FC Dallas 1, Wizards 0

David Ferreira scored on a penalty for his third goal in four games and FC Dallas beat the Kansas City Wizards 1-0 Saturday night.

The Wizards have five losses and a tie in six MLS road games this season.

Ferreira drew the foul in the 57th minute when was taken down by Kansas City defender Roger Espinoza while trying to corral a pass from Jair Benitez.

``When the ball came, I took control of the ball and was just waiting for the defender to take me down,'' Ferreira said through an interpreter. ``And when I tried to finish, I was happy the ref saw the defender take him down.''

Ferreira drilled the ball into the upper right corner as KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen dove the other way, for his second penalty goal of the year.

``Look, if there's going to be a penalty called in the game, and I can't comment on whether theirs was, but there were two on the other side of the field with Josh Wolff and Shevar Thomas, and if that's going to be the game, then you have to call those as well,'' Kansas City coach Peter Vermes said. ``If he's going to call the game that way, he's got to stay consistent, simple as that.''

After that, though, momentum gradually shifted toward the Wizards, and KC almost tied it on successive chances by Graham Zusi.

Not even a full minute after entering in the 71st minute, Zusi found himself all alone in the area facing Dallas goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who got his hands on the resulting shot.

Moments later, Zusi's free kick from just beyond the left corner of the penalty area deflected off the foot of Dallas defender Daniel Hernandez in front, forcing Hartman to make a leaping save near the left post.

``We had Daniel in that space, so I know he's always going to be trying to intercept and read stuff in that near space,'' said Hartman, who made four second-half saves to secure his fourth shutout of the season. ``When he deflected it, he said he set me up for this big save, but the reality is, it felt kind of comfortable.''

Dallas began to push back after that and nearly went up by two in the 82nd minute when Eric Avila's pass attempt from deep on the left side deflected off Wizards defender Thomas and then off the crossbar.

Thomas then had a chance in stoppage time, as he got his foot on a free kick by Zusi from the left flank, and the ball rolled just wide of the right post.

Nielsen, whose arrival in February precipitated Hartman's trade to Dallas, was outstanding in the first half, making five saves to keep Dallas off the board, despite dominating play early.

``Jimmy?s been solid all season long, he always winds up coming up with the big saves when we need him,'' Vermes said. ``He?s been a great addition to our team. I can?t say enough about him.''

Then Ferreira took over.

``As we all saw last year, he's a very, very good player,'' Dallas coach Schellas Hyndman said of Ferreira. ``As you can see, he is a tireless worker. There at the end of the game, he and Atiba (Harris) killed four minutes off the clock in the corner. He's just a smart player. I think right now, this is more his team than anybody else's.''