The eventual resolution of the dispute that led to the Pig War gave control of the San Juan islands to the United States. The eventual resolution of the game in Seattle yesterday gave the 3 points to the American-led team over the British one. The Rapids played a better game, but were outclassed over the first 25 minutes by Seattle and that's all it took.For the first time all season Colorado gave up a goal in the first 15 minutes. Due to replays there was no good look at the lead-up to the gaol, but the Rapids had a couple of chances to clear the ball and failed to do so. Then Zakuani blasted a ball past a diving Matt Pickens. The ball hit the post, and in a turn of bad luck, bounced off the post and into the back of Pickens' arm, deflecting off of him and into the net.
There wasn't even time to analyze what went wrong. Practically off the kickoff Cummings took the ball down the right, cut inside, and unleashed a shot into the upper corner of the far post to level the score. Great goal. Unfortunately just 10 minutes later Danny Earls would get beat on the right and shoddy defending inside allowed Zakuani to get goal side with the ball to get his second goal in 10 minutes.
The Rapids pushed for most of the rest of the game, but couldn't find another goal. Their best chance came from Cummings, who got behind the defense to go 1v1 with Keller, but somehow couldn't even get the shot on target and went over the top. Claudio Lopez had a back heel that would have beat most keepers but not Kasey Keller, who somehow dove backwards to get a hand on it.
My key to the game was playing for 90 minutes. The Rapids played a better game this week, but they were outplayed for the first 25 minutes. They were clearly the second best team on the field to start the game and paid for it.
Other Observations:
- 6 games with out a win and its July. Welcome to the annual summer swoon.
- I'm not sure I like the sub of Amarikwa for Ballouchy. Mehdi isn't my favorite player, but the Rapids had something working and that sub seemed to kill things.
- Good to see Baudet back in the lineup.
- Brutal collision between Casey and Ianni to end the game. No malice from either side, but the head-to-head contact was one of the worst I've seen.
- Cummings missed ruined a pretty good game for him. Like Casey last week, that's a goal you have to get, or at the very least put it on target.
- Larentowicz had a good game going into the All-Star break.
- Danny Earls is still struggling to find the balance between offense and defense. He's not bad at either one, but he's poor at doing both of them in the same game.
- And a note to my hometown fans. Guys, shut up. Pablo and Casey both went down with legitimate injuries in the first 15 minutes, only to be booed by the Qwest Field crowd. Cummings got yanked back on a breakaway, a textbook yellow, and the crowd booed when the card was given. For as "good" as a fanbase that Seattle likes to claim they have, it wasn't a very classy one last night.
Posts
6 comments:
man, i thought a 6-8-4 record would have made everyone in MLS happy. but still tons of hate coming from everywhere.
Sorry, but the fanbase was pretty bad last night. The booing on the yellow card would have been OK if they hadn't already booed two injured players.
i know, i know. just seeing if i can fire some people up.
in all seriousness, this has been a problem for a while. the thing with 32k for soccer in america is that you are going to get a lot of soccer newbies. a lot of people are giving soccer a try and in their minds is the constant diving and cheating.
so a guy goes down, regardless of whether they are hurt and some people boo. then it catches on with other fans and soon the majority of the place is booing. i can tell you i have never booed except for when a player pops right back up after finally getting the referees attention.
i am not defending what happened in the stadium, but rather giving the reality of the situation
Fair enough. I have noticed it in other games in Seattle, but normally its booing a good call by the refs and that happens at every stadium, including the Dick. It just sounds worse when its 32K. It was booing the injuries that got to me. Lets face it, nobody is wasting time in the first 15 minutes of a game, especially when they don't have the lead. ;)
so how do rapids fans like casey? i know he scores a lot of goals and is a real physical presence, but every time i watch him it looks like he is either bitching at the refs or at his teammates. do i have this wrong?
No, you are correct. Many fans don't like him because he doesn't seem to do much. But then you look at his numbers (On pace for 14 goals this season and his assists are up) and realize he's the best striker the Rapids have ever had. Prior to his tally last season 14 was the Rapids single-season record.
Post a Comment