BIG WIN!

How about that golazo from Davy Arnaud?? Talk about a long-ronge bomb. The win puts us back into the mix for the final playoff spot, just four points behind D.C. United (who tied FC Dallas 2-2). Check out some notables from the match and the post-game quote sheet.

· Following the match, Kansas City sits 7-9-8, 29 pts in sole possession of 6th place in the Eastern Conference.
· Kansas City is now four points out of the final playoff place.
· Four of Kansas City’s six remaining matches will be played in Kansas City.
· The Wizards played their only game of the 2008 season at Arrowhead Stadium and drew 26,113 in David Beckham’s first-ever appearance in Kansas City.
· It marked the 5th highest home attendance in club history.
· Kansas City is now 16-21-7 all-time against Los Angeles, including a 12-8-2 record at home.
· Forward Josh Wolff recorded the game-winning goal in the 67th minute for his second goal since rejoining the Wizards earlier this season.
· The goal was assisted by Herculez Gomez and Davy Arnaud.
· Arnaud then scored two minutes later on a blast from 33 yards out.
· It was Arnaud’s third consecutive match with a tally.
· He is now tied for the team lead with five goals.
· Arnaud is now in 4th place on the club’s all-time goals list with 30 career tallies in Wizards colors.
· Arnaud now has four career goals against Galaxy.
· Arnaud trails Mo Johnston, manager of next week’s opponent Toronto FC, by just one goal.
· Arnaud now has 28 career assists, good for a 3rd place tie with Johnston.
· Wolff is alone in 5th place after breaking a tie with Scott Sealy and Vitalis Takawira.
· Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and defender Jimmy Conrad are the only Wizards to play all 2160 minutes so far this season.
· Hartman recorded two saves against his former club to reach 1117-career stops.
· Hartman now has 104 stops on the year, good for a first-place tie with Jon Busch.
· Bush and the Chicago Fire play Sunday.
· Hartman is on pace to reach Tony Meola’s all-time club record of 129 saves.
· Hartman must average 4.17 saves/game over the remaining six games to set the club record.
· He has averaged 4.33 saves/game so far in 2008.
· He now trails Meola by 19 saves for the all-time MLS record.
· Hartman extended his all-time marks in wins (134) and shutouts (75) to record his first-ever shutout against the Galaxy.
· The Wizards last shutout the Galaxy 10/16/04 in regular-season play.
· Hartman has eight shutouts on the season, good for a second-place tie in MLS.
· Newly acquired Wizards forwards Abe Thompson and Herculez Gomez made their first Wizards starts.
· Gomez recorded his first assist in a Wizards uniform, setting up Josh Wolff’s game-winning goal.
· Midfielder Kevin Souter made his first career MLS appearance.
· Souter was signed in April after first impressing at an open tryout in February.
· The Wizards have had two players signed through the open tryout appear in an MLS match this season.

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On the game
“For one, I thought it was an extremely hard fought game. Bruce (Arena) has L.A. playing extremely well and they’re an unbelievably talented team. With all the (lineup) changes we made, it took us a little time to adjust to each other. Once we did that I thought we were pretty darn good and put on a great show for the full house of fans.”

On the large crowd
“It’s always great to play in front of a big crowd like that, and the guys really responded well. The crowd was a big plus for us and made things difficult on Los Angeles. Hopefully people seeing a Wizards match for the first time enjoyed themselves and will continue to come out during the stretch run. We want the whole city behind us as we push for the playoffs.”

On a two-goal second half
“The guys came out extremely well in the second half at a crucial time of the game. I liked how we managed the rest of the game as well after we got the 2-0 lead. I thought we possessed it better towards the end of the game and I thought we showed some good composure.”

On shutting out the best offensive team in MLS
“The fact that we shut out the best attack in Major League Soccer is a huge boost of confidence as we go into our last six games of the season.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS FORWARD JOSH WOLFF
On his goal
“Hercules did a good job putting it in there. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to put it in front of me so I was just looking to get a little piece of it and swing it to the back post, and fortunately that happened. I was glad to see it go in. It was good to score in front of so many cheering fans.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER DAVY ARNAUD
On his goal
“I think that’s probably one of the best goals I’ve ever scored. I don’t remember ever hitting one better than that. It’s one of those where you just try to hit it hard, get it on target and make the keeper make a save. It was something we put an emphasis on. We wanted to get some shots from distance and test the keeper.”

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER KEVIN SOUTER
On making his MLS debut
"It's a dream come true, to be completely honest. It's something I've dreamt about the last couple of years, especially since David Beckham came into the League. During college I had the ambition to play for the Kansas City Wizards and to eventually be on the same field as Beckham and the other high-caliber players in MLS. Tonight it happened. I had a lot of family and friends in town, and most importantly, we got the win. It was a perfect first appearance."

LOS ANGELES GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the game
“The difference in the game was a 15-minute segment in the second half. I thought Kansas City brought more energy to the game in the second half than we did. We were suspicious going into the game that we were going to have some issues with fatigue and that showed, but give Kansas City credit. They deserved to win the game.”

LOS ANGELES GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM
On the game
“It was a tough game for us again. No one likes losing, and we’ve gone a long time without winning a game. Today’s another tough one to take. In the second half they just had a little bit more in them than we did.”

On the Galaxy’s playoff chances
“I think we realize it’s going to be very tough, but it’s possible. I think once we get that first win mentally it will be better. Even today, you could see we were a little bit down. I’m not sure we had the belief that we could win this game. That’s obviously part of the mental side of it. Once we get over that, once we get our first win I think it’ll be all right.”

LOS ANGELES GALAXY MIDFIELDER CHRIS KLEIN
On the game
“For the most part, it was pretty even. They made two really good plays in the second half. The first one was a good touch and that second was just a great goal by Davy (Arnaud). I think we were a little sluggish and we just didn’t have enough.”