2 games, 2 Cascadia teams, the top 2 teams in the division, 6 points, 1 playoff spot. That's a hell of a week for the Rapids. When the final whistle blew Colorado was back in the playoffs for the first time in 4 years, and with room to spare. The game itself was probably fairly dull for a neutral. Colorado had 4 shots on goal all game, Portland had 0. Other than the goal none of the shots bothered Portland's keeper (the highlight reel at MLSSoccer.com includes 2 off-target shots as the entirety of the Rapids offensive highlights outside the goal). The closest Portland got to the goal was with literally their last kick of the game, which pinged off the post and went out for a goal kick.
The one point of excitement was early in the first half when Portland was called for a PK that was overturned on VAR. The ball was played by the Portland defender and it spring up and clearly hit his arm in the box. Clear PK, right? No. The most recent change in the handling rules clarified that an accidental touch on the arm after a defender plays the ball isn't automatically a PK. If the defender is making himself unnaturally bigger it is a PK. You could certainly argue that it applied in this case, but its a judgement call.
Other than that the primary highlight was Acosta's goal. Rubio picked a Timbers' pocket in midfield, brought it towards goal, fed Namli in a give and go, then dumped it the other way to Acosta who sidestepped a defender and hammered it home. Another good bit of ball work and a nice team goal.
So with the win the Rapids clinched a playoff spot. Depending on what happens on Sunday the could finish anywhere form 5th to 8th (we can't get to 4th because Minnesota and Dallas play each other) which means we'll be on the road for the first playoff game. Its just a matter of who we play. If we win on Sunday we're also guaranteed to have more points than any of the teams that miss the playoffs. We would also have enough points to have made the playoffs even if all our cancelled games had been credited as a forfeit by a 3-0 scoreline (the standard for FIFA forfeits),
Man of the Match: Kellyn Acosta. Yeah, it was the easy choice. But everyone played a solid game so the one thing that stood out was the goal.
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1 comment:
Portland's keeper had a good save on Mezquida's shot. I thought Mezquida took the shot well. Besides the goal and that shot, the Portland Keeper was not troubled.
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