Youngsters Carry Rapids Past Chivas

What was really just a glorified scrimmage for two teams out of the running resulted in a much needed 2-0 win for the Rapids.  Colorado dominated play and were in control most of the time, yet lost almost every stat on the stat sheet.  Even coming from a stathead like myself its a great example of how stats can be misleading.  Early in the game Wahl whipped in a cross that was bobbled and fumbled by the Chivas GK, only to be cleared back to Wahl.  He whipped in a second cross and Castrillon slightly deflected it with his head.  It fell right to an unmarked Rivero on the far post who had time to glance over, confirm the AR had not flagged him for offside, and then slip the ball between the keeper and the near post for a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.

In the 43rd minute Cummings pounced on a horrible pass from the Chivas defense and charged at the goal.  Instead of trying to beat a defender 1 on 1 he found Kamani Hill crashing the far post.  Hill headed the ball back across goal to Omar's side where the keeper, moving back towards Hill, couldn't get it and the Rapids had a 2-0 lead going into halftime.  Right before half Chivas got their first shot on goal, but Ceus saved it easily.

The second half was a bore fest of Chivas passing around the back and having no idea what to do going forward, and the Rapids just sitting on their 2-0 lead.  Chivas got one shot on target late that Ceus deflected for a corner and that was it for them.

My key to the game was defense and the Rapids didn't have to do much defending in this one.

Other Observations:

• The 3 points means this will be the 3rd worst season in team history (based on pts/game).  We're guaranteed to finish with at least 1 pt/game.
• Great to see Hill get the start and a goal.  Hopefully he's done enough to stick around for 2013.
• Ceus gets a shutout in his first ever league start.  Not bad.
• Armstrong made the 18 for the first time in a league game, but didn't play.
• Hard to draw much more from this game.  Neither team had anything on the line and used a number of young players as they plan for 2013.

Player Of The Game: Martin Rivero.  He controlled the midfield, completed 40+ passes, and topped it off with a goal.