It's deja vu all over again. Needing to win at Chivas for a second straight season to keep playoff hopes alive, the Colorado Rapids went to LA and emerged with a brave 2-1 victory. They had some luck, they often played quite predictable soccer but they played with great heart and they deserved the victory. Chivas are a pretty nice team with a good streak behind them and this was a great effort to get the three points.
The Rapids, as they had to, took the game to Chivas and, but for a short period following the opening goal, played consistently attacking soccer. They didn't exactly dominate the game but they did have the lion's share of possession for basically the whole match. You just got this nagging feeling that it would all come to naught and that Chivas would break and score. However, a solid header from Colin Clark from a perfect Omar Cummings cross gave the Rapids the lead in the 67th minute. Colorado needed to do something to break down the Chivas defense and it was substitute, Terry Cooke, who put Omar in a good position to make the cross with one of his trademark slide rule passes. We almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory a few minutes later when we sat back too much just as Chivas stepped up a gear - a bad combination. Chivas equalized and we had to wait nail bitingly until the 85th minute for Conor Casey to knock a penalty home following a good run by Cummings. This penalty was deserved. The first one, subsequently missed by Tom McManus in the 55th minute, was one of the softest penalties you will see and it was fitting that the Chivas goalkeeper pulled off a good save. There was nobody happier than McManus when that final whistle blew.
Now, all we have to do is beat Salt Lake in Colorado next Saturday. Who cares about the Rocky Mountain Cup? Just get in the playoffs.
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4 comments:
Well, you were right (as was Omar) in predicting Cummings would have a say in the outcome of this match.
Looking forward to what the "most dogged Rapids reporter" can dig up for us curious fans this week as we head toward the battle against our foes from the West.
I'll stick with my prediction from after Clavijo resigned - Rapids make the playoffs on a 2-0 drubbing of the Salt Lake Sallies.
good game! i love watching Casey take PKs, he stands so close to the ball with no run-up. i thinks its confidence. I felt really bad for McManus but his shot was terrible, he just doesn't seem confident since his injury.
I thought Labrocca looked like he hit the rookie-wall. he was way behind the ball on offense and he just wasn't a factor. poor kid, he's played so well this season, but he might be spent.
The defense looked pretty shaky, that goal was ridiculous, we gave them so much space to work with in the box. Good to see Bouna though, he's on a mission.
It was certainly a nail bitter and it was good to see the impact of cummings and cooke off the bench. Omar was definately my player of the game.
I would have to say that the Chivas goal was a well deserved in the midst of just being flat on defense. I don't think they had too much space, but all of our guys were running the wrong way to make the play on that one.
Bouna played a great game and as well as Burpo has been playing, I think Bouna will give us a better shot in the playoffs, when we make them after we beat Real on Saturday. The key for this saturday is fan support!
So is Erpen gone after this season? Doesn't look like age is helping him develop a soccer brain. And without that it seems hard, at least in MLS terms, $120k / year for defender.
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