both from Brian McBride. First, on 12 minutes, after a collision between the Wizards' Jimmy Conrad and goalkeeper Kevin Hartman in the area, the ball fell to Wilman Conde, who slid to McBride to stroke home inside the right post from outside the area.
• Then in the 20th minute, Cuauhtemoc Blanco -- making his first start of the season -- swung in a freekick from the right flank. McBride rose up to powerfully head home inside the right-hand post for his third goal on the year.
• Hartman made amends with a series of spectacular saves in the second half, and the Wizards were able to draw even through a U.S. international of their own in Josh Wolff. First, in the 78th minute, Claudio Lopez broke away from a group a players and whipped a cross to the far post where Wolff snuck in to tap it home.
• Then in the 89th minute, Michael Harrington put in a cross from the right touchline toward the near post where Wolff slipped in front of his marker and sent a glancing header to the back of the net to give K.C. points for just the fourth time in 17 all-time trips to Chicago.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Tim Ward, Wilman Conde, Bakary Soumare, Gonzalo Segares - John Thorrington, Logan Pause, Marco Pappa (Mike Banner 89) - Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Austin Washington 83) - Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko (Chris Rolfe 77). Substitutes Not Used: Baggio Husidic, Nick Noble, Brandon Prideaux, Dasan Robinson
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-1-3-2): Kevin Hartman - Lance Watson (Michael Kraus 73), Jimmy Conrad, Aaron Hohlbein, Matt Besler - Jack Jewsbury - Herculez Gomez (Kurt Morsink 83), Santiago Hirsig (Michael Harrington 46), Josh Wolff - Davy Arnaud, Claudio Lopez. Substitutes Not Used: Roger Espinoza, Rauwshan McKenzie, Boris Pardo, Abe Thompson
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
The Kansas City Wizards return to action after suffering the heaviest defeat in club history, falling 6-0 to FC Dallas on Aug. 1 in Pizza Hut Park in a game that proved to be Curt Onalfo's last game in charge. The Wizards have 21 points from 18 matches, now in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, 15 points behind division leaders Columbus Crew.
LAST MATCH
• FC Dallas were coming off back-to-back losses, including a heartbreaking loss to Real Salt Lake the week before after holding a two-goal halftime lead. The Wizards were winless in three in a row, but had reached draws in their previous two matches.
• FC Dallas had completed the transfer of leading Kenny Cooper to Germany's 1860 Munich the day before the match, but the club's new strike pairing of Cunningham and David Ferreira put aside that thought, combining for all six goals on the night.
• Cunningham put FCD in the lead in the 39th minute, getting on the end of a Atiba Harris cross from the right flank and tapping home from close range at the back post. For Cunningham, it was the 109th league goal of his career, moving him into third place in the all-time list ahead of RSL head coach Jason Kreis. Then Ferreira doubled the lead just three minutes later with a similar goal, knocking home a Brek Shea cross from the left.
• Cunningham hit for his second in the 66th minute, converting a penalty kick after he was taken down in the box by K.C. defender Rauwshan McKenzie. Then the Wizards were left in an even deeper hole two minutes later when referee Andrew Chapin sent off Claudio Lopez with a straight red card.
• Cunningham completed his hat trick in the 75th minute, volleying home a long cross from the left flank from Shea from close range. Then Ferreira intercepted a weak backpass and slotted it past Wizards goalkeeper Kevin Hartman to make it 5-0 just three minutes later.
• Cunningham finished off the rout in the 89th minute, stealing a pass and putting a shot from the edge of the area that just slipped underneath Hartman. Cunningham became the ninth player to score four goals in a league game, one short of the MLS record.
• Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo made two changes to the team that played to a 1-1 draw with the LA Galaxy in their previous match. Davy Arnaud was back from national team duty and Adam Cristman made his first-ever start for Kansas City, with Jonathan Leathers on the substitutes' bench and Roger Espinoza injured.
• Here's Onalfo's team (4-1-3-2): Kevin Hartman - Jack Jewsbury, Aaron Hohlbein, Rauwshan McKenzie, Matt Besler (Michael Harrington 63) - Santiago Hirsig - Herculez Gomez (Lance Watson 46), Davy Arnaud, Claudio Lopez - Adam Cristman (Abe Thompson 77), Josh Wolff. Substitutes Not Used: Michael Kraus, Jonathan Leathers, Kurt Morsink, Boris Pardo
TEAM NEWS
• In the days following their last match, Wizards head coach Curt Onalfo, along with assistant Kris Kelderman, were relieved of their duties. Club technical director Peter Vermes took over on an interim basis. Onalfo ended his two-plus seasons with the Wizards with a 27-29-22 overall league record.
• "The big thing is we're moving forward. It's pretty simple; we realize we have 12 games left. The fact of the matter is, as results are important, right now, performance is even more important," Vermes said. "As an organization, the thing that we're going to have to -- and I think the players are on the same page with this -- we have to better our performance on the field."
• Of course, the final straw was the 6-0 defeat by FC Dallas. "If you look at all of our results, I think that's the worst result we've given up in like 10 years," team captain Jimmy Conrad said. "I think the 6-0 makes it a little bit more immediate that you have to look at the situation."
• Vermes had two full weeks to instill any changes into his team. But his first game in charge will see him shorthanded, as Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are out on suspension while Roger Espinoza just returned to training after suffering an ankle sprain. Arnaud and Lopez have combined for 10 of Kansas City's 20 goals on the season.
