Rapids Win The West , Play On Thanksgiving!

What a night!  The Rapids came out and slammed the door on LAFC's playoff hopes, then got help from Vancouver and (blech!) FSL to win the West!  They capped that off by announcing tonight that they will host MLS's first ever Thanksgiving Day playoff game against the winner of the Portland-Minnesota matchup.  Oh, and with the 3 points they set a new team record for points, clinched a Champions League spot, and won their 17th game, their most ever in the post-Shootout era.  Lots to cover today so let's get started.

• The Rapids absorbed pressure for the first 15 minutes, then struck hard.  A goal in the 18th forced Bradley to make a quick change in his formation, pulling a defender and putting Vela, returning from injury, into the game in the 30th minute.  The move didn't pay off.
• 2 minutes after LAFC's move, Warner(?!) made it 2-0 and the Rapids were off to the races.  It came off a corner and because the LAFC keeper palmed it away Captain Jack didn't get an official assist, but good work from him again.
• We were feeling pretty good at half, especially when Vancouver came back to score quickly after going down 1-0 to Seattle.
• A quick strike after halftime pretty much put LAFC out of the game.  They tried to make it interesting with closing it to 2 goals twice but never got closer.
• Though there was a bit of nervous tension in the stadium after they made it 4-2.  There's enough Rapids history that long-term fans couldn't feel fully comfortable.
• Badji has played himself into a contract next year with 4 goals in 5 games and 5 goals overall.  He got the the final regular season goal in this one.
• While the Rapids did give up two, the first was while the team was a bit confused.  After Lewis scored his second he was off the field with a bit of a knock.  He seemed to think he had been subbed out, or at least the referee was making him walk around the field to come back in.  The Rapids were confused and racing to get a sub on and while playing down a man LAFC scored.
• Once we got to the 80th minute I can't really tell you what happened in the game as I was watching the scores on my phone.  The Rapids finished first despite kicking off for the second half last (least amount of stoppage time) and there was a lot of cell phone data usage in the stadium as we waited (including the players on the field huddled around phones).
• Then, we celebrated.  Colorado has never won the West before now and I love that we did it at home with a fairly full stadium.  The players were already set to make a lap to acknowledge the fans at the end of the season but there was a lot more energy behind it as Western champions.  Padraig Smith and Wayne Brandt came over and hopped into the C38 section, it was a party.

Ok, moving ahead from the game itself to some of the other happenings:

• With the other results in the West all 6 Texas and California teams missed the playoffs.
• This does mean that FSL made the playoffs, sadly.  But in doing so they gave us the West so win either way.
• The playoffs this year are a bracket similar to March Madness.  They don't reseed after every round.  So we know that after the bye through the first round we will play the winner of Portland-Minnesota (Portland hosts).  That game takes place on Sunday Nov. 21.
• Tonight the league announced the schedule for the first round and the games the Revs and Rapids will host in the second round, and the Rapids will play on Thanksgiving Day at 2:30.
• Yeah, for a lot of people this probably sucks, but I like it.  Its a weird one-off that we're never going to experience again.  C38 is already planning a Thanksgiving-themed tailgate and my wife is fine with me going to the game (in exchange she's not going to make a full turkey dinner).  I'm looking forward to it.
• Should we win we are likely to host the conference final on Sat. Dec 4th.  The other conference final is on Sunday the 5th, but with New England not playing until the 30th I expect the Eastern Conference final to be on Sunday to give the winner of that match as much rest as possible.
• MLS Cup would be on Saturday Dec. 11th, should we make it that far.  If we do and we play anyone other than New England the Rapids would host.  If its New England we'd be travelling to Boston.

And one last thing, the Concacaf Champions League:

• With the result we clinched the "best" spot in the CCL we could.  Long story short, the spots in the CCL are ranked based on how the teams who had them in the past years performed.  The USA 3 spot, which is what we got by winning the West, is ranked the highest because of past performance.
• That puts us in Pot A, and we'll be drawn for a home-in-home series against one of the teams in Pot B.  We know 7 of the 8 teams in Pot B already.
• The series will be played in Feb./Mar. next year, exact dates have not yet been announced.
• Our possible opponents are Santos Laguna (Mexico), Santos (Costa Rica), Motagua (Honduras), Saprissa (Costa Rica), Cavaly (Haiti), CD Guastaoya (Guatemala), of Comunicaciones (Guatemala).
• The 8th possible opponent is Forge FC (Canada).  However they are also in the Canadian Championship final against Montreal, and the winner gets the "better" Canadian slot in Pot A.  So if Forge wins they would move up and I'm not sure who would fill the slot they're currently in, which comes from being a semifinalist in the CONCACAF league, which is a tournament among the smaller CONCACAF nations where the 4 semifinalists qualify for the Champions League.

So, that enough?  :D  Enjoy it Rapids fans, its been a long time coming!

Man of the Match: Jonathan Lewis.  2 goals.  Easy call.