Wizards/Monarcas box score

[AndyMead]

From the Wizards Press Officer:
WIZARDS FALL TO MONARCAS MORELIA 6-1 IN MEXICO
Injuries and Heat Take their Toll on Kansas City as they Drop First Leg of Champions Cup Semifinals

2002 Champions Cup Semifinals - First Leg Kansas City Wizards (USA) at Monarcas Morelia (Mexico)
Wednesday, August 7th, 3:00 p.m. (CT)
Estadio Morelas, Morelia, Mexico
Weather - Sunny, humid, 85o

1 2 F
Kansas City Wizards 0 1 1
Monarcas Morelia 0 6 6

Scoring Summary:
MOR- Alex Fernandes (Adolfo Bautista) 50'
MOR- Hernan Bujan (Unassisted) 57'
MOR- Adolfo Bautista (Alex Fernandes) 62'
MOR- Javier Saavedra (Antonio Gonzalez) 73'
MOR- Alex Fernandes (Antonio Gonzalez) 75'
MOR- Alex Fernandes (Penalty Kick) 83'
KC- Dario Fabbro (Stephen Armstrong) 85'

Game Summary:
The Kansas City Wizards, plagued by injuries even before traveling to Mexico, fell to Monarcas Morelia 6-1 at Estadio Morelas on Wednesday afternoon. The Wizards played a solid first half defensively, keeping Morelia without a goal despite their constant pressure in the Wizards end of the field. The effect of a depleted bench began to show in the second half as the Wizards surrendered six second half goals including three from striker Alex Fernandez.
Kansas City was forced to use a substitution early in the match as midfielder Eric Quill was struck in the head by a Morelia defender in the 25th minute. Quill was eventually carted off the field on a stretcher as midfielder Preki came on to replace him. The Wizards hung on the scoreless tie for the opening 45 minutes, but the second half was not as friendly.
Morelia opened the scoring in the 50th minute as forward Adolfo Bautista sidestepped goalkeeper Tony Meola and slotted a ball through to forward Alex Fernandez on the right side of the six-yard box. Fernandes swiftly knocked the ball through Wizards defenders Carey Talley and Nick Garcia, who were positioned on the goal line, and into the back netting to give Morelia the lead.
Morelia midfielder Hernan Bujan found his way through the Wizards defense in the 57th minute to add to Monarcas' lead while Adolfo Bautista found net in the 62nd minute to put Morelia up 3-0. In the 65th minute, Kansas City was again forced to use a substitution for an injured player. Carey Talley came off with cramping in his left leg, forcing young defender Chris Brunt to make just his third career appearance for the Wizards at central defense.
Second half Morelia substitute Ismael Iniguez's fresh legs proved too much for Kansas City's injury plagued lineup as Iniguez setup defender Javier Saavedra with a goal in the 73rd minute and forward Alex Fernendes with his second goal of the match in the 75th minute. Morelia's depth was the difference in the match as their experience off the bench allowed them to penetrate the Wizards defense and get the upper hand in the second half.
The Wizards woes in the Mexican environment continued in the 83rd minute as defender Mike Burns was whistled for a questionable foul on Ismael Iniguez inside the Kansas City box, prompting the referee to award Morelia with a penalty kick. Forward Alex Fernandes stepped in and pounded the ball inside the right post, as goalkeeper Tony Meola could do nothing but stare at the screaming shot, Fernandes' third goal of the match.
Kansas City got on the board in the 85th minute as forward Stephen Armstrong lobbed a ball over the Morelia defense to forward Dario Fabbro near the corner of the six-yard box. Fabbro redirected the ball with a header that caught Morelia goalkeeper Moises Munoz off guard as the ball floated into the back of the net. The Wizards ended the game with just ten men as defender Nick Garcia was issued a red card for another questionable call by the Costa Rican referee. Garcia collided with a Morelia midfielder and took a boot to the knee that left him sprawling on the ground in pain. A scuffle broke out and when the dust cleared, Garcia was shown the red card.
Missing from the Wizards roster were defenders Peter Vermes and Diego Gutierrez and forward Igor Simutenkov. Vermes and Gutierrez did not make the trip while recovering from injuries. Simutenkov was not allowed to enter the country after Morelia did not submit the proper Visa paperwork to the Mexican immigration office prior to the Wizards travel day on Monday.
Standard procedures have the host country filing proper Visa paperwork for the visiting team for those players from countries that do not have a relationship with the Mexican Immigration office. Foreigners Dario Fabbro and Stephen Armstrong were allowed to enter without paperwork because Argentinean and British citizens, like United States citizens, are allowed to freely enter Mexico without filing additional Visa paperwork. Kansas City and Morelia will play the return match of the Semifinal series at Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday, August 28th, beginning at 7:00 p.m. CT.

