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MLS New York Red Bulls

MetroStars Fall to Wizards in Scrimmage

March 7, 2003 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
New York Red Bulls News Release


Fort Lauderdale, Florida (Friday, March 7, 2003) - The MetroStars and Kansas City played a scrimmage at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale Friday afternoon with the Wizards winning by a score of 2-0.

The MetroStars fielded a mostly different squad each half to allow the team to give as many players a chance to see competitive action as the Florida preseason schedule slowly winds to a conclusion in the next few days.

The team will return home on Tuesday, March 11 for several days of local rest before departing again on Friday, March 14 for two weeks of preseason training in Argentina.

The MetroStars were almost on the scoreboard first in the 11th minute. Former Metz midfielder Frederic Meyrieu sent a hard free kick from 20-yards into the Wizards defensive wall, but the rebound carried back to the Frenchmen and his ensuing shot was saved by a diving Tony Meola to his right.

The Wizards did open the scoring in the 25th minute with Diego Gutierriez's long free kick from near midfield. The long ball found a breaking Igor Simutenkov in the box for a one-timer into the far right corner past Paul Grafer.

The start of the second half saw many substitutions by the MetroStars, while the Wizards started with a majority of their first-team players.

Simutenkov scored his second goal three minutes into the half when he took a through ball by Preki and fired a shot that a charging Paul Grafer managed to block. However, the rebound ricocheted off the Russian, who managed to track it down again, and fire a second shot for the goal.

The MetroStars received a great opportunity in the 75th minute, but were stopped on another great save by Meola. Morris Pagniello, a defender/midfielder who most recently played for SV Telstar in Holland, fired a hard shot from 18-yards, but Meola stretched and used his fingertips to tip the ball over the crossbar to keep the scrimmage and eventual score at 2-0.

The MetroStars will conclude their Florida scrimmages this upcoming Monday afternoon, March 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET, when they face the Columbus Crew. The scrimmage, previously scheduled for the Sunrise Soccer Complex, will now be played at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida.

NOTES: Tim Howard (left elbow sprain) and Jaime Moreno (left ankle sprain) did not play in the scrimmage. Both are listed as day-to-day ...Young MetroStar Mike Magee scored the lone goal Friday (second overall in tournament) in a 1-0 win over a Madeira Select as the United States won the 7th Annual Madeira International Tournament in Portugal...Forward Tommy Mooney, most recently of Sheffield Wednesday, has joined the team in camp for a look.

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