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Nobody beats the Wiz Especially the Rapids, who fall 1-0 in playoff opener
ATALNTA (CNNSI.com) -- The goal may have been a fluke, but it gives the top-seeded Kansas City Wizards a leg up in their first playoff series since 1997. Miklos Molnar scored in the 18th minute as the Wizards opened the Major League Soccer playoffs on Saturday with a 1-0 home victory over the Colorado Rapids. Kansas City earned three points in the quarterfinal series, which resumes Wednesday night at Colorado. Game 3, if necessary, will be next Sunday at Kansas City. The first team to five points wins the series. Taking an inswinging free kick from Preki with his back to goal, Molnar nodded the ball on net, tipping it over Rapids goalkeeper David Kramer from eight yards out. It was Molnar's fourth goal in as many games since returning from injury. "The goal was a fluke," said Kramer. Said Molnar, who had 12 goals in 17 games in the regular season: "I just wanted to get a good hit on the ball, and it found the right place." Colorado came close to sending the match to overtime when Paul Bravo took a shot from outside the box. Junior Agogo redirected the shot to the far post where Tony Meola made a spectacular diving save, trapping the ball against the goalpost just before it crossed the goal line. "We just couldn't get a break tonight," said Rapids defender Marcelo Balboa. The shutout was Meola's first in the postseason after recording a record-breaking 16 during the regular season. After finishing second to last in the 1999 MLS standings, the Wizards recovered to claim the best record in 2000. Kansas City had the league's best defense in the regular season, allowing just .91 goals per game on average. More post-game quotesKansas City coach Bob Gansler "You feel good winning the first playoff game. It was as we anticipated, low-scoring and highly contested. Both teams played well and it is going to be a hell of a series. I mean, they brought three all-star caliber players off the bench." On scoring first "We always want to score first, it's not like we just want to in the playoffs. Obviously it makes us feel confident. Playing on top is always something we strive for every game; it's nothing new." Kansas City Forward Miklos Molnar "Gaining three points is the main thing, now we just have to win one more game. The entire team made it happen tonight. We played as a unit from back to front. We gained the advantage tonight and did a good job." On his scoring streak "It is a coincidence to score in four straight games. Sometimes you can go three or four games without scoring. When the team plays well, everyone enjoys it." Kansas City goalkeeper Tony Meola "The first half we played super, super soccer all over the field. In the second half, Colorado served balls into the box and we defended a lot more in the back. But, we got the result we wanted and also got the jitters out, which is important." On his Save in the 92nd minute "I don't know how the ball got through, because I was screened a little bit. I reacted and pinned the ball against the post; it was six inches from crossing the goal line. That was a difficult save, but we all have to make our contributions, mine just happen to come at the very end." Kansas City midfielder Preki "We came out with one objective- to win. In 1997, when we played Colorado in the playoffs, we thought we would win so easily. Tonight, we played hard and well. Now we have to go to Colorado and steal one there." Colorado coach Glenn "Mooch" Myernick "I am very pleased with the performance tonight. At times, we reduced them to just booting the ball down the field, we really took the game to them for a lot of the game, but just couldn't seem to finish off a chance." "It's tough to lose on a fluke thing like that; Molnar just kind of knocked the ball blindly in the general direction of the goal, and the entire game came down to that one play." "We have to be very confident about the series after tonight, we really took it to them for a lot of the game. It was great to see Agogo and Limpar on the field, and I think you can tell the offense this team can bring when we have all of our horses." "[Jorge] Dely Valdes has proven he can score goals, but it is going to take the full team to beat Kansas City. The difference in the game was one play. On Wednesday, we need to create more chances. We need more possession and look for a few more shots. They are a hard team to break down, but I look forward to the next game." Colorado defender Scott Vermillion "It was a good game with a good crowd. We don't need to change anything for Wednesday. We can't say we didn't have the chances, we just need to finish them." Colorado goalkeeper David Kramer "It was a lucky shot, but that's what he (Molnar) does... the guy is running away from goal, and kind of bends over and hits it backwards, and somehow it found its way in... Our goal was to keep the pressure on. We tried to put them on their heels and hopefully we will put them away in game two." "I was able to make a couple of saves to keep us in it, but the defense in front of me was very good, as it has been lately. We definitely did enough to win this game, so we'll be confident Wednesday that we can turn in another strong performance." Colorado defender Marcelo Balboa "It's tough to lose on one strange play, I don't even know if the guy was trying to shoot it." "We gave ourselves a chance to win the game by creating enough chances, now we just have to finish them Wednesday night. We wanted to go at them from the start and I think we really did that tonight, there was no backing down." Colorado forward Paul Bravo "I know we'd like to have some of those chances back, I know I'd love to
have that header back from late in the game. But if we go out and keep
playing like that, the goals will come and we'll get right back in this
thing."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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