Stream of Consciousness Match Report
Dallas Burn v Kansas City Wizards 24 April, 2004

Rematch of the Exhibition match in Edmond, America two weeks ago.

Diego Walsh with a good shot in the second minute. Good start for KC.

The grass at the Cotton Bowl looks like pool felt as usual. Greatest field in the league.

Eddie Johnson got pulled down in the box in the seventh, but got no call. Eddie took it like a pro. He’s grown a lot under Colin Clarke. Or maybe he’s just growing up in general. Either way, you can see a much more mature young man. He’s more of a team player, much more at ease with himself and his peers. It’s a great thing to observe.

I know I sound like the proverbial broken record when I say this week after week, but having Ronnie O’Brien back is wonderful. This team is not the same without him. He got a knock on the ankle around the 15th minute.

Pretty slow, midfield oriented play for most of the first quarter hour. Scott Garlick very calm on the ball, again making tough tasks look easy, very much in command of his defense.

I’m starting to think Alex Zotinca is a thug. He sucker punched Frankie Hejduk in the back last week, and just now took down Corey Gibbs for no apparent reason and with no apparent result. Zotinca, be on notice, I’ve got my eye on you, boy!

Good releasing pass by Behncke; Nhleko turns his defender and loses him. Streaks to goal with two guys on him and beats both defenders and Meola on a slow roller which wrong footed all three. Burn 1-0 in the 17th!

Eddie just misses after another good long pass by Ronnie just a minute after the goal.

Ronnie went to the sideline after that to get his ankle looked at. I don’t like this. Of course, it’ll take a little more than a knock to get Ronnie out.

Wizards getting porous in their own half. Eric Quill picks off a bad pass and shoots long on Meola, but not quite enough mustard on it.

The Wizards are calming down and putting together a little possession now, around minute 23.

Quill takes a long shot again in the 26th. Not too far off. Resulting corner muffed by KC, but to no avail for Dallas. Nhleko takes a whack on the shin, but he’s ok. I like Tony for not writhing and rolling and taking fifteen minutes to get back up.

Chris Klein nearly scores on a counter following the Dallas corner. Wizards again showing the ability to possess in midfield on occasion. Dallas, though, has obviously been working on counter-attacking, because it’s really not taking them long to get the ball forward tonight.


Nhleko got a run on goal from a long pass in the 33rd. I had no idea he had such wheels! He outran Garcia and forced Tony to make a save to his left.

Josh Wolff to Chris Klein on the left side of the box in the 37th. Klein scared me to death with a nice outside of the foot swerving shot that went just wide. KC starts to pressure. They seems to put together some possession and dangerous chances every 10 minutes of so.

Dallas gets a corner in the 40th. Jolley hits side netting. I like that he gets forward once in a while.

Second week in a row we go into halftime leading 1-0. I can get used to this.

Diego Walsh opens the second half by missing an open goal in the 4th minute. Well, open but for the charging Scott Garlick taking away all the angle possible. The pass by Wolff to release Walsh was top-shelf.

The Burn look really dangerous in the first 20 minutes. I can’t see them not scoring again in this match. The actually put the ball in the net in the 21st, but a dubious foul call on EJ nullified it.

Nobody in Major League Soccer screams at a ref quite like Tony Meola.

Rhine in for Nhleko in the 73rd. I predict a goal within 10 minutes.

Gbandi in for Gibbs in the 79th. Corey Gibbs looks to have hurt his leg on Taylor’s shot on goal. He’s taken a lot of knocks since coming home to MLS. He walked of on his own, and it looks to be ok.

Ronnie is just slicing through KC right now. Corner in the 81st off Ronnie’s near miss. And now another. KC hasn’t had 40% of the possession this half, I’d guess.

It’s raining shots right now on Meola. I just can’t tell you how much I love a team that protects a 1-0 lead by trying to double it. That is football, friends.

Talley in for Quill in the 83rd. Didn’t get the goal I predicted, but Dallas dominated that 10 minutes nonetheless.

Jolley takes down Arnaud 20 yards from goal in the 87th. This is a dangerous moment. Jolley gets a card for his troubles. I‘d bite my nails, but I don’t have any left after last week’s game, plus I believe we’ll hold.

Annnnnnnd we do. Whew.

Four minutes of stoppage time? Are they tryin’ to kill me?

OK, Chris Klein IS trying to kill me. He just missed from 20 yards out in the second minute of stoppage time. I’d like to hook myself up to a heart monitor for one of these games just to watch the squiggly lines go haywire at moments like these.

So, when’s the last time you heard this: THE DALLAS BURN LEAD THE WESTERN DIVISION!!

Good night, and drive safely!