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It's about time, right? We've got ourselves a U.S. National Team writer. Mike Cardillo, who
we've been reading for YEARS on his site, "That's On Point", for US preview/reviews and English
Premier League musings will be providing some coverage of the Nats as they begin their 2014 World
Cup Qualifying campaign.
As expected, the Rapids season ended last night. It was always going to be an uphill battle and the
mountain just got too steep.
Colorado started 6 regulars, 2 backups, and 3 reserves and Kansas City took full advantage. On a
free kick in the first half they found the open area that Drew Moor normally fills, and Palguta
failed to fill last night.
Superior finishing helped Lazio claim a 3-0 victory from a game that was more often than not spent
on the back-foot. The result at Cagliari sees the Biancocelesti move to third in Serie A after an
undefeated October. Edy Reja's men have claimed four wins and a draw from their last five games to
quietly become one of the league's sides and this week's Team of the Week.
Last night the soccer gods turned away from the Rapids. I'd say they were too busy with golden boy
Tebow, but he might have had a worse day than the Rapids. As a Seahawks fan I feel no sympathy. :D
A combination of a lack of offense and bad luck really destroyed Colorado's hopes of repeating.
The home side controlled play for most of the first half, but as we've seen in recent games, they
could not convert that into goals.
A cold night in Commerce City worked to the Rapids advantage as they got a first half lead and then
suffocated any chances the Crew might have had to get back into the game. Colorado won 1-0 and
moved on to the Conference Semi-Final round to face Kansas City.
The Rapids took control early as they had the majority of play in the first half.
After a first half completely bereft of ideas by either team (I commented at half that the best
hope for either team to score was an own goal) the second half perked up and resulted in the Rapids
clinching a home playoff game.
The half started on a bad note though as Vancouver scored 4 minutes in.
Colorado went to Mexico hoping that they could steal a win. Santos obliged them by starting their
reserves. Then we found out the Rapids started half of their reserves and that was the end of that
hope.
Colorado controlled play for much of the first half, but every time the ball got to the attackers
it died.
Colorado was the better team and controlled play for most of the game, but for the first time in
Rocky Mountain Cup history there were no goals to be had in the game and both teams got a point.
With it FSL maintains control of the Cup for a 5th straight year.
It was really a tale of two halves.
Sorry for the double pun. ;) Saturday night a solid game from Colorado resulted in a much needed 3
points. Much like MLS Cup (but not quite as bad) the game wasn't pretty but it was successful.
The Rapids had the better of the play for most of the first half, punctuated by 2 shots on goal
between the 23rd and 26th minute.
So, yeah, about that whole post where I said the Rapids will be beat by Metapan and the roster
selection was not great. Well Colorado proved me an idiot with a 3-1 win last night. The reserve
squad, lead by Steve Guppy and augmented by Wells Thompson and Tyrone Marshall, pulled together in
a tough environment and dominated the scoreboard.
Sigh. Another game, another lack of attack until its too late, another failure to win. The Rapids
spent a good 60 minutes doing essentially nothing in the offensive third, and by then they were
down 1-0. They showed some life in the last 30 minutes and were somewhat unlucky not to find two
goals, but at the same time they were lucky to get one.
In 2005, a not-so-crack soccer team was sent to the reserves by a coach for skills they didn't
possess. These men promptly escaped from a minimally-interested Front Office to the Denver
underground. Today, still not missed by the fans, they survive as minimum wage MLS players. If you
have a game..
For yet another game a complete lack of offensive ideas doomed the Rapids to a loss. After a boring
first half where the teams combined for 1 decent attack Toronto came out re-energized for the
second half while Colorado spent 15 minutes waking up from halftime. Unfortunately by then they
were already down 2 goals.
Where do I start with this mess of an event. From the big things to the small things it was an
embarrassment. Might as well take it chronologically.
1. I get en email from my ticket rep saying "No parking passes for this game are needed". I write
back asking if that's true for the tailgate lot.
