Rapids Get Run Over Like It Was 1996

Well we were hoping to see something other than a replay of the '96 games but the first half last night looked a lot like the era of the early Internet.  Armas went with a highly rotated roster, starting Anderson, Lewis, and Loffelsend and reinserting Bombito immediately back into the lineup.  It didn't work.  Now I'm glad to see Armas learning from the last time we finished a 3-game week with an RMC match and we didn't rotate.  We ended up running out of steam and choking away the win in Sandy.  But its got to pay off on Saturday.

The first 30 minutes of this game felt a lot like the opening 45 in Portland to start the season.  LA had their way with us, constantly driving the ball into our third and getting multiple good opportunities.  Only an officiating mistake kept us from being down 1-0 in the first 5 minutes.  Everyone was quite surprised to get into the halftime locker room only down 1 at 3-2.

The primary problem was that the central midfield triangle of Bassett ahead of Ronan and Loffelsend was just getting overrun.  Its an example of why Bassett is better in the 8 role than the 10.  Further back he can stabilize the midfield, hold possession, and break up attacks.  Instead Ronan and Loffelsend don't have the bite or the skill to stop a good team like LA.  Jasper regularly dove into tackles, got beat, and then his man had a free run at our back line.  Meanwhile Conner just hasn't been at a starting-MLS level since he returned from injury. particularly defensively.

Credit should go to two much-maligned wingers, Jonathan Lewis and Kevin Cabral, for combining on the first goal.  Cabral just likes scoring against his former team.  If I'm honest I'm starting to come around on Cabral.  He still shouldn't be a DP but he's finding his form and actually does a good job getting attacks started, he just struggles at the finish.  Lewis, on the other hand reverted to his old self later in the game shooting when he should have passed and passing when he should have shot, both while we were trying to find the equalizer later.

The other Rapids goal was a case of glass half-full or half-empty, depending how you look at it.  The bad news, Navarro had his 3rd PK in a row saved.  The good news, Bassett was crashing the box and put away the rebound.  At this point Mihailovic or Bassett should take all our PKs.

In the second half the Galaxy did a good job instituting a low block and despite multiple chances Colorado could not find an equalizer.  San Vines had a great look, Lewis had a look, Yapi had a chance, but nothing would go in.  Now we move on to maybe the most important match of the season with the Utah Soccer Club coming to town.

Man of the Match: Zack Steffen.  Had to keep us in it in the first half while his defense was giving him no help.