Well...That Sucked

A reverse MLS Cup.  In Toronto Dallas scored first and then gave up two goals.  Saturday night we scored first and then gave up two goals.  Other than that, if you saw the Seattle loss or the Vancouver loss or the San Jose loss then you saw this game.  I'm not going to spend any time rehashing what we already know.  We controlled the game early, failed to convert, then failed to mark attackers on a couple of crosses and lost.

My key to the game was the basics.  Score goals, don't allow them.  Yep, pretty much a failure.

Other Observations:

• Our midfield sucks.  Castrillon is a hole, Larentowicz has forgotten how to defend or attack, and Rivero is a decent distributor but with no support from the rest of his midfield and his lack of pace he can't do much more than that.  Only Mullan is doing what we need and he can't do it alone.
• I'm not sure who had the mark on the first goal (hard to tell on the replay) but it was either Mullan or Zapata.  Either way you can't just let a guy run at goal on a cross uncontested.
• On the second goal Zapata got beat like a drum.  Moor cleared it off the line with a header while Freeman covered the other half of the goal but Wynne and particularly Larentowicz were slow getting back and it was an easy clean-up.
• The Rapids goal was great though.  It was a flashback to 2010 as Casey slotted a ball through to Cummings who finished it near post.
• Edu must be Portuguese for 'pointless'.
• Rivero's free kicks are sink or swim.  Either their right where they need to be or so far off that nobody can do anything with them.
• In past years we would have subbed in Wells Thompson and tried to sit on the 1-1 draw.  Pareja's aggressive subbing of Smith, Edu, and Cascio might have cost us a point, but at least we were trying for 3 instead of accepting 1.
• Last time we lost 3 out 4 at home was 2001.  Yuck.
• On to Toronto...where we've never even gotten a point off of TFC.

Player Of The Game: Omar Cummings.  Had the goal and the closest we got to a second goal as he slammed one off the post.  Casey was also in the running for this one.  C+C Goal Factory is back, they just have no midfield support.

Rapids Waive Henao, Place Pablo Back On DL

Not that we'll miss him but today the Rapids waived Harrison Henao and he'll return to the team we loaned him from. On a worse note, Pablo Mastroeni was placed back on the Disabled List due to his concussion symptoms, which means he's out at least the next 6 games. The soonest he could play is against San Jose on August 25th but I think we have to accept that while we might see him have one last token sub appearance his career is essentially done at this point.

"Real Championship" Dallas In Town

I'll take any excuse to use this picture :D

Yes, our favorite MLS Cup losers, FC Dallas, are in town tomorrow night.  As far as I know Daniel "Real Championship" Hernandez will be with them so be sure to give him your love.  Dallas just today traded with Toronto for Designated Player Julian de Guzman so it will be interesting to see if he's with the team tomorrow and if he plays at all.  The tailgate starts at 5pm with kickoff at 7.  For those who can't make it the game is on Altitude.

Injury Report:
OUT: MF Pablo Mastroeni (headache symptoms); DF Anthony Wallace (L Achilles tear)
PROBABLE: FW Conor Casey (R hamstring strain);  FW Omar Cummings (L ankle sprain); MF Jamie Smith (R ACL tear)

Disciplinary Report:
SUSPENDED AFTER NEXT YELLOW: MF Jeff Larentowicz
SUSPENDED AFTER NEXT 2 YELLOWS: MF Jaime Castrillon; DF Tyrone Marshall; MF Martin Rivero

No change in the injury report, but after a week's rest you have to figure the three probable players are all available and ready to play.  Dallas has 6 players questionable or worse, including George "Own Goal" John who has been ruled out with concussion symptoms.  Former Rapid Ugo Ihemelu is also out with concussion symptoms so obviously they're in worse shape than we are.  My guess at the starting XI:

Casey - Cummings

Castrillon - Larentowicz - Rivero - Mullan

Zapata - Moor - Wynne - Freeman

Pickens

Seems fairly obvious, the only question is if Smith gets worked into the starting lineup or not.

Key To Look For: At this point I have to go back to the very basics.  Can the forwards put balls in the net while the defenders keep them out of the net?  Its been the rare game this season when we've accomplished both goals.

Prediction: 3-1 win.  Goals by Casey (twice) and Cummings.  Dallas has the second worse goal differential in the league and I see no reason why the C+C Goal Factory can't take advantage.  Our defense will have one blunder that leads to a goal but Casey and Cummings will feast on the Dallas D.

