A second-string defense and a couple of missing midfielders, and Major League Soccer's best road team still prevailed as the Chicago Fire defeated the Kansas City Wizards, 2-0, on Sunday at CommunityAmerica Ballpark.Chris Rolfe (pictured) and Mike Banner scored in the 13th and 89th minutes, respectively, as Chicago improved to 6-2-4 on the road and 9-4-8 overall. The Wizards dropped to 5-8-6.
Rolfe capped off a strong give-and-go sequence with midfielder Marco Pappa for the game's first tally. Rolfe's back pass to Pappa put Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad in an awkward spot to either stay with Rolfe or collapse on Pappa. Conrad was indecisive, and when Pappa fed back to Rolfe, the Fire forward had a clear path and fired to the near post past K.C. goalkeeper Kevin Hartman for the 1-0 lead.
The Wizards' Zoltan Hercegfalvi was ejected in the 85th minute for a hard foul against second-half Fire sub Banner. With the one-man advantage, Banner quickly gave the Fire a bit of a cushion with his first MLS goal. He shot the ball from the left side and found the far right post. Rolfe was even sliding in toward the net just in case the ball went wide.
In the net, Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch made five saves for the clean sheet, while Hartman made four for K.C.
Former Fire forward Josh Wolff continued his more-than-three-month scoring drought. He had four of K.C.'s five shots on goal. Most of his strikes went right to Busch. But the Chicago goalkeeper had some help. In the 67th minute, center defensive back C.J. Brown had a block on a Wolff shot.
The Wizards' best scoring chance came shortly into the second half, in the 48th minute. Aaron Hohlbein had a chance at point-blank range. But Fire midfielder Logan Pause blocked the ball at the goal line as Chicago maintained its 1-0 lead at that point.
Next up: The Fire host the David Beckham-less Los Angeles Galaxy at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Toyota Park. The game is televised on ESPN2.
SlideTackles.net thoughts: Pappa found a perfect rhythm on the pitch, and if his 41st-minute strike didn't hit the left post, he would have deserved all the post-game chatter for his accomplishments. Pappa also should have had another assist in the 43rd minute when he provided a solid send from the right wing to Justin Mapp on the left. But Mapp's execution was similar to his missed penalty kick against Tigres UANL in the SuperLiga finals - too high and too wide on a perfect chance for a goal.
The Fire were fortunate to be playing a Kansas City team that looked out of sync and didn't do much to challenge Chicago's defense. The absences of Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez, both out because of yellow card accumulation, clearly had a negative effect on this struggling team.
The Wizards were happy to have Conrad back since he suffered a concussion with the U.S. Men's National Team in the CONCACAF Gold Cup. But he needs to find his form again. His defensive positioning was off, and on the offensive side he missed a prime chance in the 60th minute when he got the inside angle on Austin Washington. But Conrad's header off of a Santiago Hirsig cross did not even come close to the frame.
Chicago did absolutely everything it needed to do with so many absences throughout the lineup. With a short rest and a talented Galaxy team coming to town on Wednesday, some reinforcements would be helpful.
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