Kansas City Wizards Lineup: Tony Meola-GK, Chris Klein, Nick Garcia, Carey Talley (Chris Brunt-65), Mike Burns, Chris Brown, Kerry Zavagnin, Francisco Gomez (Matt McKeon-63), Eric Quill (Preki-31), Dario Fabbro, Stephen Armstrong

Monarcas Morelia Lineup: Moises Munoz-GK, Javier Saavedra, Dario Franco, Heriberto Morales (Ismael Iniguez-63), Omar Rodriguez, Omar Truilllo, Jorge Almiron, Hernan Bujan (Eduardo Rodriguez-68), Jose Antonio Noriega, Alex Fernandez, Adolfo Bautista (Antonio Gonzalez-68)

Officials:
Referee- Rodrigo Badilla - Costa Rica
Senior Assistant Referee- Ramon Munoz - Mexico
Junior Assistant Referee- Alfanso Alcala - Mexico
Fourth Official- Eduardo Brizio - Mexico

Attendance - Approximately 15,000
Cautions:
KC- Dario Fabbro 80'
KC- Mike Burns 81'
KC- Nick Garcia 86'

Ejections:
KC- Nick Garcia 91+

[Th4119]

All I can say is I'm sorry about the result guys. :(

I will hate the Wizards with a passion on Saturday, but today I, along with the rest of MLS, was going for them.

[ultraviolet]

The Wizards are given the shaft yet again in Mexico. Should we have expected otherwise?

[AndyMead]

Igor is not a very good defensive player. I don't think he would've helped out too much.

[Spoon]

Heat huh? So how hot was it?

[SocrStopr13]

So now how many tournaments has Kansas City been scrued over in Mexico so far?.....Merconorte Cup, Concacaf Champions Cup.....this is utter crap. Good luck on scoring 5 goals in KC. I'll still be pullin for you when the second leg comes around.

[BenC1357]

While i'd like to think the wizards got screwed over, i think that the game was out of reach before anything went downhill.

Thank you to all the MLS fans who cheered for us and arent ripping on us for the bad loss. It shows real class.

[Wizardscharter]

Originally posted by ultraviolet
The Wizards are given the shaft yet again in Mexico. Should we have expected otherwise?

I listened to the game in Espanol. KC was in thier own half all game. Even if you take the worst possible view of the officiating and say you happen to be right (which we'll never really know), the scoreboard had 6-1 after 90. Refs are not 5 goals difference. Refs, sickness, no Igor, travel, two injuries and heat? I still don't get 5 goals out of all that. KC had no answer for Bujan on the left. No answer for central high balls, Alex, or much of anything else.

This should be glaring to everyone: Garcia earned his red card with a bad tackle for a yellow two minutes before the scuffle. The KC press guy makes it sound like it was in question. There is no question, each of the two received yellows, for Nick it was his second. Bye bye. He should have known better. I wasn't there, but I heard the call. I think we can safely say that Nicky needs to grow a bit. Three games in Mexico and two red cards. It's a trend now. It has to be well known that the way to attack Garcia is through his head. Sure it was a tough situation. He's our guy, we care about him. That said, if I'm BA, I see that, read a storyor two, talk to CJ, and come up with a step back for Garcia. Now it's up to him to do something about it.

