Rapids Battle Union To Draw

A great deal of fight and a little bit of luck got Colorado a point in Philly on Saturday night.  Coming from 1-0 and 3-1 down to finish at 3-3 says a lot for the fight of this team, but it also says a lot (not much of it good) for the defense.  A rough day for a couple of players (O'Neill, Watts, LaBrocca) was balanced out by a great game from Powers and Brown.  I didn't think we'd get more than a point from this game so we got what I expected.

My strategic consideration was who was going to be our midfield general with Sanchez out.  As expected Powers and Serna split that responsibility and did their jobs well.

• I hate to start on a down note, but we have to talk about O'Neill.  His tackle on Cruz in the 11th minute should have been a red card and I expect he'll get a suspension from the Disco this week.  Horrible tackle set up by a horrible cross field pass from Moor.
• Then O'Neill followed that up by being beaten for both of Philly's first two goals.  I'll forgive him somewhat for being beaten by Casey, it was a textbook Conor goal and we saw him work over more experienced defenders on multiple occasions for the goal, but there's no excuse for letting Williams get ballside of him like Casey did.
• Yes, #Haters Williams scored against us, unfortunately.
• Dillon Squared combined very nicely for that first goal.  Serna pulled the trigger immediately instead of looking for the perfect shot and it paid off.
• The offside on what could have been Philly's goal was called correctly I think.  The striker's knee is just barely behind Moor's back foot which would be offside.  One of those plays that so close you have to assume the AR got it right.
• LaBrocca was apparently looking for a red card on Saturday.  A stupid yellow for dissent wasn't enough as he kept pushing his luck.  Now he'll sit next week on yellow card accumulation.
• Watts, what are you doing?  He's now given the ball away with no cover for a goal in two straight games.  How soon until Jose Mari gets back?
• He did somewhat make up for it by sacrificing his head and drawing the PK.
• And that was a clear PK.  Not sure it was red card worthy but even a yellow would have had Lahoud sent off since he had a yellow in the first half.
• Despite the grumbling from the Union, Powers PK run up was completely legal.  He never stopped his momentum but even if he had its allowed during the run up (once you reach the ball you can't stop and not kick it, but you can stop during the run).
• Amazing touch from Brown on the game-tying goal.  Again, he makes the difficult look easy and the easy look difficult.
• Credit to Torres for the assist on the goal.  Good to see our DP back and if he plays like that we'll be happy to have him.
• Philly picked up another red card postgame for some foul and abusive language towards the refs.
• No Sanchez, LaBrocca, or Jose Mari next week in Portland and probably no O'Neill.  Could be dicey.

Man of the Match: Dillon Powers.  A goal and an assist and kept the team pushing forward when we were down and looking for goals.