Chhetri features in KCWizards win over Manchester United!
It was a hot and humid night in Kansas City as 52,000 soccer fans came to watch the Kansas City Wizards play against the most famous soccer club in the world the mighty red devils of Manchester United.
Now every fan knows that Manchester United brought most of their substitutes and a few starters to America for their North American summer soccer tour, however what true soccer fans know is that Manchester United have international stars although their roster so this was no easy win for the Wizards; in fact Manchester United has not lost a game in North America in two year. However, this all came to an end tonight.
The majority of the 52,000 fans that came to the game tonight came to watch United play, in fact there were 43 out of 50 states represented tonight at the game by fans across the United States. Even though United lost the majority could not help but feel that it was a good win for the local team, and tonight the mighty Kansas City Wizards proved to the world that Major League Soccer in the United States deserves more respect.
Despite going down to 10 men late in the first half, the Wizards were able to take advantage of two first-half goals to win the match 2-1. Captain Davy Arnaud, and Kei Kamara scored 1 goal apiece for the Wizards while Dimitar Berbatov was able to score the lone goal for the Wizards via a penalty kick that resulted in defender Jimmy Conrad of the Wizards receiving a red card and being sent off despite this being a friendly.
Arnaud’s goal came early right around the 11th minute of the game; the captain was able to streak diagonally right behind United’s defense allowing Kei Kamara to put the pass into a free space giving Arnaud the great finish and goal! The Wizards would enjoy a lead for much of the first half till around the 39th minute when United was able to score on a penalty kick bringing the game to a bitter tie. Just when the KC faithful thought all hope was lost forward Kei Kamara was able to put a Ryan Smith corner into the net with help from the crossbar.
The Wizards would enter half time with a 2-1 lead which would later prove to be all the Wizards would need to seal the win. However, there was some excitement in the stands not just from the action on the field but for the substations coming on. Indian soccer hero Sunil Chhetri would finally get some playing time in front of the largest soccer crowd in Kansas City history, and against the world’s largest soccer club.
Sunil would enter the game around the 65th minute to a large and warm welcome from the KC fans that were just as eager to see him play as he is to get on the field. Sunil performance tonight would prove to be good one as he was able to connect on two shots on goal one of which gave United goalkeeper Ben Amos a scare. Sunil would also be apart of many late game attacks, his passing, and ball handling skills would also show the Wizards supporters that with time he will be a value member of the team.
Sunil through his time of the field would show everyone in the stands just how fast he can be when he has the ball and when he does not. Sunil’s defense would remain tough as well as he was in the game all the way to the end when the team switched from the attack mode to defense. Sunil may not have been able to score in this game, but he did show the crowd that he is capable of being a contributor to the Wizards.
Even with the Wizards only having 10 men for the majority of the game, Sunil and the Wizards continued to attack and defend and were able to hold off United and get the win. Sunil and the other KC Wizards did what they had to do to make sure that the Wizard’s fan in attendance witnessed what some are calling the greatest win in Wizard’s history. India and KC Wizard’s fans should be proud of Sunil and the Wizards for this performance.
Kory Buys writes for FootballKerala.com
