Sealy's double extinguishes Chicago Fire

[Tallman]

Sealy's double extinguishes Chicago Fire
By Bob Rusert (MLSnet.com)

Showing they can perform at home as well as on the road, the Kansas City Wizards used a pair of goals from rookie sensation Scott Sealy and one from Jack Jewsbury to defeat the Chicago Fire 3-0 Friday and leap over them to grab second place in the Eastern Conference.

Sealy increased his already impressive scoring pace by contributing his eighth goal and ninth goals of the season on either side of halftime and second-half substitute Jewsbury drove the nail in Chicago's coffin with a 73rd-minute goal.

After a few tackles from each side set the tone, the first clear chance of the match was earned by an industrious Davy Arnaud, whose initial shot was blocked at the top of Chicago's penalty area. Arnaud touched the rebound to his right and launched a shot that Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens had to extend fully to his right to push outside his post.

Three minutes later Arnaud was at the start and end of a three-pass exchange that saw him hit open space with only Pickens to beat, but his touch failed him and the 'keeper swallowed the chance.

The visiting Fire were able to hold possession for extended periods, but Kansas City's well-positioned defenders spoiled their steady diet of flank service. Justin Mapp beat Nick Garcia on the left of the Wizards area in the 26th minute, but his subsequent cross was easily grabbed by goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi for the Fire's first threat.

On the very next foray down field the Wizards struck. Left back Jose Burciaga Jr. won possession at midfield and barreled down the left side of the Fire's penalty area. His low ball into the goalmouth was pushed out by Pickens and then was struck by defender Jim Curtin's foot.

The ball rolled towards the goal as the netminder remained prone on the pitch. Sealy was able to pounce and MLS's leading rookie goal scorer easily put in his eighth of the season from almost on the goal line.

The misplay from Pickens was due to an ankle injury suffered on the play and he was replaced by regular starter Zach Thornton before the game was a half-hour old.

To start the second half, Jewsbury replaced Josh Wolff, who had suffered a right rib contusion. The play on the field began much as the first, but two successive chances for the Wizards enlivened play in the 58th and 59th minutes.

First, Sealy received a pass just inside the Chicago half while surrounded by Fire defenders. The Trinidad & Tobago international played smartly out right to an overlapping Chris Klein. He glided away from net, but his heavy shot forced Thornton to one hand the ball away to his right.

Then Jewsbury moved around teammate Sealy at the penalty arc and unleashed a left-footed blinder that a fortunate Thornton could only watch strike the outside of his left post.

The chances were a statement that the match would shortly become theirs, and the Wizards doubled their lead in the 72nd minute. Kerry Zavagnin won a tackle near midfield and sent a long ball that found Sealy on the left wing. He latched onto in and dribbled in on Thornton, and with the Fire 'keeper sliding feet first, Sealy coolly spun the ball into the open net for his second of the night and his seventh in his last seven games.

The Wizards took an insurmountable three-goal lead a minute later as Klein played in a ball behind the Fire defense to a slicing Jewsbury. The Springfield, Mo., native rounded Thornton to the right of goal and put the ball high into the left side of the net to put the game out of reach with his fourth goal of the season.

With the win, the Wizards took over second place in the East, with D.C. United still to play on Saturday evening at home against the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Wizards now await their next MLS match in one week against the Columbus Crew, but first they will play host to USL First Division (second tier) side Minnesota Thunder on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.

MLSnet.com Man of the Match: Scott Sealy (Kansas City Wizards)

Chicago Fire (12-10-3) vs. Kansas City Wizards (11-5-8)
August 19, 2005 -- Arrowhead Stadium

Scoring Summary:
KC -- Scott Sealy 8 (unassisted) 26
KC -- Scott Sealy 9 (Kerry Zavagnin 3) 72
KC -- Jack Jewsbury 4 (Chris Klein 8 ) 73

Chicago Fire -- Matt Pickens (Zach Thornton 30), Logan Pause (Chad Barrett 71), Jim Curtin, Gonzalo Segares, C.J. Brown, John Thorrington, Chris Armas (Will Johnson 78), Jesse Marsch, Justin Mapp, Chris Rolfe, Thiago.

