Until the final 20 seconds, it seemed as though the most excitement of the night Saturday would be the brief confrontation between the Fire’s C.J. Brown and Kansas City’s Mo Johnston.
They squared off in the 64th minute and almost came to blows before Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton intervened. Brown and Johnston were shown red cards by referee Sandra Hunt and sent to the locker rooms.
But the true excitement picked up in the final minute as the Fire scrambled for a tying goal. Josh Wolff, an 80th-minute substitute, saved the ball from going over the goal line and made a diving toe poke to Jerzy Podbrozny, who sent the ball past Wizards goalkeeper Chris Snitko to tie the match 2-2.
The Fire went on to win 3-2 in a shootout as Ante Razov scored in the 12th round.
Kansas City, battling to make the playoffs, set the tone early. Mark Chung, who scored 10 goals last season, scored his first of this season in the third minute. Chung took a feed from Paul Rideout and beat Thornton to the far post from about 25 yards out.
Thornton made his second straight start in place of Jorge Campos. After winning his first game of the season against San Jose Aug. 15, Campos has sat out the last two matches.
Since rejoining the Fire, Campos has played in four of the seven MLS matches.
The Wizards made it 2-0 in the 14th minute on Mo Johnston’s goal. Again, Rideout started the play out of the back, sending the ball to Digital Takawira. The Wizards had a 2-on-1 and Takawira played it across to Johnston, who beat a charging Thornton.
The Fire came within a goal back in the 53rd minute on Ante Razov’s goal.