Another something that should be glaring. Preki shouldn't ever be Captain again. Inexcusable his public attitude towards this game. I love the fact he was blunt with his opinion, but as a team leader that is the wrong time to be fully honest. Who knows what the damage to the team was/is?

The announcers I listened too were obviously enjoying Morelia's victory, but they didn't seem very biased in the call. When KC had a chance they were every bit as excited as the 52 times they were excited for Morelia's attackers.

It certainly sounded like KC was lucky to only give up 6. It just kills me to type that. It's no wonder the "officially edited press report" didn't list the shots. It was probably 25 to 6 or so. If there is one reason to loath Lamar Hunt and the way his organization his run, it's the spin doctoring practiced on the people. I want to know how badly they were beaten, show me some stats, give me some quotes that go beyond cliche'. It's hard enough getting info on our beloved team without that info being filtered for consumption.

My Spanish is limited but, among the other things I picked up. Burns had a dog of a game, repeatedly left like a cone by anyone and everyone. Tony probably has a neckache from having his head whipped around at all the shots he was forced to watch go wide and in. Brunt did little to replace Talley. Talley and everyone else did little to stop anyone.

Fabbro was dangerous many times. The bad part of this is that he was the least dangerous forward in the game, except Brown.

This would be the second mail-in job of the tough part of the schedule. Doubtless it will not be the last.

[Various Styles]

I takes real guts to admit your team suck's arse, Lords Knows ill ever do It. Your summery of the game is spot on. My friend Monkeyboy has SKY satellite (Mex) and he taped the game. It is sad that the Wizards Press Officer wrote a load of Crap, like calling the pk questionable. It also sad that the games are not televised in the U.S so k-City fans will most likely end up believing his dribble.

[BenC1357]

Originally posted by Various Styles
It also sad that the games are not televised in the U.S so k-City fans will most likely end up believing his dribble.

And among other things his "motive" just might be to keep fans coming to Wizards games. And putting in the paper something like this certainly wouldn't help get more fans to the game: "The Wizards really sucked, they should have given up 9 goals, but were lucky to only give up 6. The players played terribly and were totally outclassed for 90 minutes." So of course he's going to make it sound like it wasnt as bad as the score says.

[Viking64]

Sorry to say, I wish I had not seen this coming sorta. I hoped that KC would play well, as they have done reasonably well under adverse circumstances. But their game vs. the Burn was utter crap. Somehow the Burn managed to play a worse game, but to say KC won that game was a modest claim. Knowing that, I was not surprised they got smacked in Mexico.

The only thing to do is pay them back. You CAN beat them 7 nil, because they are going to send their scrubs up to earn a tie. Your team CAN do it, I just hope they DO.

Your team needs serious improvement. I hope they get it.

[Spoon]

Yes but the return leg requires an offensive outbust for a full 90 minutes. I don't think that has ever happened under Danger Bob. Plus our finishing has been so suspect all year we really are lucky to get 2 goals a game. Aug 28. will be interesting.

[Mitre]

I was flipping through the channels last night here in NY and i saw the highlights of the game on Telefutura. Now I hate to beat a dead horse, but man, that was ugly. Now granted, of course, the Wizards were in piss poor shape to play with injuries and what not, but that first goal stuck out in my mind. It reminded me of soccer practice. Meola is out of net, two guys are on the goal line, and two Morelia men are in the box passing back and forth before this bald dude slips past Meola and slots it home, no problem.
You guys had a nice goal though.
And the penalty call looked like a dive (i think).

[Lucid]

Originally posted by Spoon
Yes but the return leg requires an offensive outbust for a full 90 minutes. I don't think that has ever happened under Danger Bob. Plus our finishing has been so suspect all year we really are lucky to get 2 goals a game. Aug 28. will be interesting.

