Posted by James Cranford

James Cranford- Assistant Producer of World Football Daily


A Davy Arnaud first half strike and a Jimmy Conrad theatrical goal in the second half, propelled the visiting Kansas City Wizards 2-0 over hosts and league leaders LA Galaxy.

The LA Galaxy played one of their worst games of the season while, according to Head Coach Peter Vermes, Kansas City played a full 90 minute game - most likely their best performance of the season - to capture the three points on hand.

Kansas City stuck with their usual 4-5-1 system with Kei Kamara and Ryan Smith (look for him on the show in the near future) flanking the lone striker, Birahim Diop, and Davy Arnaud playing directly behind him. The Galaxy were without Juninho tonight due to personal reasons, so Chris Klein slotted into the midfield next to Michael Stephens, Chris Birchall, and Landon Donovan, while Mike Magee was given the start partnering with Edson Buddle.

After a real drab first ten minutes, things livened up when Kei Kamara received a long ball, which he received nicely, down the right side and centered a low ball to Arnaud who made one move on Leonardo, found space, and scored the opener. The Galaxy defense was really cut open on that one.

The Galaxy were able to exert some pressure as the half wore on winning six corners, but failing to threaten Jimmy Nielson's goal at all.

A lot of credit must go to Kansas City who were able to stifle the midfield four of the Galaxy and the back line made the leagues leading scorer, Edson Buddle, look redundant the entire half (although he did win a free kick with nice hold up play in the 27th minute that Donovan took poorly) failing to have a shot on target. Buddle ended up with one shot on goal in the game.

Kansas City would have rued the missed chance in the 36th minute on another night when Davy Arnaud blocked a Leonardo pass and found Birahin Diop in loads of space but the striker failed to get a shot away as Donovan Ricketts was able to stop the attacker, coming off his line.

The Galaxy seemed to have a golden chance to score right before the half when Chris Klein found Mike Magee at the far post wide open, but the striker's volley lacked any sort of quality and failed to hit the net.

Neither team made any half time substitutions.

Edson Buddle was able to get his first shot of the match in the 47th minute but his effort from 30 yards was tame.

Kansas City, working the ball well in the midfield, had a dangerous Michael Harrington cross into the box with three Wizards forwards in there, but all failed to get a head to the ball.

The Galaxy finally made some good link up play. Working on the right hand side, Klein passed to Donovan who neatly one timed the pass to Chris Birchall who raced in to the box with space to shoot but Jimmy Nielson was up to the task.

Birchall had another golden opportunity to score, Stephens played a ball in the middle to Dovovan who deftly touched the ball out of the air into space on the volley to send Birchall through on goal but Jimmy Nielson made his best save of the night. The Galaxy had on or two good moments the entire match, but they looked lackluster, especially in the midfield, or as Bruce Arena said, "We were outcompeted tonight."

Kei Kamara received a pass in the 61st minute at the top of the area and was tackled by Gonzales, but the tackle caused the ball to end up straight in to the path of Diop who again put a tame effort on goal. Diop could have scored two on another night.

Bruce Arena clearly needed to make a change as his club was being well outplayed all night, Tristen Bowen came on for Chris Klein to add some pace to the midfield. Bowen made an immediate impact using his pace down the right and won a corner for LA, but it was his only key involvement all game.

Chris Birchall picked up a yellow in the 66th and will miss the Galaxy's next match due to an accumulation of yellow's.

The 70th saw Kansas City pick up the vital second goal. A Free kick for that Arnaud whipped into the mixer and Jimmy Conrad theatrically stuck, while being tightly marked by Buddle, his leg out and the ball somehow found its way off the post and into the net.

The Brazilian Cazumba came on for Mike Magee which pushed Donovan up to play forward alongside Buddle.

Kei Kamara was one of the best players on the field on the night and was subbed off with little time to go and got his just applause from his teammates for his hard work and overall brilliant play; many times coming back to defend and holding the ball up front to keep possession and break up the Galaxy's momentum.

The Galaxy finally sprung to life in stoppage time as Jovan Kirovski shot high and not so handsome over the bar: too little, too late.