Substitutes Not Used: Samuel Caballero, Jack Stewart.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Chris Rolfe 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Justin Mapp 1, Chris Rolfe 1); FOULS: 7 (Chris Armas 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Justin Mapp 1); CORNER KICKS: 2 (Chris Armas 1, Justin Mapp 1); SAVES: 6 (Matt Pickens 3, Zach Thornton 3)

Kansas City Wizards -- Bo Oshoniyi, Nick Garcia, Jimmy Conrad (Brian Roberts 81), Shavar Thomas, Jose Burciaga Jr. (Diego Gutierrez 76), Chris Klein, Sasha Victorine, Kerry Zavagnin, Davy Arnaud, Scott Sealy, Josh Wolff (Jack Jewsbury 46).

Substitutes Not Used: Dustin Branan, Will Hesmer, Ryan Pore, Preki, Khari Stephenson, Alex Zotinca.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Scott Sealy 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Scott Sealy 3); FOULS: 11 (Kerry Zavagnin 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 2 (Chris Klein 2); SAVES: 2 (Bo Oshoniyi 2)

Misconduct Summary:
KC -- Jose Burciaga Jr. (caution; Pushing, Holding) 40 KC -- Diego Gutierrez (caution; Reckless Foul) 90

Referee: Mark Geiger
Referee's Assistants: Robert Fereday; Chip Reed
4th Official: Brad Clem
Attendance: 7,724
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy-and-82-degrees

[FF]

Can anyone say rookie of the year??!!

[JERSEY TRINI]

he's starting to look like poison.  I just hope that he gets some chances in the Guatemala game to put away.

[Ngozi]

Gawd its so obvious Sealey and Kenwyn has to start they simply have to start.........Leo wtf is wrong with you man?

[FF]

Gawd its so obvious Sealey and Kenwyn has to start they simply have to start.........Leo wtf is wrong with you man?

Ngozi ah feel he now see the light... my only gripe is he shoulda find out all he had to find out at de Gold Cup...

[fordy]

guzi boy is de same ting we was talking bout when we watch de game....de boy hot now and is only our national team aint want to reap the rewards from the heat he producing...and mr. kenyne is mr. consistant...always working hard on and off de ball...dem boys must start for real!!!

[Lower St. John]

Men appear to be playing regularly and rounding into form for September 3rd.  Nice to read. 

Sorry Stern but these boys (Jones, Glen and Sealy) appear more hungry than you.  It is now up to Beenie to recognize.

[JERSEY TRINI]

ah feel the next game is Glenn back in and Stern will have to sit that one out completely man.

[arrow]

Glen benching today for Columbus and last week too.  Can't see him getting back in the side until he starts playing regular and scoring goals

[maxg]

Jones and Sealy is meh 2 in meh 2w2 formation, and meh last 2 willl have to be Sancho & Dog..it a small w cause nobody in that mifield playing a set position, they all capable of playing in or out, important thin is structure, not who's where.

Add: Then there is 1. He is the only set piece on the board. center Defense, or striker.Fepending on what is required.

[SHOTTA]

SEALLY LOOKIN LLIKE STERN IN THE MLS SO ALLYUH KNOW THAT SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP WE AINT GO GET A GOAL FROM HIM


BUT TO BE REALL ALLYUH REALL THINK THAT STERN AINT HAV A PLACE ON THAT TNT TEAM VERSUS GUATEMALA??

[maxg]

that's my 1

[oconnorg]

SEALLY LOOKIN LLIKE STERN IN THE MLS SO ALLYUH KNOW THAT SOUTH AFRICA WORLD CUP WE AINT GO GET A GOAL FROM HIM


BUT TO BE REALL ALLYUH REALL THINK THAT STERN AINT HAV A PLACE ON THAT TNT TEAM VERSUS GUATEMALA??

HE doh have ah place even on de bench!!!

[arrow]

Glen benching today for Columbus and last week too.  Can't see him getting back in the side until he starts playing regular and scoring goals

Well look at that, Glen score today!  All strikers in form except Stern

[supporter]

lookin ahead to south africa we should be improved with  kenwyne jones, scott sealey, chirs birchall,kelvin jack,cornell glen...hopefully they continue their development all the way through.

if stern starts agst guatamala i will give up my hope for 2006.

[Tallman]

Wizards’ streak rolls them to second place
By Bob Luder (The Kansas City Star)

Hey, Kansas City, there’s another streak in town.

While national attention has been focused on the Royals’ monumental skid, the Wizards are in the midst of perhaps their best roll in franchise history.

On Friday night, they made it four wins in a row with an easy-looking 3-0 victory over the Chicago Fire in front of an announced 7,724 at Arrowhead Stadium.