Here's my lineup 1-4-5

Armstrong Fabbro Preki Igor Brown
Quill Gomez Zavagnin Klein
Talley
Meola

:D

And BTW, VS, kiss my ass, as if Mexico always reports, err..... does anything legitimate and error/bias free.

[Viking64]

I'm fairly certain that a few guys on Morelia will find their visa's are not valid anymore. Payback is hell.

[BenC1357]

Originally posted by Viking64
I'm fairly certain that a few guys on Morelia will find their visa's are not valid anymore. Payback is hell.

I'm fairly certain that Curt Johnson (if he has any say) wouldn't do that. It seems his philosophy is to take the high road. I asked him at the Mystics Q&A with him a couple weeks ago if he had a plan or would not play if another "situation" came up like the refs in Santos last year. He said no, they'd play the game and file the appropriate paper work.

We all know where paper work filed to CONCACAF by an American team goes. I believe its called the trash can. It seems that CJ is just naive in this situation and has to take a harder line.

NOTE: I do not feel that this situation caused us to lose 6-1.

[whip]

Preki still play ???Guys I am not a real MLS FAN.....I Just can't handle MLS COACH CARROUSEL.....But I though PREKI was a coach of something like that. how old he is 40, THIS SPOT COULD BE USE BY A YOUNG AMERICAN BORN BUCK like TWELMAN OR DONOVAN I bet you they are many of those waiting for an oportunity

[BenC1357]

Originally posted by whip
Preki still play ???Guys I am not a real MLS FAN.....I Just can't handle MLS COACH CARROUSEL.....But I though PREKI was a coach of something like that. how old he is 40, THIS SPOT COULD BE USE BY A YOUNG AMERICAN BORN BUCK like TWELMAN OR DONOVAN I bet you they are many of those waiting for an oportunity

Woah, slow down tiger. The Wizards front office thought the same thing you did two seasons ago. We traded Preki to Miami for a draft pick. That "young buck" didn't make our squad, and Preki went on to be Miami's team MVP and lead them to the best record in MLS.

So this year we get Preki back and he has four goals and leads the team with 8 assists AND leads the team in points with 16. He just turned 39.

Twellman and Donovan are forwards, Preki is a midfielder. Not very many young middies come into the league and shine right away. Klien, one of the brightest young american stars in the midfield didnt come right in and shine. Forwards tend to shine earlier in this league, and most leagues for that matter.

Side note: We went after Twellman, the league told us NO.

[Monkeyboy2000]

Originally posted by BenC1357


And among other things his "motive" just might be to keep fans coming to Wizards games. And putting in the paper something like this certainly wouldn't help get more fans to the game: "The Wizards really sucked, they should have given up 9 goals, but were lucky to only give up 6. The players played terribly and were totally outclassed for 90 minutes." So of course he's going to make it sound like it wasnt as bad as the score says.

Interesting. So the inaccuracies don't bother you as long as they serve a greater purpose.

You think it would have hurt the KC attendance for the report to just say "Well,we had a bad day and we got beaten" and then just state the game stats ? I don't. Heck, I doubt the folks that are KC fans are going to give up on their team just because they got trounced in this one game.

Most MLS reports are always slanted toward the league's teams. But this can and should be done without bending the truth. I think whomever wrote the report was just taking advantage of the fact that almost no one was going to actually see the game.

[BenC1357]

Originally posted by Monkeyboy2000
Most MLS reports are always slanted toward the league's teams. But this can and should be done without bending the truth. I think whomever wrote the report was just taking advantage of the fact that almost no one was going to actually see the game.

I'd agree with this somewhat, but also say that Boyce (the author) often misquotes facts and stats. In this case he just tried to make it sound like our "hometown boys" got cheated. That often happens in every publication that has an interest in their local side.