Rapids Shoot Blanks Against United

23 attempts on goal.  7 shots on target.  0 goals.  That's the story of the game.  The Rapids were clearly the better team last night (DC only had 6 attempts on goal and 2 shots on target) but were left with a 0-0 draw to show for the effort.  Colorado let great chance after great chance slip by with shots off target and when they did get the ball going the right way DC's backup keeper had a blinder of a game to preserve the shutout.  The few times DC did get into a dangerous position the defense shut them down or Clint Irwin was up to the challenge (or occasionally, DC just wasted the chance).  A frustrating result for the home team.

My key to the match was not to play to our opponents level.  Too many of our players did which led to the scoreless draw.

Random Thoughts:

• Chris Klute has had a great 8 day stretch between Montreal, NY, and DC.  He had a couple of questionable defensive passes last night but almost everything good in our offense came through him.
• Shane O'Neill meanwhile struggled at times, picking up a yellow and being on the edge of a second before Pareja wisely pulled him.
• Mera is growing on me at CB.  I'm not sold yet but I like his size on free kicks,
• Hendry Thomas picked up a very early yellow and after that he was mentally out of this game.
• Buddle?  Hey Buddle?  You do realize you're getting paid to play, not just stand around, right?
• Now I'm going to call out some of my fellow fans.  A number of you need to learn the rules before cussing out the refs like you were doing last night.  The refs weren't anywhere near worthy of the level of vitriol they got from 108 last night (and honestly, its been happening for a couple of games).
• That said, the time-wasting DC was allowed to get away with was pretty bad.  The ref should have cracked down on it better.
• I've heard a few people using this game as an example of why Pareja can't coach.  23 chances on net, what more do you want him to do?  Clearly his tactics worked, at some point the players have to do their job and just put the ball in the net.

Player of the Match: Deshorn Brown.  Yes he should have scored on of his many chances, but he had 8 shots, 4 on goal.  The other 27 players who played had 5 shots on goal total.  Brown wanted the win and was the most dangerous player on the field, he just couldn't convert.