Paced by a three goal flurry in nine minutes, a hat trick of assists by Chris Klein, and a pair of goals by Josh Wolff, the Kansas City Wizards thwarted the Columbus Crew 4-0 on Saturday night at Columbus Crew Stadium. The Crew (2-5-0) suffered their fourth consecutive loss and most lopsided defeat since the 2000 season opener, a 5-1 loss at the now defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny, in front of the smallest crowd of the season, 9,260.

Just 17 minutes into the match, the Wizards (2-1-3) were able to mount a charge in transition as Wolff carried the ball into the Crew end and passed it up to Klein on the right flank. Klein then struck a quick cross through the Crew penalty area on the ground which found the boot of Alex Zotinca who slotted the ball into the right side of the net past a sprawled out Columbus goalkeeper, Jon Busch.

This eventual game winner may never have happened had rookie referee Lee Suckel awarded the Crew a penalty kick just two minutes earlier. Crew forward Cornell Glen appeared to be yanked down by a Kansas City defender in the Wizards’ penalty area after a long ball was played into the box toward the speedy Trinidadian forward.

“I thought I cut across the defender and he just took my legs out from under me,” Glen said. “So, I don’t know how the ref didn’t call it.”

Seemingly coinciding with the non-call was a complete shift in the momentum of the game. Columbus had owned much of the possession in the game up until that point, creating much better ball movement than they had seen in over a month. Nine minutes into the game, Crew forward Edson Buddle nearly found the net as a shot toward the goal was deflected away by a KC defender only yards from the goal. Glen tried to put the rebound on goal, but his spinning attempt was cleared away by the Wizards defense.

The Crew were unable to regroup following the first Kansas City goal and allowed another one six minutes later, in the 23rd minute. A charging Josh Wolff got in behind Crew defender Chad Marshall, one-timing a Davy Arnaud cross, putting the shot top shelf past a helpless Busch.

A mere three minutes later, Arnaud got into the scoring action for the Wizards as he beat Crew defenders Chad Marshall and Frankie Hejduk to put the ball in the back of the net, capping the nine-minute goal scoring barrage by the blue and white clad KC side.

The Crew, a team that struggled defensively in the final 15 minutes of the first half last year, has now run into problems even earlier in matches as they have given up half of their 14 total goals yielded, in the first 26 minutes of the game.

Columbus scrapped their new 4-4-2 alignment to open the second half in favor of a familiar 3-5-2, bringing on Ante Razov to play in an attacking midfield role. It nearly paid off for Columbus as Razov slipped a pass between two Wizard defenders right to Glen. However, Glen’s shot from 12 yards out would have had a hard time finding a goal that was even twice as high.

“I didn’t score, so I’m disappointed,” Glen said. “I should have scored early in the second half to put us back in the game.”

Despite throwing more players forward, the Crew struggled to find any more opportunities to get back into the game as Kansas City had at least seven of their ten field players back for almost the remainder of the match.

“In the second half we tried to go in with a zero-zero mentality,” said Wizards head coach Bob Gansler, “which is tough because the other team is coming with everybody including offspring and (their) grandmother. It’s a lot of numbers forward.”

After KC once again stymied a Columbus offensive attempt, Klein led a two-on-two breakaway finding a on-running Wolff who had to dribble around Jon Busch who was charging out from his goal. Wolff was still able to get off a shot from near the left-side endline at a difficult angle and the ball rolled just inside the right post to give him a brace, 2 goals for the match.

“We’re obviously leaking a lot of goals,” Crew head man Greg Andrulis said, whose side has been outscored 14-2 in their last six matches. “It’s not just one guy; it’s not just Jon Busch. It’s the collective team defending. It has to be better.”

Busch cited a lack of composure in his side that cost them the game. “I think Cornell and Edson caused so many problems up top for their defenders,” he said. “But in that situation, if it’s not coming for us, we can’t get frustrated. If we would’ve kept going, I think we would’ve got one by halftime.”

Throughout the second half of the match boos were elicited by the Black & Gold’s poor play. “When we’re playing good, the fans are going to cheer,” said Buddle, who has failed to score in over a month. “When we’re playing bad, they should let us know.”

“Tonight we were able to score the goals and keep control of the game,” said KC goalkeeper Bo Oshoniyi. “We knew that Columbus was going to come out in the second half and take it to us,” added the former Crew netminder who started Columbus’ inaugural game over a decade ago, “but we were able to weather their storm and get the fourth goal and seal the deal.”

Gansler was extremely pleased with his side’s performance. “Today in the first half we were exquisite on both sides of the ball,” he said. “I don’t think it would have made any difference if we had played in any other stadium or against any other team.”

Of the Crew struggles, Gansler added, “We as coaches have all had these outings. That’s why we turn gray, have hemorrhoids, and things of that nature.”

“It’s not the system. Everybody gets caught up in the X’s and O’s,” Andrulis said of the unsuccessful formation shift in the first half. “It’s execution. It’s doing your job.”

Gansler may have hinted at what Columbus needs to right their ship in his closing post-game comment. “It’s always about making the next guy better,” he said. “If everybody works at that, then even the coaches can go home and say, ‘Maybe I deserve this beer.'”

The Crew, now in the Eastern Conference cellar, will host expansion side Real Salt Lake at 7:30 pm this Saturday.