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Going extra distance Wizards win tiebreaker, will face Fire for MLS title
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Miklos Molnar scored the only two goals as the Kansas City Wizards beat the Los Angeles Galaxy in the regulation game and mini-game tiebreaker Friday night to advance to the MLS championship game. The Wizards won the regulation game 1-0 on Molnar's penalty kick in the 22nd minute, and won the series in the tiebreaker on Molnar's goal in the fifth minute. Kansas City won the series 5-4. The teams played a scoreless tie in the opener Sept. 29, and Los Angeles won 2-1 in overtime Tuesday night. The Wizards will play the Chicago Fire in the Oct. 15 final at Washington's RFK Stadium. Chicago advanced with a 3-2 home victory over New York-New Jersey on Friday night. "A lot of people had us dying out at midseason and not finishing well," said Wizards coach Bob Gansler, who was drenched with champagne by his players after the victory. "A lot of people had us going out in the first round of the playoffs. But I knew this team, and they believe in themselves." Only 8,320 fans showed up at on a cold night with the temperature dropping into the 30s. Molnar, a 30-year-old striker from Denmark, tucked his penalty kick into the right corner past goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. Molnar has three goals in the playoffs after leading the Wizards with 12 during the regular season. Danny Califf, a member of the U.S. Olympic team who scored the overtime goal Tuesday, was called for the penalty that led to Molnar's penalty shot. Califf tripped Chris Henderson. The penalty kick was the Wizards' first since Aug. 25, 1999, a span of 46 games and 4,127 minutes. The last time the Wizards converted a penalty kick was July 19, 1998, against Colorado. "We haven't had a penalty kick all season, but we've been practicing them because we knew the game could come down to that," Gansler said. "There not much doubt in my mind Miklos could make it. He's a ruthless finisher. "It's like a dunk in the NBA for him. Thank you very much, and it's the back of the net." Goalkeeper Tony Meola has four shutouts in playoffs after setting a record with 16 in the regular season. "The play of the game came right after we scored on the penalty kick," Meola said. "Nick Garcia was 2 yards behind, but caught up with Luis Henderson (deflecting his shot), If they score there, then we've got to open up again. "We've been resilient all year. Everybody has counted us out." The Wizards had 16 shots, while the Galaxy had only nine.
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