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Colorado Rapids fall to F.C. Dallas
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F.C. Dallas were one of the teams that were supposed to be easy to beat. For half the season they were. Those days are gone. Over the last ten games Dallas has accumulated nineteen points from six wins and one draw. The best record over that period, in MLS. That's an honor Dallas shares with the Columbus Crew, who are the best team in the league.
Over the same period of games the Rapids have accumulated ten points. That is the second worst performance in MLS over the last ten games. The Rapids were saved from being the worst by the New York Red Bulls who are the worst team the leagues seen in many years.
From the first kick on Saturday it was clear that F. C. Dallas are the hot team. Dallas wasted no time in pushing the Rapids deep into their own end. There was little careful passing around to establish possession. Dallas simply went straight at the Rapids setting them on their heels, drawing a foul, and then scoring on the ensuing free kick.
Whatever game plan Gary Smith had for his boys unraveled in the first three minutes. Dallas' goal came as a result of rash tackle by Cory Gibbs on Atiba Harris on the left side of Preston Burpo's penalty area. Dave Van den Bergh stepped up to take the free kick. Van den Bergh curled the ball to the far post and the unmarked head of George John. John headed the ball strongly into the net. The whole series was the result of the kind of defensive disorganization that the Rapids have worked hard to eliminate.
Dallas followed up the goal with a simple game plan. Let Colorado have some possession, win the ball and counter. Fast!
The Rapids defense was repeatedly unbalanced and set on their heels by the pace of Jeff Cunningham, Atiba Harris, and David Ferreira. But, most often it was Dax McCarty who was the real catalyst, transitioning the Dallas team into their offense without the use of a couple of extra back-passes.
The Rapids were lucky to get into the locker room at half time down a single goal. After the half Dallas picked up where they left off.
Dallas deserve a lot of praise for their speedy attack. While the attack produced a lot of exciting moments, it never produced a goal. Instead both the Dallas goals came as a result of free kicks, finished off by defenders. On the second goal it was ex -Rapids player Ugo Ihemelu who did the damage. Again Dave Van den Bergh placed the ball into the mixer where Atiba Harris nodded it on. Ihemelu made a great run to clean up the errant header touching it towards the near post. Preston Burpo did well to get a hand to the weak shot, but his deflection bounced cruelly off the post and into the goal.
The catalyst that used to spring the Rapids attack was the pace of players like Jacob Peterson and Colin Clark, or for the brief time we saw him, the tight passing of Jamie Smith. Missing those three players has left a huge problem for the Rapids. It's an issue that the team seems all to willing to accept as a handicap, condemning the team to methodical play. That is, until the other team scores.
Over the last several games the Rapids have given up the first goal and have had to find a way to come back. The solution has been to push players forward producing errors and fouls that the team can pounce on. The game on Saturday was no different, but this time Colorado waited until they were down by two goals to really push the issue.
The Rapids pulled a goal back via an error forced by the ever present and hard working Nick LaBrocca. LaBrocca simply outworked the Dallas defense to drop the ball back to an on rushing Pat Noonan. Noonan took a nice touch to wrong foot one defender, and then shot the ball past Dario Sala to score the Rapids lone goal.
The game would end with the Rapids trailing by one goal. Dallas out shot the Rapids 21 to 11, leaving the Rapids thankful that goal posts, cross bars, and bad shooting kept the score to a level that masks the mis-match they just suffered through.
Once the dust settled the Rapids were able to look around the league and discover that they are still holding onto the seventh playoff spot. Their grip on the position has been considerably weakened as they must now find a way of winning to prevent any of the five teams that are vying for their position from knocking them out of contention. The final outcome will be decided next week in Salt Lake City when the Rapids face a do or die match. Real has eliminated the Rapids from post season contention in each of the last two years. Next Saturday they will be looking to complete the hat-trick.
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