WASHINGTON -- After a listless first half and given their lack of consistent goal-scoring, the Kansas City Wizards knew it was going to be a struggle coming back after giving up a goal on the road, even against a struggling and undermanned D.C. United.
But after Luciano Emilio put United ahead in the first half, Jaime Moreno doubled the lead in the second, and the Wizards weren't able to get past the United defense, which recorded its first shutout of the season.
"That's not a new feeling for us. We know we have been hard pressed to score consistently," said defender Jimmy Conrad. "We understand that playing good defense is the key to any good team winning games. That's where it starts. They turned a half-chance into a goal and we were fighting an uphill battle. Tonight, D.C. was just a better team."
With both teams plagued by injuries and suspensions to critical creative players, one of the remaining stars for each time had to step up and be the difference maker. Unfortunately for the Wizards, it was United's Moreno.
"When you come out the way we did in the first 45 minutes against a good team with players like Moreno and Emilio and Fred you set yourself up for a difficult night," said Wizards coach Curt Onalfo. "I think our approach and first-half mentality and the way we played ended up being the reason that we lost."
Moreno had his way with the ball most of the night, tag-teaming the Wizards with strike partner Emilio on their way to snapping Kansas City's six-game unbeaten streak. The win in the critical six-pointer vaulted United ahead of the Wizards and idle New York and Toronto, into fourth place alone in the Eastern Conference standings. All four teams started the night with 22 points as Toronto play host to Dallas on Sunday.
"They are definitely a yin-and-yang kind of couple," said Conrad about the Bolivian Moreno and his Brazilian sidekick. "Emilio is very direct; he's kind of like a bull in a china shop and he does well to create space for himself. Tonight he got half a chance I figured and he put it away. Moreno is just crafty and you got to pay attention to him no matter where is on the field."
Moreno played a lateral ball from the left flank into Emilio inside of the penalty area, who created just enough space for himself to get a left-footed shot off through the surprised Conrad to put United in the lead in the 28th minute.
"I thought I had it blocked. He did well to kind of squib it right either between my legs or right underneath my foot," said Conrad.
The Wizards seemingly could do nothing to prevent Moreno from controlling the ball, spearheading United's attack from anywhere and everywhere on the field.
"I think we did a poor job of dealing with Jaime when he dropped into our midfield," said Onalfo. "Communication between our center backs and holding midfielders was poor. We lacked bite and Jaime did pretty much whatever the hell he wanted the first 45 minutes of the game. In the second I thought we were a little bit tighter on him and we made it a little bit harder on him -- having said that he scores a great goal."
"He's been a professional for (18) years so he's pretty good at finding space," said Conrad. "If we are getting tight to him he will just continue to drop further back and if our midfielders pick him up, he'll just drift wide. He will find pockets and then exploit them. If we turn the ball over in bad spots he is going to pick the ball up in even better spaces closer to goal and that what we don't want."
Moreno slipped inside his mark and knocked home a brilliant glancing header of a Marc Burch free kick in the 60th minute to ice the game for the home side.
"It was a helluva goal by Jaime -- there is no two ways about it," said Onalfo. "I think our defender is in a pretty good position in the way he's defending it. Sometimes you have to take your hat off to a world-class goal."
Despite the goal, the Wizards closed down Moreno sufficiently enough in the second half to slow down United's attack and create several chances themselves.
"I thought we came out with the right attitude and the right mindset in the second half and created a couple of chances," said Wizards forward Davy Arnaud. "We started off pretty bright, looking like we might get that goal and we give up the second one and once you do that, especially here in D.C., it's tough to come back."
"I though D.C. was by far the better team in the first 45 minutes. In the second half I thought we came out very, very strong," Onalfo said. "I don't know what the stats are but for sure we had a helluva lot more shots, especially in the second half."
The Wizards fired off 11 shots in the second half and 17 overall at United's Zach Wells, although many were from distance.
"We created a lot chances especially in the second half but we didn't put them in the back of the net," said Onalfo. "We just came off a six-game unbeaten streak and we got to pick ourselves up, wipe ourselves off and keep plugging away."
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