Wizards -- Bo Oshoniyi, Taylor Graham, Nick Garcia, Shavar Thomas, Jose Burciaga Jr., Igor Simutenkov (Preki 46), Diego Gutierrez, Jack Jewsbury (Francisco Gomez 71), Alex Zotinca, Josh Wolff (Matt Taylor 88), Davy Arnaud.
Substitutes Not Used: Will Hesmer, Diego Walsh.
TOTAL SHOTS: 4 (Davy Arnaud 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Davy Arnaud 2); FOULS: 13 (Davy Arnaud 3, Igor Simutenkov 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Diego Gutierrez 1); CORNER KICKS: 2 (Preki 2); SAVES: 3 (Bo Oshoniyi 3)
Chicago Fire -- D.J. Countess, Evan Whitfield (Leonard Griffin 79), C.J. Brown, Jim Curtin, Kelly Gray, Andy Williams, Jesse Marsch (Scott Buete 88), Logan Pause, Justin Mapp, Damani Ralph, Nate Jaqua (Craig Capano 66).
Substitutes Not Used: Alexandre Boucicaut, Denny Clanton, Sumed Ibrahim, Orlando Perez, Matt Pickens, Henry Ring.
TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Andy Williams 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Andy Williams 2); FOULS: 17 (Evan Whitfield 4); OFFSIDES: 1 (Andy Williams 1); CORNER KICKS: 6 (Justin Mapp 4); SAVES: 2 (D.J. Countess 2)
Misconduct Summary:
CHI -- Evan Whitfield (caution; Reckless Foul) 53
CHI -- Andy Williams (caution; Delaying a Restart) 68
KC -- Diego Gutierrez (caution; Game Disrepute) 73
KC -- Alex Zotinca (ejection; Violent Conduct) 75
Referee: Hector Tobon
Referee's Assistants: -Kermit Quisenberry; Emiliano Monje
4th Official: Marcel Yonan
Attendance: 7,723
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-78-degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.
