Rapids Powerless In San Jose

A long end of the work week and a busy weekend kept me from getting to this recap until now.  Sadly its not like I missed much.  Colorado had no attack and very little defense in San Jose Wednesday night.  They had 0 shots on goal and gave opportunity after opportunity to the E-Quakes.  Eventually Wondolowski broke through, heading a corner home int he second half.  Only some brilliant work from Irwin and a pair of kick saves from Moor kept the score 1-0.

My key to the game was the play of the fill-ins.  Harris and Buddle were pretty bad, Rivero was adequate.

Random Thoughts:

• Combined in the last two road games with Brown and Torres starting on the bench the Rapids have had a whopping 1 shot on goal (in Portland).  At home, with Brown and Torres starting, they scored 4 first half goals and 5 goals total.  No matter how much Brown (90 minutes on Friday for Jamaica) and Torres (2nd half sub on Friday for Panama) play tomorrow night they MUST start on Saturday against Vancouver.  We have no attack without them.
• Moor's double kick save was the save of the week...for about 2 minutes.  Then Irwin palmed away a sure goal over the bar.  Sadly the ensuing corner kick is when Wondolowski scored.
• I have no idea what our defense was doing, but San Jose had more open looks at the goal then I've seen in the last 2-3 games combined.
• Vancouver hammered Seattle Wednesday night, then Seattle lost to Portland yesterday.  Suddenly that 5-1 win doesn't look so impressive.
• BTW, since I flipped the coin Seattle has been outscored 10-2 in 3 losses.  Coincidence?  ;)
• The Rapids still control their own destiny.  With a win on Saturday over Vancouver the Whitecaps will be eliminated from the playoff race.  The Rapids can clinch then with a win in Vancouver on the 27th.  They would also clinch with any San Jose loss, and all but mathematically clinch with a San Jose draw.  Anything short of a win Saturday though puts our playoff hopes in extreme jeopardy.

Player of the Match: Clint Irwin.  A defense that allows that many free looks can't have a player of the match, nor can an attack that gets 0 shots on goal.  That leaves Irwin as the logical choice, and he earned it with that save of the week candidate alone.