Rapids Fizzle On Fourth

A pretty lackluster game in front of a huge crowd is not what Colorado needed last night but its what they got.  The team looked rusty and out of sorts.  They still came out with a draw which shows how far this team has come since in the last two years this kind of underwhelming performance would have been a loss.  An opportunity missed though both in the standings and to convert new fans.

General Impressions:

• The midfield was AWOL last night.  No linking play between the back and front and Portland just had free runs to about 30 yards from our goal (especially in the 2nd half).
• I assume that the team is playing it safe with Pappa's injury but I think a better strategy would have been to start Pappa and then bring Hairston in when Pappa had gone as long as he could.  Our midfield improved as soon as Pappa was subbed in.
• Hairston shouldn't be playing midfield when Pappa, Solignac, and even Badji is available.
• Watts was lucky to not give up a PK but other than that he was fairly solid.
• Sjoberg had a surprisingly off game.  Not badly but he wasn't his normal self.
• All game Portland was inviting the Rapids to play the ball into the middle where the Timbers could collapse on them and all game the Rapids did it.  We needed to stretch the field more.
• Generally we were very slow in transition and getting the ball forward.
• The ref had a bad night as well but it hurt both teams fairly equally.
• Good to see Pablo use subs early for once.
• Cronin coming off was the first minutes he's missed all season (in league play).
• With the results last night Dallas passed Colorado in points but due to the fact that Colorado has two games in hand we still lead on points per game.
• We extended our team record undefeated streak to 12 games.
• At the halfway point of the season we lead the league in pts/game and did it without ever putting all four of Doyle, Gashi, Jones, and Pappa on the field at the same time.

Man of the Match: Tim Howard.  I really wanted to pick somebody else because I didn't want to fall into the easy trap but its the right call based on the play.  An off game for most of the team and Tim coming up big when he needed to.