Oli Oli Oli, Oi Oi Oi!

On Wednesday I said:

 2-1 win, goals by Navarro and Mihailovic.  KC has the third worst defense in the league and is coming to altitude on short rest for a game that we use to traditionally win.  In the past we would play down to our opponents but this team doesn't do that.  That said, I expect SKC to play a low block that we'll struggle to break down enough to really put the game away.  We won't be concerned about losing, but we may not feel comfortable about the win until late.

Turns out we were worried about losing for 20 minutes or so in the second half, but other than that it was a fairly accurate take on what the game would be.   SKC wasn't particularly hood but for the first 5-10 minutes of the second half, but for a while that looked like it might be enough as the Rapids reverted to their more recent traditional 4th of July play instead of their historical tradition of winning.  This was the first win in almost 10 years on the 4th of July.

At half Colorado led in essentially every stat and had completely dominated play, but had nothing to show for it.  SKC made them pay coming out of the locker room, with multiple good looks including hitting the crossbar.  Three minutes in the Sporks overloaded our left side, pulling our defense that direction.  They then switched the field which left left winger Leibold with the ball and no pressure as Rosenberry moved towards him.  He whipped the cross in to the top of the box where Thommy has some space.  Abubakar moved to cut that space down, but Vines also tried to jump in front of the shot.  Thommy whiffed on the cross and just popped it out to the Rapids left...into the space Vines had just vacated.  Russell was unmarked and easily slotted it home.

My first instinct when watching the replay was to blame Vines for, once again, leaving his man unmarked.  He does deserve some blame for that decision, he needed to trust Abubakar to step up to Thommy.  Looking at the bigger play though first SKC should get credit for pulling us out of position.  Despite that though the Rapids are still in good position with 5 guys defending 4 initially.  Rosenberry slides back to his natural position and gets support from Bassett to try to pressure the cross (they don't get there), the CB's take the two center attackers, and Vines has eyes on Russell.  But then Thommy comes from deeper, somewhat taking advantage of Bassett moving to the right but also Ronan is not doing anything defensively.  He's somewhat pacing Thommy as the ball gets played out to Leibold but just lets him run by into that space.  If Ronan sticks with him Vines would, presumably, not feel the need to try to support Abubakar and leave Russell open.  This isn't the first time I've notice Ronan not being as engaged as I'd like on defense.

Colorado didn't go away after the goal, but for about 15 minutes it looked like they didn't really have an answer.  Finally pressure started to mount and off a Mihailovic free-kick in the 69th minute an unlikely goal scorer stepped up.  Oli Larraz got his head to the cross and put it far corner.  I don't know what Meila was looking at on the cross but he made a weak effort to stop it and didn't get close.  The first MLS goal for the homegrown!

The Rapids kept up the pressure after that, with the insertion of Yapi to play alongside Navarro.  It paid off right at the end of normal time.  Yapi got behind the defense but unfortunately took a poor touch.  Melia thought he could get to the ball and came rushing out but Yapi used his speed to get there first and poke the ball across the front of goal.  Meila clattered into him and the burgundy boys had their 10th PK call of the season.  Mihailovic stepped up to score it and on the back of two great Colorado homegrown plays and n goal+assist from the soon to be member of the U.S. Olympic team the Rapids celebrated Independence Day in American style with a 2-1 win.

With the win Colorado sits in a tie for 4th place in the West and needs about 10 points over the last 12 games to feel good about making the playoffs.  This is only the second time they've reached 40 goals scored in the first 22 games (1998).  In case you're wondering this is the 10th time they've had 10 PKs in a season, with the high-water mark being 14 PKs, with 12 scored.

Man of the Match: Oli Larraz.  I know that Djordje has a goal and an assist, and that would be the normal choice, but how do you not reward a homegrown who got his first goal?  Not to mention the momentum really changed after that.  Also credit to Armas, he pulled Harris off and put Larraz on and my reaction was "we're down a goal and we're going more defensive?  WTF?".  Well that's why Armas is coaching and I'm blogging.  Both Larraz and Yapi were subs and they both paid off big.