Our Long Local Nightmare Is Over!

Believe it or not, the Rapids actually won on Saturday night! They took a Rob Green-level own goal from San Jose keeper Jon Busch and made it stand up for the 1-0 win. While the scoreline makes it seem like a pretty even game, the rapids were clearly the better team on the field. Its just, yet again, the Rapids couldn't finish. The Rapids outshot the Earthquakes 15-8 and had most of the possession. Early on Colin Clark hit the post and Jon Busch made a big save before the gaffe off a Cummings cross that gave us the goal.

The one black mark on the game was Colin Clark leaving the game injured. In the 54th minute he went down without being touched and grabbed in left knee. He walked off the field under his own power but was carted to the locker room shortly thereafter. He was scheduled to have a MRI on his knee today. The left ACL is the one he blew out on Aug. 11th of last year, so cross your fingers that he didn't blow it again.

My key to the game was just winning the game. Check.

Other Observations:

• Quincy Amarikwa is all speed and not much else. He has occasional flashes of brilliance but for the most part he's too raw to be playing for a team in a playoff fight.
  
• Claudio Lopez needs to start, period. And not just because he took the time to give Class VI a thumb's up when the ball was out of play.
• Koz looked much better back in his natural right back position.
• Pablo was trying to fill that hole behind the forwards. He was often one of the two or three most forward players.
• Glad to see Gary Smith realize that Omar can't start up top alone in a 4-5-1. I just wish we had a better backup forward to partner with him in the 4-4-2.
• Ballouchy needs to figure out how to shoot. He had a chance to put the game away and blew it by barely even getting a shot off.
• Pickens did a good job with a number of touchy balls. He needs to remember he's at home though. He kicked a ball out of play into the stands so an injury could be taken care of and nearly took the head off a fan.

Player of the Game: Omar Cummings. He can't really take credit for the goal but he was the most dangerous player on the pitch on Saturday. With little help from his strike partner he still threatened the goal multiple times.