|
 The
Kansas City Wizards brought the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup home to
the tournament’s namesake as his Wizards topped the Chicago Fire
1-0 on an Igor Simutenkov free kick in the 95th minute.
The Dewar Challenge Trophy, which is the oldest team trophy in
the U.S. made its way to Kansas City for the Open Cup Final
and was presented to the Wizards following their victory. Josh
Wolff was named Man of the Match for his relentless effort
throughout the game.
Josh Wolff was
fouled 20 yards from goal by Evan Whitfield of the Chicago Fire.
Simutenkov stepped up to take the kick drove a bending shot
through a spot that teammate Alex Zotinca vacated in the wall.
Once through the wall, Fire goalkeeper Henry Ring dove to his
right to make the save. He tipped the ball straight up in the
air, off the cross bar, and back down off the back of his hand
and into the net.
  "Honest to God, when
before (Igor) took it, I said to Jimmy (Conrad) watch out this
might go in,” said Wolff. “It didn't go in like I thought it
would, but at least he put it hard on frame. Henry made a good
save on the first one, then it took an unfortunate bounce off
the crossbar and hit him in the the back of the head and it went
it.
“I
was sitting at the back of the doorstep for any loose change.
I'm extremely happy for Igor with all the work he put in and I'm
extremely happy for the organization. More importantly it is a
piece of hardware and a championship and, as a soccer player,
that is what you play for."
It was the second
crucial goal by Simutenkov in the 2004 U.S. Open Cup, as he
drove home a penalty kick in the 1-0 semifinal win for the
Wizards over the San Jose Earthquakes. Coincidentally, it was
Wolff who drew that set piece as well.
The game opened with
each team unable to convert the final pass until Wolff took the
match’s first shot in the 17th minute (it went high). Davy
Arnaud and Wolff combined well up top for the Wizards, creating
six of their team’s first eight shots. For the Fire, the forward
tandem of Damani Ralph and Dipsy Selowane were also creating
chances, but Kansas City’s Nick Garcia and Conrad were up to
task.
The
Fire nearly stole the lead through midfielder Logan Pause in the
43rd minute as he found a gaping hole in the right side of the
Wizards defense on a great first-time ball from Selowane. Pause
streaked into the box and let go a tantalizing low shot begging
for a tap-in by Ralph only to see it slip past Wizard’s
goalkeeper Tony Meola's right post.
Three chances for
the Wizards in the first 11 minutes of the second half all came
up short of the mark. Wolff opened the half by intercepting a
poor clearance by C.J. Brown and sending a volley well over the
crossbar. After Wolff was caught offside in the 50th minute,
Arnaud was just inches away from his fourth goal of the
tournament with a line-drive shot from 25 yards that went wide
right. In the 56th minute, a fortunate deflection off Jim Curtin
put a Wizards’ service right on the head of a streaking Jack
Jewsbury, but his weak shot went right to Ring.
What would be the
final dangerous scoring chance for the Fire came in the 65th
minute, as Damani Ralph headed an Andy Williams corner over the
crossbar.
A few minutes later
the Wizards began to take back some control of the match as U.S.
National Team midfielder Kerry Zavagnin nearly made the game 1-0
in favor of the Wizards in the 71st minute when a pass from
Wolff freed him for a right-footed shot from 22 yards out that
Ring parried to his right with a diving save.
In the 87th minute,
a former Chicago Fire tandem nearly scored for the Wizards. The
always-active Wolff led a 4 vs. 3 Wizards counter attack and
drew a defender before feeding former Fire midfielder Diego
Gutierrez to his right. Gutierrez then cracked a blistering shot
from eight yards that hit Ring’s head and the outside of the
post.
Soccer in America entered a new era with the announcement of the
2004 Inductees FIFA Women's Player of the Century Michelle
Akers, U.S. and LA Galaxy Star Paul Caligiuri and All Time U.S.
Goal Scorer and MLS Star Eric Wynalda. “2004 opens the Hall of
Fame door to the stars of MLS and to a new generation of players
whose playing careers soccer fans have been able to follow on
national television,” Will Lunn, President/CEO of the National
Soccer Hall of Fame, stated. The four will be inducted at the
Hall of Fame on October 11, 2004. Induction 2004 is open to the
public and free of charge.
Located in Oneonta, NY, the National Soccer Hall of Fame opened
a new 30,000 square foot, state-of-the-art museum in 1999. The
Hall of Fame tells the story of soccer in America through
artifacts, photographs, and video clips. The new Hall features
an extensive interactive, youth oriented Kicks Zone where
visitors have fun kicking, heading and playing computer trivia
stations and video soccer games. The VideoWall portrays some of
the greatest moments and the greatest goals in history as well
as live soccer action with World Cup, MLS, US Soccer and WUSA
matches. Unique and rare artifacts on exhibit range from the
world’s oldest soccer ball to the Women’s World Cup won by the
USA in 1999, Pele’s and Mia Hamm’s uniforms, Kristine Lilly’s
golden shoes, NASL championship rings, the original MLS
championship trophy - it’s all at the National
Soccer Hall of Fame. In addition to the interactive Museum, the
National Soccer Hall of Fame complex boasts the Kicks Hall of
Fame Museum Store, a research library, four world-class soccer
fields and office/meeting facilities. The Hall plans to add a
stadium, an indoor soccer arena and housing facilities in the
future.
The mission of the National Soccer Hall of Fame is to celebrate
the history, honor the heroes, inspire the youth and preserve
the legacy of soccer in the United States.
The National Soccer Hall of Fame is open every day of the year,
except Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Admission is $9
for adults, $8 for students, $6.50 for children 6 or older and
senior citizens. Children 5 and under are free. |
