Boys Against Men

The older experienced Galaxy worked over the younger Rapids in LA on Friday.  While the scoreline was only 2-0 the differences between the teams was obvious for the whole 90 minutes.  Colorado actually had more attempts on goal and more corner kicks, but LA was clearly the more dangerous team.  In the 15th minute they made that abundantly clear as Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan spun Marvell Wynne like a top for an easy goal.

In the 58th minute LA did it again.  New signing Christian Wilhelmsson Beat Zapata down the left side and pulled him into the middle.  Wynne and Zapata stumbled over each other which gave Wilhelmsson an opening he took advantage of.  Pickens got a hand on the shot but couldn't stop it and it was 2-0.

The closest the Rapids got to a goal was late in the game when a LA defender whiffed on a clearance in the box, leaving the ball at Casey's feet.  Conor, as a good striker is want to do, immediately set up and took the shot but Saunders made the save.  Had Casey looked up he would have seen an unmarked Castrillon on the far post for an easy pass and goal.

My key to the game was defense, because I thought we could score.  Well it didn't matter how well we could defend because we couldn't score.

Other Observations:

• Wynne really got turned around on the first goal but otherwise he actually had a pretty good game, making a number of big interceptions.
• I can't blame Casey for taking the shot he did, that's the instinct you want a striker to have.
• Some people had wondered about the difference in salaries between the teams in this game.  The Galaxy had over 5 times the salary on the field that the Rapids did, but that was all due to Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.  The rest of the Galaxy were actually trailing the Rapids salary.
• The second goal is one of the few times this year where you can say Pickens really should have done better with it.  Everybody's allowed one or two mistakes a season though. ;)
• With Casey and Cummings starting the game on the bench (Casey for the second straight fame) so youngsters Akpan and Cascio could start, its time to start wondering if the era of the C+C Goal Factory is over.

Player Of The Game: Hendry Thomas.  His passing over the last two games has been outstanding and in a game where nobody really stood out, Thomas was calm and competent which is more than I can say for most of the players.