Fire spoils coaching debut of K.C. Wizards' Peter Vermes

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Mike Banner scored his first MLS goal, Jon Busch posted his eighth shutout of the season, and the Chicago Fire beat Kansas City 2-0 on Sunday to spoil Peter Vermes' first game as Wizards interim coach.

Chris Rolfe also scored for the Fire (9-4-8), who trail Eastern Conference-leading Columbus by 3 points.

Banner's insurance tally in the 89th minute was the ninth consecutive goal scored against the Wizards (5-8-6), who are winless in five matches and have been shut out in four.

Vermes, Kansas City's technical director and a member of the Wizards' only MLS Cup-winning team in 2000, replaced Curt Onalfo after a 6-0 loss at FC Dallas on Aug. 1.

The Fire were able to find space behind Kansas City's defense for much of the game, and Rolfe capitalized in the 13th minute. He took a pass from Marco Pappa, cut between Jimmy Conrad and Matt Besler, and fired a shot inside the right post from 13 yards.

Wizards forward Zoltan Hercegfalvi, who made his MLS debut after a transfer from Hungarian club Honved FC, was given a red card in the 85th minute for a hard tackle on Banner. Four minutes later, Banner put the match out of reach with an unassisted goal.

Busch made 5 saves, giving him 73 this season. He moved into second place behind Toronto's Stefan Frei, who has 75.

The Wizards were without two of their most prolific scorers, Claudio Lopez and Davy Arnaud, who served one-game suspensions for yellow-card accumulation. Arnaud and Lopez have 5 goals each this season.