Colorado played poorly, the coaching staff made poor decisions, and the team got a poor result. The
1-0 score hides the fact that this loss should have been by 3 or 4 based on what we saw on the
field. For most of the first half LA was just attacking in wave after wave, forcing Pickens into 8
saves total, two of which were back to back and as good as the MLS Cup saving tackle at the end of
the championship game.
The Rapids traveled to Chicago on Saturday, but everyone might have been better served by Colorado
forfeiting the game and staying home for the rest. A 2-0 loss where Colorado was outplayed and
out-hustled all night wasn't any better than the 3-0 forfeit score line and added rest would have
been.
I'd break down the play and the goals, but honestly they're what you would expect for a tried Mile
High Club.
Colorado sent a young team down to Honduras, and you could tell from the play. The Rapids had few
chances last night and were under siege most of the game. They managed a 1-1 draw and the one point
is a good result given their youth, but 3 points was there for the taking had the coaching staff
done a better job managing the squad over the last couple of weeks.
Last night the Rapids tried out a new lineup but got similar results to what they've been seeing.
Giving Cummings some continued rest Folan was put up front with Nyassi as a withdrawn striker
underneath him. Early on it paid off, as Kimura launched Mastroeni(?!?!) down the right sideline
and Pablo whipped in a perfect cross that Folan headed into the upper corner for the lead.
Apologies for the delay, a summer flu has knocked me out for the last 24 hours. Preview of
tomorrow's Chivas game will be up later tonight.
After the worst first half the
Rapids have played in years they straightened things out and halftime and dominated the second half
en route to a win.
A wild and crazy game in San Jose saw Colorado return to the Rockies with 3 points. They got some
help from the refs and some good play from the midfield but this game could have easily gone the
other way.
San Jose had more possession but Colorado had better chances early. Seven minutes in Folan slammed
a Mullan cross off the post from his head.
The Rapids continued their dominance over the East with another win over the current Eastern
leaders. The Rapids are 5-10-1 against the East, with the only loss being in Columbus and 3 of the
5 wins being over teams who were leading the East at the time of the game. That seems appropriate
for the defending Eastern Conference Champions.
The Rapids used two of the prettiest goals you'll see all season to get an ugly win in Philly. The
heat and humidity gave the home team an advantage and they took full advantage, controlling play
and out-shooting Colorado.
Despite that, it was the Rapids who went up first, from an unlikely source.
The Jameson tradition continued as the Rapids are still undefeated against New England when Jameson
Night is held. Saturday night though the Jameson power resulted in a very odd game. Two PK's, a 70
yard goal, and a goal off a throw-in all combined for a 2-2 draw.
The Rapids had complete control of the first half, with the Revolution really only making one good
foray into the Rapids attacking third.
Apparently Sanna Nyassi saw an opportunity with Casey's injury to claim a starting spot and he took
full advantage. He was a couple of inches short of a first-half hat-trick, but got his hat-trick
and staked the Rapids to a 4-0 lead right after half. After that it was smooth sailing the rest of
the way.
As I predicted, the Rapids lost in Seattle by a goal. As I didn't predict it was a 4-3 goal-fest
instead of the expected defensive battle. The Rapids got off to a good start, with a Wells Thompson
goal off a lazy Seattle clearance in the first 5 minutes. Not surprisingly Colorado gave the lead
right back within 5 minutes as the back line was beaten again, for at least the 3rd time in the
first 10 minutes.
To quote my game preview:
2-1 win, goals by Casey and Cummings. C+C Goal Factory find their rhythm and put the
Rapids up 2, but the defense continues to have at least one breakdown a game to make things
interesting in the second half.
That's pretty much what happened. Palguta got the second goal instead of Cummings, but otherwise I
was dead on.
Before I get to the game review I wanted to mention that the Rapids have announced some of their
pre-season plans for next year. They've been invited to be the MLS representative in the new
Hawai'ian Islands Invitational Tournament in February. The other teams invited are the J-League's
(Japan) Yokohama FC, the K-League's (South Korea) Incheon United, and the A-League's (Australia)
Melbourne Heart.
