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Bring on L.A. Kansas City moves on to MLS semifinals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- All the Kansas City Wizards needed to advance to the semifinals of the Major League Soccer playoffs was a tie with the Colorado Rapids. The Wizards, however, did not play conservatively as they scored the first three goals en route to a 3-2 decision to eliminate the Rapids before 4,156 rain-drenched fans Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium. "We wanted to play like we have all season, attack and put the other team on their heels," said Wizards midfielder Chris Henderson, who scored the only first-half goal in the 11th minute. Miklos Molnar and Francisco Gomez, who also had an assist, added second-half goals for the Wizards, who will play the Los Angeles Galaxy in the second round of the MLS playoffs. The first game with the Galaxy will be Friday night at Kansas City. "We wanted to get an early goal," Henderson said. "If we did that, we knew they'd have to get two goals to beat us. We knew they had only two goals against us all season, while we had 13" entering the game Sunday. The Wizards are 18-2-1 when scoring first. Henderson, a 29-year-old midfielder who played at UCLA, scored his third playoff goal and his first since 1997, when he had two while with the Rapids. The Wizards acquired Henderson in a Nov. 18, 1998, trade. Henderson, who led the Wizards with 27 points during the regular season, took a deflection and knocked it past goalkeeper David Kramer. "I'm not inclined to roll the dice for 100 minutes and say let's play for a tie," Wizards coach Bob Gansler said. "Colorado got two goals, but it was garbage time and as far as I'm concern it was 3-nothing. The final score was not indicative of our superiority over them." The Wizards made it 2-0 on a Molnar header in the 65th minute with assists from Chris Klein and Gomez. Molnar, who led the Wizards with 12 goals during the regular season, had the only goal in the Wizards' 1-0 playoff victory over the Rapids last week. Just four minutes later, the Wizards upped their advantage to 3-0 on 21-year-old midfielder Gomez' first playoff goal and only his fourth in 23 games with the Wizards. "Franciso's goal was brilliant, well taken by Francisco to lure the goalkeeper and tuck it into the far post," Gansler said. "He's got a fantastic future ahead of him. "The kid was brilliant. It doesn't surprise me, but maybe it surprised them." Paul Bravo scored both of the Rapids' goals. His first, Colorado's first goal in 294 minutes against the Wizards, came in the 70th minute. With just seconds left, Bravo scored on a penalty kick. Wizards defender Brandon Prideaux was charged with tripping in the box to set up the penalty kick. Rapids forward Junior Agogo was red-carded in the 75th minute for dangerous play. The Wizards applied early pressure, outshot the Rapids 12-2 in the opening half and 20-7 overall.
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