Tue Apr 8 18:40:44 2008

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Wizards searching for 3-0 start against Revs

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Kansas City, KS (Sports Network) - Coach Curt Onalfo wasn't afraid to gamble Saturday in the Kansas City Wizards' second game of the season.

With the score tied and less than 10 minutes remaining, Onalfo yanked defender Tyson Wahl in favor of forward Eloy Colombano, and the Wizards turned the move into a winner.

Scott Sealy, another second-half sub, scored the game-winning goal in the 87th minute to help K.C. edge Colorado, 3-2, and become the only team with two wins through the first two weeks.

"It was risky, but in my mind, playing at home, it's worth the risk because we now have six points when we could have only had four," Onalfo said.

Sealy's late goal helped K.C. remain perfect at CommunityAmerica Ballpark and give it some momentum for Wednesday's game against the New England Revolution.

"What's one point when you can try to get three?" said K.C.'s Jack Jewsbury, who assisted on the winning goal.

K.C. will be searching for another win Wednesday, especially with another home game coming up Saturday against Houston.

Another perfect week will give the Wizards four home wins - or just three less than it had all of last season at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City went 7-5-3 at home last year.

In addition to defending its home field so far, Kansas City has not suffered on offense without former striker Eddie Johnson. The U.S. national striker had a team-high 15 goals last season.

Johnson departed for Derby of English Premier League in the offseason but K.C. has five goals through two matches with new signings Claudio Lopez and Ivan Trujillo each scoring once.

Surprisingly, defender Jimmy Conrad leads the team with two goals. He scored a pair in the win over Colorado, both off headers from set pieces.

"We didn't score off of many set pieces last year. So to get two in one game, we could call that a borderline miracle," said Conrad, who didn't score last season. "It's nice to be on the end of that. I can't remember the last time I scored two goals ... maybe high school?

"Those were good days."

New England opened the season with an impressive 3-0 victory over Houston in a rematch of last year's MLS Cup, which Houston won, 2-1.

But since, nothing has gone right. U.S. national team striker Taylor Twellman is out up to eight weeks after knee surgery and captain Steve Ralston is out up to six weeks with a shoulder injury.

New England lost its second game to Chicago, 4-0. In addition to losing two of its best players to injury before the game, the Revs lost Jeff Larentowicz to a red card in the opening 10 minutes.

The Revolution were down by four goals before the end of the first half, which didn't give them any chance to settle down and rally.

"We didn't want to give up any more goals, to stop the bleeding," New England defender Michael Parkhurst said. "Then we wanted to get one or two back off set pieces, and we were pretty close.

"But hopefully that game Wednesday will come real quick because we still have a lot to prove."

The Revs also play twice this week, returning home Saturday to play Colorado.