2:2 MetroStars Kansas City Djorkaeff Razov Pore Wolff 09.03.05 · League

For the second straight match, the MetroStars escaped Giants Stadium with a late tie. This time, Ante Razov played hero, curling a free kick into the Kansas City net to knot the score at two. The Metros, wearing special orange jerseys that were raffled off to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, had to fight back twice to earn a point. But is it a case of too little too late?

With Jeff Parke out with a yellow card suspension and Ryan Suarez coming off a horrible match, Jeff Agoos and Carlos Mendes formed the partnership in central defense; Tim Regan kept his spot at right back at the expense of the formerly ever-present Chris Leitch. Abbe Ibrahim made a start on top for Sergio Galvan Rey.

The Metros found themselves behind just 50 seconds into the game. With Agoos taken to school on the play, the Wizards walked through the Metro defense straight off the kickoff, and Ryan Pore knocked it in past Tony Meola for the early lead. It took the Metros a few minutes to wake up, and when they did, they controlled possession for long stretches of time, but weren't able to penetrate Kansas City's defense. Then, in the 27th minute, Amado Guevara was fouled far from the net, a position not dissimilar to one that led to the tying goal against Chivas. The same result happened here, except the roles of Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff were reversed; this time, the Honduran quickly restarted, laid it off to the Frenchman, who walked in and tied the game.

And then the Metros seemingly fell asleep again, and six minutes into the second half, Meola made a blunder on a Josh Wolff chance, a feeble attempt that saw the striker slide the ball under him and restore the Wizard lead. Five minutes later, Razov, coming off surgery, replaced Ibrahim, and immediately energized the Metro attack. The Metros started to press, and in the 81st minute, it seemed like they tied the game, as Bo Oshoniyi failed to hold the ball, and the mistake resulted in a goalmouth scramble, with Razov hitting the crossbar and then Djorkaeff knocking one home. Unfortunately, a hand ball was called on Djorkaeff by our favorite referee Abbey Okulaja (a ridiculous call like no other), and the game remained tied.

Fortunately, Razov had more in him, and when Djorkaeff was fouled just outside (although it looked like he was in) the box with two minutes left in regulation, Ante stepped up and took a free kick that curled into the upper left corner of the net past a hopeless Oshoniyi. The Metros salvaged a point to now stand five behind Chicago for the last playoff spot.

Lineup: Meola, Ward, Agoos, Mendes, Regan, Bradley, Magee, Guevara, Gaven, Djorkaeff, Ibrahim. Subs: Razov, Galvan Rey, Lisi.