Rapids inch closer to the playoffs with fourth consecutive draw

October 5, 12:39 PMColorado Rapids ExaminerDeron White

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Matt Reis guessed, wrong. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

At half-time on Saturday night I was standing near the Cantina at Dick's Sporting Goods Park when Colin Clark walked by.

Down a goal to the New England Revolution, the Rapids had struggled through the first 45 minutes of the match.  New England came to Dick's Sporting Goods Park to win.  The New England team that many thought would be too depleted by injuries and tired from travel and a congested schedule, were the aggressors in the game.  

The Rapids struggled to get into the attack against the Revolution.  The Revolution's central midfield was quicker to the ball than the Rapid's players.  On the outside the Revolutions wing players played a high tempo game that had the Rapids wing players, Kosuke Kimura and Jordan Harvey, chasing back to cover every time they pushed forward to support the attack.  

The Rapids defense held on fairly well considering New England's advantages in midfield.  Preston Burpo saw very few shots get through.  On the entire night he only saw three shots on goal.  

The one shot that got past Burpo was in the 29th minute.  Kenny Mansally sent a long free kick across Burpo's area to the back post where Kheli Dube rose unmarked to head the ball into the goal.  There was little Burpo could do.  The Rapids defense was left wondering who was supposed to mark the New England forward.

The Rapids pushed the attack a little better after the New England goal.  Or, from the New England perspective they may have chose to switch to a more defensive posture.  In either case the Rapids entered the locker room at half time down a goal, while the teams starting left mid walking the concourse, unable to help as his knee is still five months away from full recovery.

The degree to which the Rapids miss Clark and Jamie Smith and Jacob Peterson (all out with knee injuries) was never so clear as it was in this game.  The 3-5-2 formation that had served the Rapids well against the Kansas City Wizards was easily exploited by the New England midfield who were able to keep Harvey and Kimura running towards their own goal for too much of the half.  

The Rapids scrapped the 3-5-2 for the second half, and went back to their favored 4-4-2.  The result helped the team by allowing Harvey and Kimura to stay back and defend while being more selective with their offensive forays.  The change helped the offense as well, as Pat Noonan came in and had one of his better games against his old team.  

The Rapids eventually pulled back a goal via the work of the usual suspects, with an assist from the official.  Omar Cummings as he has all season long demonstrated how important quickness and speed is in the game of soccer.  After receiving the ball in the New England box Cummings stepped left and then right, but as he stepped right Cummings fell.  The ref blew his whistle and indicated a penalty kick was to follow.

Replays of the play show Cummings going down and defender Emmanuel Osei's hand flying back away from Cummings.  What's not clear is how much contact Osei had with Omar.  From referee Baldomero Toledo's perspective it was enough to award the penalty.  Conor Casey stepped right up to take the penalty kick, which he sent to Matt Reis's left, as Reis dove to his right.

The goal was Casey's fifteenth of the season and his third goal in a row from the penalty spot.  The Rapids have been unable to score from the run of play in four straight games.  

The Revolution players protested long and hard, but to no avail as far as the penalty kick was concerned. One wonders if they did create a seed of doubt in Toledo's mind that resulted in another controversial call.

The call was a straight red card to Rapid's defender Julien Baudet.  Baudet was called for pushing away from Kehli Dube after heading a long clearance back towards the New England penalty area.  After the header Baudet's arm swings wide making contact with Kehli Dube who fell as if shot.  Referee Toledo immediately drew the red card and sent Baudet to the showers.  The foul like the call on the penalty kick, was one that often goes uncalled, and was an example of why the term "make up call," is part of the soccer lexicon.

After the red card Pablo Mastroeni played a little deeper and the Rapids stepped up their game.  The team produced a few chances, but none that might be considered very good.  As the game wore on preserving the draw became an end in itself.  The Revolution for their part seemed to have agreed to those terms.

The final whistle put the game into the books with each team awarded a single point.  Both teams will fight on to get a playoff berth, neither will be satisfied with this outing.  The Rapids return to the field in two weeks still looking to find the right answer to the question that has plagued the team since Jacob Peterson tore his ACL,  "How will the team play without any natural outside midfielders."