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Colorado Rapids burned by Fire, fireworks a dud
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When I was a kid we used to buy fireworks for the 4th of July, and set them off in the street. When I was old enough I was allowed to light the fuse using a punk. I would carefully hold the punk to the fuse until the sparks would pop off the fuse, and then I'd run for safety. A moment later the firework would erupt in a shower of sparks.
It was great fun, but every once in a while the fuse would burn down and the firework would sit there. I would often approach it to try to light it again, but my dad would tell me, "Don't! That one's a dud." Move one, that's good advice, as I found out later when I stuck a punk into a dud and had it go off in my face. On Saturday night the Rapids game was a dud, best to move on.
The big news about the night, according to local media outlets, was that the Rapids firework show failed to happen. That was a disappointment to the huge crowd that showed up for the fireworks.
The bigger disappointment, for the fans who showed up to watch soccer, was the Rapids effort against the Chicago Fire.
The Rapids were a step off the pace from the starting whistle looking less than sharp. Conor Casey looked like a player who has missed several games. Pat Noonan still looks like a player who has not caught up to the pace of the match.
Pace itself was a problem for the Rapids who desparately missed the pace of Omar Cummings and Colin Clark. With those two players missing Gary Smith fielded an offense of Pat Noonan, Conor Casey, Nick LaBrocca, Mehdi Ballouchy, and Terry Cooke. Not a speedster among the group that could help the Rapids transition quickly into the offense.
With the speedsters out of the equation the Rapids faced a defense that had time to keep organized leaving the Rapids few options to break it down. The Rapids answer to the challenge was to send in cross after cross after cross from the boot of Terry Cooke. Cooke's crosses are clearly his strength, but they weren't working for the Rapids on Saturday. As the game wore on each new cross just became another turn over.
From the beginning of the season the Rapids offense has been masking a middle of the road defense. In the last three games the offense has come up short, and the defense has not been able to cover for their short coming. With Casey coming back from a long layoff, and the loss of Omar Cummings and Colin Clark, at home, and in front of a big crowd, this was the game for the defense to step up and return the favor to the offense. But, the defense came up short.
Chicago's first goal was a result of quick one time passing and a nice finish by Marco Pappa. The play started when Brian McBride smartly chest trapped a ball to the feet of Baggio Hussidic. Hussidic followed with a smart pass of his own to Marco Pappa at the top of the penalty area. The Rapids defense was caught running toward their own goal leaving Pappa free to finish with a well placed shot.
Chicago's second goal was simply a result of poor marking by the Rapids defense. The goal, scored by Wilman Conde, was scored off a corner kick that found Conde unmarked in the box. Ugo Ihemelu appeared to be the defender charged with preventing Conde from getting to the ball.
Jacob Peterson scored a concilation goal for the Rapids late in the second half. Throughout the second half the Rapids pushed, and the Fire absorbed their pressure. The Rapids offered little in the way of ideas as each sully forward ended with a Cooke cross to, Fire defender, Wilman Conde's head. In a rare moment of mixing things up Mehdi Ballouchy sent a cross in from the left. Conor Casey directed the cross at the goal where Jon Busch bobbled the save. Jacob Peterson, demonstrating that pace matters, rushed in and tapped the ball into the goal.
For the rest of the match the Rapids struggled to produce another good chance, and the Fire were able to close out the win with ease. That was the game. It was a dud. The best thing to do is to move onto the next.
Player Ratings:
Matt Pickens (5) - Matt could not be faulted on either goal, but he couldn't steal the game for the Rapids either. This was a good if unspectacular outing for the big keeper on a night when the team needed spectacular.
Jordan Harvey (6) - The Rapids best defender on the night. Harvey pushed forward well. Harvey found lots of space on the left where the Chicago defense didn't see much reason to defend, and the Rapids offense did not see much reason to pass the ball.
Cory Gibbs (4) - The central defense was beat on both goals. Gibbs earned an early yellow card and will miss the Rapids next match. Palguta's play of late may make it difficult for Gibbs to get back on the field.
Ugo Ihemelu (5) - Moved inside after playing the last several matches as an outside back Ugo played well enough, but lost his mark for the second goal.
Kosuke Kimura (6) - Kimura played hard at his right back position. His defense was solid, but as with most of the offense he could not help the team find a route through the Chicago defense.
Terry Cooke (6) - Cooke displayed all his wares in this game. Terry sent in many good crosses throughout the match, but none of them ended with the desired goal.
Pablo Mastroeni (5) - Pablo played a good game going forward, but appeared to have lost his man on the first goal.
Mehdi Ballouchy (6) - Man of the Match. At times Mehdi pushed too far forward and found himself unable to turn with his back towards goal. His cross to Conor and shot off the cross bar early on were two of the best moments of the match.
Nick LaBrocca (6) - Filling in as a left mid Nick looked like a player who does not play left mid. Ever enterprising LaBrocca drifted inside, linked up with his team mates, held the ball well, and even served a good ball that Busch stole off the foot of Casey.
Pat Noonan (4) - Pat looked a step off the pace all night. Few of his passes found their target, and his lack of pace did little to help the Rapids offense.
Conor Casey (5) - Casey was clearly not the same player that left the Rapids for a month's long duty with the U.S. national team. The rust showed, but the effort was their. Casey fought hard all match. Earned a foolish yellow for dissent, but also received a fair amount of abuse that went ignored.
Subs:
Jacob Peterson (6) - Provided the speed that was missing from the Rapids lineup previous to his entry. Peterson
Greg Dalby (4) - Did not make an impression.
Ross Schunk (NR) - Too little time to rate. Once he was in the Rapids never managed to possess the ball pass the midfield stripe again.
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