If you count a 6-1 pasting of the Des Moines Menace in a U.S. Open Cup match, the Wizards actually have won their last five and, with home matches next week against the minor-league Minnesota Thunder and the bottom-feeding Columbus Crew, show no signs of slowing down.

Rookie forward Scott Sealy scored two goals, and the Wizards blew the game wide open when Sealy and Jack Jewsbury scored goals a minute apart in the second half. Sealy has seven goals in seven games.

“This season, we always showed signs that we were capable of playing well,” said Sealy, who took over the Wizards’ goal-scoring lead with his eighth and ninth goals of the season. With eight games left in the MLS regular season, he stands just two goals away from the record for goals scored by a rookie, set in 2003 by Chicago’s Damani Ralph.

“We’ve found ways to score goals while also finding ways to stop teams from scoring,” Sealy said. “If we continue, there’s no reason we can’t keep winning.”

The Wizards’ victory over the Fire was the second over their Eastern Conference rival in the last nine days. They came from two goals down to score a 3-2 victory Aug. 10 at Soldier Field, marking their first-ever victory in Chicago.

Of greater importance was that the Wizards, now 11-5-8 with 41 points, bounded over the Fire, 12-10-3 with 39, into second place in the division, just one point behind the New England Revolution.

The Wizards had the better of the attack — Jimmy Conrad and Davy Arnaud barely missed chances — most of the way up until the 26th minute, when Sealy struck for the first time.

Jose Burciaga Jr. drove with the ball deep into the left corner before firing a hard cross toward the Fire goal. Chicago goalkeeper Matt Pickens got a hand on the ball, but it hit the leg of defender Jim Curtin and died in the turf right in front of the left post. Sealy beat Curtin to it and toe-poked an easy shot in.

“It was an easy one,” Sealy said.

While diving for the ball, Pickens suffered an ankle injury and was taken out of the game, replaced by Zach Thornton.

The mere fact Sealy was on the field was impressive. Just two days earlier, he played the second half for his native Trinidad & Tobago in its 1-0 loss to the United States in a World Cup qualifier in Hartford, Conn.

The game and travel left him exhausted, he said, but he showed none of that hangover once he took the field.

“I’m tired,” Sealy said afterward. “But Coach asked me if I felt good enough to play. I said, ‘Sure.’ ”

Coach Bob Gansler added jokingly, “Had he walked here (from Hartford), then maybe he wouldn’t have played. I had no doubts Sealy could play.”

Sealy showed it for a second time in the game’s 72nd minute.

Kerry Zavagnin deflected a ball near midfield and, with it bounding into the Fire’s penalty area, Sealy outraced Fire defender C.J. Brown and shuffled a shot under Thornton.

Any chances for a Chicago comeback similar to the Wizards’ in Chicago ended a minute later when Jewsbury, who entered in the second half when Josh Wolff suffered a rib injury, took a pass from Klein, skipped around a falling Thornton and scored into an open net.

“Once I got the ball, I checked quickly with the linesman to make sure I wasn’t offside,” said Jewsbury, who scored his fourth goal of the season. “I got (Thornton) off-balance moving to his left. I just got the ball wide and pushed it across.”

The Kansas City defense, meanwhile, limited the Fire to just six shots, two on goal.

Though they had every right to thump their chests, there was no celebration in the Wizards’ locker room afterward. They weren’t showing it, but there was no denying the confidence this team now has that it’s capable of winning every match it plays the rest of the season.

“That’s how I feel,” Sealy said. “I’m sure the other guys feel the same way.”

[Israel]

I remember some men saying on dis site dat scott wasnt ready and i say d man have a nack for scoring goals......i guess he proved his critics wrong.

[Ngozi]

I remember some men saying on dis site dat scott wasnt ready and i say d man have a nack for scoring goals......i guess he proved his critics wrong.

I said he wasnt ready because he wasnt....he was looking unfit and he wasnt showing enough....but he is now

[Cowen]

I think stern still have a contribution to the side. However not as a starter. Jones and Sealy to hungry in fronth that goal right now to have them coming off the bench. Let them fellas put in 2- 3 goals, then when the pace of the game slow a bit ...bring on
stern in the last 15- 20 mins. That might suit Stern style of play now better.

Go Warriors Go ??

[davidephraim]

Sealy shows similiarity to de Nixon of Old.... Well maybe he have to up he dribbling skills cause Nixon coulda dribble too...