Go Revs!

I know I've been quiet the last couple of weeks but there's been almost nothing going on in Rapids land.  Pablo visiting Karanka at Middlesbrough for some coaching education is the extent of the news since the release of the declined contract options.  Next week will be busy though with the release of the expansion draft protected players tomorrow or Tuesday, the expansion draft for NYCFC and Orlando on Wednesday and the first phase of the re-entry draft on Friday, with the second phase the following Thursday.  Its also rumored that we'll see the 2015 schedule in the next couple of weeks.

Until then though I just wanted to show some support for the Revolution in today's MLS Cup.  Jermaine Jones is my favorite current Nat and the Midnight Riders are the best group of non-Rapids fans in the league.  They deserve to finally win a championship.

The Rapids Win The Cup!!!!

Champions!!!!!!!

What a game! Highs, lows, and what just happened! moments all over the place. I'm going to dispense with the normal post-game recap as I'm assuming anyone who's reading this has a least watched the highlights if not the whole game, and I'm not sure if I could really recap everything anyway. Just a few notes about the more important moments in the game.

The PK that wasn't early in the game was a mess. Honestly all 3 players involved could have been called for a foul. I can almost see letting everything go except the attempted kick at Casey. That has to be a card, and in the box, a penalty. Or if a more strict ref is calling the game, the first fouls get called and the kick never happens. Either way, poorly handled.

Dallas' goal was just a beautiful sequence. They took advantage of Wallace playing off and found space to send in the cross, and league MVP Ferreira found the open space between Moor and Wynne. Well played all around.

Casey's goal was the ugliest beautiful goal you'll ever see, at least until Kandji forced an own goal. A 3 way collision between Hartman, Ihemelu, and Casey ended up with only Casey finding the ball and poking it into the net from his backside. This isn't college football though, you don't get points for style and they all count equally.

Kevin Hartman must have sold his soul to somebody with the way he played this post-season. His save on Ginger Ninja's free kick was amazing. The ball was shielded and curving away from him. A goal there, just 5 minutes after the Rapids leveled the score, might have put Dallas away.

Kandji gave everything for the team, including his knee, to score the winning goal. Sometimes you just have to put it in the mixer and hope something good happens. It was a "lucky" goal, but it happened because Colorado was putting on pressure. Hopefully the knee is no worse than the expected hyper-extension. It looked like his leg could have been broken.

Matt Pickens save with 3 minutes remaining? Incredible. Everyone at the Celtic thought we had given up the tying goal. We were discussing it post-game and nobody could think of another save like that to preserve a win in extra time in any of the leagues or Cups we've watched.

Drew Moor - Ironman. He played every minute of every regular season game (2700 minutes). He played every minute of the 3 playoff games, including the 30 extra minutes in Columbus (300 minutes). All of that, and in the 120th and final minute of the final he's in position to clear the tying goal off the line. 3120 minutes in a season has to be some sort of MLS record.

My keys to the game were controlling midfield, especially Ferreira, and the goalkeepers. Well Ferreria got free once, but the rough style of play favored the Rapids midfield and they used it to full effect. Both keepers came up huge once, so that was a draw.

Other Observations:

• Great time at the Celtic, even through the pressure. The confetti got a bit out of hand, so a bit of a mess got left. I hope they understand.
• That's 5 for 5 against Dallas in the playoffs!
• Lousy officiating by Toledo. He let everything go and quickly lost control of the game. That's how you end up with both Cummings and Kandji being injured and Casey knocking everyone in sight over.
• Larentowicz had a great game. He was stealing balls and breaking up any attack that came through the middle. Great to see him get a ring after 3 lost MLS Cups with New England.
• Dallas is a bunch of punks and I was very disappointed with them. Daniel "No offense to the Eastern Champs, but this game was the championship" Hernandez waited for the ref to turn his back and smacked Thompson on the head. Hartman got into Kandji's face while he was coming off injured. Twice Casey was out and out kicked with no attempt to play the ball. Former Rapid Ugo Ihemelu actually pushed the hobbling Kandji as he was coming off the field. If Toledo hadn't last control of the game that should have been a red.
• Cummings did not have a great night, but Dallas obviously went out there with the plan to prevent him from beating them. Too bad it was the player that subbed in for him that beat them!
• