Monday, July 30, 2007

Back and Forth Encounter, as Wizards Top Chivas

The Wizards are now undefeated in 4 games, after both coming from behind and blowing a lead in their 3-2 win over Chivas USA last night. The game overall was one of the more exciting games I've seen in a long time. It had almost everything you'd want to see in a game, it had goals, it had good goalkeeping, it had amazing goals, it had 2 sets of cheering supporters, it had some passion to it, and it had some hard tackles, it was a good game. Chivas opened the scoring in the 17th minute as Jonathan Bornstein found net. The Wizards though picked up the attack after that, and were awarded a PK after Davy Arnaud was taken down in the box. Carlos Marinelli stepped up, but went for placement over power and his weak PK was easily saved by Brad Guzan. That PK miss, though, made the game tying goal look that much sweeter. In the 38th minute Kerry Zavagnin received a pass from Sasha Victorine from about 30 yards out, took a touch and then blasted an absolute rocket into the upper 90 of the goal, an amazing GOLAZO.

The Wizards continued to pressure as the second half started, and it paid off in the 53rd minute when a foul by former Wizard Shavar Thomas gave the Wizards a free kick about 25 yards out from goal and on the left side of the field. Arnaud hit a fantastic free kick behind the defenders, but far enough out to keep Guzan on his line, a sliding Jimmy Conrad also froze Guzan as he had to wait to see if he'd get a touch. In the end, Conrad did not, and Arnaud's free kick went untouched into the side netting to make it 2-1. That lead lasted less then 2 minutes, though, as John Cunliffe tied the game in the 55th.

It looked like the Wizards were gonna tie their 2nd straight and 3rd in their last 4, but in the 89th minute, Yura Movsisyan found himself on the wing with two Chivas defenders. Movsisyan cut back away from goal and took a shot from about the corner of the 18 that was gonna be easy pickings for Guzan. The shot, though, took a deflection of Thomas, and sailed past Guzan into the net to give the Wizards the win and the 3 points. And they were able to do it without a goal from Eddie Johnson, and a sub-par game from Marinelli.

3 Stars of the Game
1. Davy Arnaud - KC - Works his butt off every game, and this time got rewarded with a goal. Another solid performance from Davy.
2. Kerry Zavagnin - KC - His stunning strike camped off a strong night by the Wizards defensive midfielder.
3. Brad Guzan - Chivas - This guy is a stud of a keeper, he'll be getting a lot of call ups in the future.

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