Wizards suffer 'disappointing' loss to Seattle
Penalty kick knocks Kansas City out of Open Cup
They couldn't believe so much hard work could come undone on one call, which resulted in a penalty kick.
Sebastien Le Toux buried a penalty kick in the 89th minute and Seattle Sounders FC escaped with a 1-0 triumph against the Wizards to advance to Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinals on Tuesday night at Starfire Sports and Entertainment Complex.
Onalfo thought Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero was offside seconds before referee Abbey Okulaja called Hartman for tripping Montero in the penalty area near the left post. Onalfo also disagreed with the call made.
"I saw a guy [Montero] five yards offside before the play, that was not called, and I didn't see a penalty kick," Onalfo said. "That's how I saw it. You can't make calls like that to change the game in the [88th] minute.
"It's been the third time I've been part of it with that same referee. I'm beyond disappointed."
Hartman appeared to grab Montero's foot as he dribbled toward the goal before Okulaja blew his whistle. Hartman said he just was making himself big and spreading out his base.
"In that case, I thought I spread well and that I was almost already getting up after [Montero] kicked it off the sideboards," said Hartman, who made two saves. "When the referee decides the game, it's tough to accept. Guys have a chance to make money [in the Open Cup]. At the end of the day, it's decided on what I thought was a questionable PK.
"It's a disappointing thing."
Hartman felt the play was already over when the referee made the match-turning call on him.
"To get called for three penalty kicks in two games is baffling to me," Hartman said. "There's obviously frustration with the fact that we worked so hard. We don't get the result that we deserve sometimes.
"I can't think of any other team I played for where you play two games in a very competitive tournament and the referee calls you for three penalties in those two games."
The Wizards had survived a third-round match with the USL-1 Minnesota Thunder where the lower-division side scored twice on penalties in an eventual 3-3 draw over 120 minutes, before K.C. advanced on a penalty-kick shootout.
Hartman didn't admit to touching Montero's foot. He felt like the Sounders FC forward shouldn't have been rewarded for trying to draw a foul call late in the match.
"I think it's really demanding of the referee to make sure he's watching it closely, and not influenced by the fans," Hartman said. "It always puts the goalkeeper in such a precarious position. It would be one thing if [Montero] dove once, but I think he dove three times in the final five minutes.
"I'm sure he can call any one of those if he wants," Hartman added. "You put your trust in the officials. Unfortunately, in this one we got the short end of the stick."
Hartman felt Montero hung in the air after the play was essentially over to get the foul call.
"When the field player leaves his feet for the next five seconds, so the goalkeeper might run into him, and doesn't make a play for the ball, it's tough," he said.
It was a tough ending to a tough stretch for Kansas City.
"It was a game on the road, and that was our sixth game in a very short period of time with enormous travel and it's a quarterfinal game where there's money on the line," said Onalfo, said after his team's sixth match in 17 days.
Matt Massey is a contributor to MLSnet.com