Well there isn't much to talk about in this game. Houston came in happy to defend and take a 0-0
draw, or get a counterattacking goal to steal a 1-0 win. Colorado carried possession most of the
game and created more chances, but couldn't convert and Houston got its 0-0 draw.
My key to the game was the Rapids getting a lift from the home crowd and controlling the game.
Every year the Rapids (and most teams) play a game or two where the videotape should be burned, the
game forgotten, and the team moved on. Last night was one of those games. So we're moving on to the
big event of the week, the Colorado's visit to the White House. The Rapids started the day getting
their championship rings:
(Photo from Anthony Wallace)
Then it was off to the White House!
The Galaxy came to town without Donovan "Glass Jaw" Ricketts, Old Spice, and PrimaDonnavan. They
left with 3 points and a bunch of Rapids fans wondering which team was really missing their best
players.
The Galaxy picked apart the Rapids on offense and throttled any offensive chance Colorado got
started.
About 90 Rapids fans traveled to Portland to support the Rapids, and they were joined by yours
truly and 7 of my family members. That's all of us up in the SW corner of Jeld-Wen Field on the
left. The Rapids needed all the support they could get in front of about 20,000 Timbers fans who
had only seen one loss this season, before the Rapids came to town.
In my game preview on Friday I said:
1-1 draw, goal by Casey. The Rapids haven't shown the ability to put a team away in a
long time, and with the injury report I don't see that changing. Colorado will take the lead but
give it back. Our defense is strong enough, with the altitude, to prevent a loss but our offense
won't be able to get a win.
Playing the worst team in MLS Colorado continued their lack-luster play, and they got burned by it.
What should have been an easy won resulted in the Rapids 5th draw in a row and 6th draw in 7
games.
This game was much like last week's home game against Toronto. Lots of possession by the Rapids in
the defensive third but no ability to capitalize on it.
The Rapids started the game with only 2 offensive players hoping just to battle to a low-scoring
draw. That worked for about 25 minutes. Between minute 27 and 33 all hell broke loose, then they
went back to the plan for the remaining 57 minutes of the game. In the end they got the draw they
wanted, but it was a much higher scoring 2-2 draw than what they expected.
Toronto came to town with 4 former Rapids on their roster, 2 of them from the Clavijo era. As part
of their return to Denver they returned Clavijo-era ball to the Rapids. An ugly 0-0 game then
played out.
The closest the Rapids got to a goal was right before halftime when Quincy Amarikwa was tripped up
in the corner of the box, but didn't get the PK call.
Sorry for the lack of posts after Saturday's 1-1 draw. I've had computer problems and been sick. My
computer issues still aren't solved so this is going to be a quick combined post.
First Saturday's game. A just result arrived at in an unjust way. A great free kick from Jamie
Smith led to Drew Moor's first goal of the season.
Much like the British stealing supplies at Fort Oswego (see game preview) the British-led Rapids
stole a point from the Revolution in Foxboro on Saturday. An already beat up Colorado side got bad
news when Jamie Smith couldn't start, causing the Rapids to set their XI without 5 regular starters
and 2 regular backups, which forced them to play 2 more starters out of position.
A very even game turned on some very unusual Rapids goals last night. The first half was almost
uneventful, with only one shot on goal combined, but there was one major incident with long-term
ramifications for Colorado. Late in the half Cummings was battling with a Dynamo defender to run
onto the ball.
Water met Fire on Saturday night and the two opposing forces resulted in no winner as Chicago and
Colorado ended with a 1-1 draw in very cold temps. The Rapids were playing with a depleted lineup,
missing Casey, Folan, Wynne, and of course Mullan. Despite that they controlled the majority of
play.
Chicago had only 3 shots on goal, alas they scored on one.
Obviously the post game focus has been on the Mullan-Zakuani incident. I covered that in length
yesterday so I won't say any more about it other than correct red card to Mullan doomed the Rapids
in the game. Playing a man down for 87 minutes is too much to overcome.
I thought Colorado actually had the better play most of the game but that was partially because
Seattle got an early goal.