Rapids Trade For Tyson Wahl

Today the Rapids traded an international roster spot in 2014 for Montreal Impact defender Tyson Wahl. Wahl was drafted by Kansas City in 2006taken in Seattle's expansion draft in 2009, then traded to Montreal in this past offseason for allocation money. He's played in 82 games between his 3 prior teams, including 11 games for Montreal this season. Wahl is primarily a left back but can also play center back, so he gives us cover for both areas.

Some fans are suggesting that with the Kimura trade last week we've essentially traded Kimura for Wahl but I don't think that's fair. Kimura was solely a right back who never succeeded in his limited time on the left and didn't have the skill set to play in the center. Wahl can play left or center. Also Kimura was traded for an international spot this year plus allocation money while we gave up an allocation spot in 2 seasons for Wahl. Two complete separate trades addressing two different issues.

The Unamazing Seven

Now 7 games in Seattle, 7 losses.  Total of 5 goals scored, 18 conceded.  That's really the story of this game.

The Rapids were under siege the first 15 minutes but somehow, amazingly, didn't give up a goal.  The rest of the half was also controlled by the Sounders, but the Rapids managed to relieve the pressure a bit better after the first third of the half.  The second half started the same way, but Seattle actually got it to pay off.  Off a corner kick Zapata and Freeman got confused on their marking and Alvo Fernandez was left unmarked for an easy header and a 1-0 lead.

Shortly after that Colorado got their first shot on target, a long-range effort form Larentowicz that was easily saved.  12 minutes after their first goal though, Seattle struck again.  Again off a corner but this time it was initially cleared before being crossed back in.  Drew Moor drifted away from Eddie Johnson which left Conor Casey to try to mark him.  Again, another easy header for a goal.

Finally the Rapids started to put something together.  Cascio and Cummings came on for the last 15 minutes and in the 79th minute Zapata hit Omar with a perfect cross that he buried to cut the lead in half.  In the 86th minute Cummings appeared to tie it up only to be ruled offside.  Immediately afterwards was the high point of the game as Steve Zakuani made his return to the field for the first time after the tackle by Mullan.  Rivero had one great look that he skied before the end of the game and the Rapids went home with their 7th loss in 7 tried in the Emerald City.

My key to the game was if we played a team game.  Not really, most of the team played pretty poorly.

Other Observations:

• I've seen less pomp and ceremony at the beginning of the World Cup Final than I saw in Seattle on Saturday.  I get the honoring of the armed forces, but the flags and red carpet?  Pretentious much?
• On the first Sounders goal Freeman clearly thought Zapata was going to hand off his mark to Freeman and take Fernandez, while Zapata clearly thought he was to stay with his mark while Freeman stayed with Fernandez.  Oops.
• Annoying that Fernandez scored, given the Olympic-level diving he's known for, which happened again this match.
• I don't know about you, but I'm thinking that an actual defender and not Casey should be marking Eddie Johnson.
• Zapata was very lucky not to give up a PK to Johnson between the two goals.  On replay it could have easily been called a PK even if I'm not 100% convinced it was the right call.  The ref was right there though.
• EJ's half stand and flop back down after the PK wasn't called should have drawn a yellow though.
• Great goal by Zapata and Cummings.  More of that please.
• Cummings non-goal due to offside was close enough that I can't complain.
• Great to see Zakuani back on the field!
• Of course the reason I can't complain is that NBC was so wrapped up in the Zakuani story that they couldn't be bothered to show a usable replay.  The only replay they showed during the game was from the other endline which is useless for determining offside.  Post-game they couldn't be bothered to show either Cummings' goal or Cummings' non-goal.  I had to rewind to the live action and pause it myself to see the offside line and even that was at an angle that makes it hard to tell.  Of course NBC had no problem showing replays from multiple angles of the Sounders goals post-game.  Sloppy NBC, sloppy.
• Generally the team, outside of Pickens and Casey, played like they didn't care for the first 75 minutes. They showed up for the last 15 minutes (when they got 2 of their 3 shots on goal) but by then it was too little too late.

Player Of The Game: Conor Casey.  He was isolated up top most of the game but never stopped working or fighting.  Its really obvious how much we missed him while he was injured.