• "I honestly don't know (what we'll do). We've been toying around with a lot of different ideas," Vermes said. "One of the things we told the guys was that we're just going to work from how everything goes over the next two weeks and slowly build towards what we think is the right group of guys to step on the field."
• One likelihood is the inclusion of Hungarian forward Zoltan, who saw action for the team in a scrimmage against the PDL Kansas City Brass over the off weekend.
• "It's been a bit of preseason for me after coming off the end of the season [in Europe]. And, as a player, I can't wait to play a game. I'm waiting for that opportunity," Zoltan said, adding he felt 90 percent game-fit. "The style of play is a bit faster, a little more aggressive, but I can adapt pretty quickly. Some of my style will come out in the way the team plays as well."
• Another who play a role is rookie Graham Zusi, who started the first two games of the season but has since made only three substitute appearances (all from May 30-June 13) after suffering a hamstring injury.
• "He's just one of those kids who has something a little different. And he'll look to shoot where most guys won't even think about it and somehow he puts a really dangerous ball in. That part of it is pretty exciting about him," said Vermes. "What I've liked is that he's been really focused in keeping his nose to the grindstone in the work ethic aspect."
CHICAGO FIRE
The Chicago Fire saw their five-game unbeaten streak come to an end, the Houston Dynamo getting a late penalty kick for a 3-2 win on Sunday evening at Robertson Stadium. The Fire have 32 points from 19 matches, now four points behind the Columbus Crew in the Eastern Conference standings.
LAST MATCH
• The Dynamo were coming off a fourth defeat in seven games just three days earlier, a rare loss to FC Dallas, while the Fire were also come off a loss at midweek, on penalties to Mexico's Tigres UANL in the SuperLiga final, though they had a five-game undefeated streak in league play.
• The Dynamo started strongly and had a two-goal lead by halftime. In the 21st minute, Kei Kamara snuck behind the Fire defense to latch onto a throw-in all alone in the penalty area and hammered a close-range blast over Jon Busch for his fifth goal on the season. The goal was the first scored against the Fire in 395 minutes, and first in league play in five games, since July 4.
• Houston doubled its lead in the 37th minute. Brian Ching lofted a ball over the Chicago backline into the path of Ricardo Clark, and the U.S. international flipped it over the on-rushing Busch as he came off his line.
• But the Fire were level within three minutes of the second-half restart. In the 46th minute, Chris Rolfe collected a square pass some 30 yards from goal and left fly with a searing drive that beat Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad inside the right post for his fourth goal of 2009.
• Then two minutes later, Cuauhtemoc Blanco wriggled away from the challenge of Julius James in the left corner and flighted a soft cross to the back post, where Peter Lowry hit it with a stunning, acrobatic side volley for his first professional goal in his first career MLS start.
• Yet seven minutes from the end, Corey Ashe burst into the left side of the Chicago area and under pressure from fullback Brandon Prideaux went to the ground. Referee Terry Vaughn pointed to the spot, and on Stuart Holden Bobblehead Night, the recently turned 24-year-old smashed the resulting penalty into the back of the net for his sixth goal on the year and the game-winner.
• Fire head coach Denis Hamlett made two changes to the team that defeated Real Salt Lake 1-0 the weekend before. Cuauhtemoc Blanco came back into the team along with Peter Lowry, with Tim Ward injured and Justin Mapp going to the substitutes' bench.
• Here's Hamlett's team (4-3-1-2): Jon Busch - Brandon Prideaux, C.J. Brown, Bakary Soumare (Mike Banner 46), Gonzalo Segares (Daniel Woolard 5 / Dasan Robinson 60) - Marco Pappa, Logan Pause, Peter Lowry - Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chris Rolfe, Patrick Nyarko. Substitutes Not Used: Calen Carr, Andrew Dykstra, Baggio Husidic, Justin Mapp
• "I'm real proud of the group, especially in the second half," Hamlett said. "The third game in a week, and they pushed it to the limit. We got handcuffed with making two subs due to injuries. There were a lot of guys that plugged in and left it on the field tonight. We will go home and regroup and get ready for another important stretch."
TEAM NEWS
• The Fire saw their shutout streak come to an end at a club-record 395 minutes, the last goal conceded before Kamara's strike coming on July 4 in the 2-1 win at Colorado.
• "I thought we had a really good start to it," said Hamlett. "We had some good looks at the beginning. We fell asleep on two plays. The first goal off the throw-in. We talked about Houston are a very good, disciplined team. They do the little things right. They take a throw-in tonight, we fell asleep and they got a goal out of it. We don't do well with the second goal."
• Peter Lowry scored his first MLS goal in his second career league start, just his fourth professional appearance. He started and played an hour in the July 18 win against San Jose.
• "It was kind of a dream first goal for me, but I have to give all the credit to 'Temo for winning the ball and putting a tremendous cross," Lowry said. "It was one of those balls that you dream about at practice as a kid. To have that be my first goal, it is amazing, but all credit to him for all the hard work that led up to it."
• After spending nearly the entire season in first place in the Eastern Conference, the Fire cannot move back into the lead after this weekend's game, regardless of the results. While four points behind Columbus at the top, they do have a game in hand.
• "The only important thing is wins and losses. We'll look at the mistakes we made at the back and go from there," goalkeeper Jon Busch said. "The bottom line is we should've tied the game 2-2. Everybody out there knows it should've ended 2-2 no matter what team they're on, and it's very disappointing on our end that it didn't end 2-2."
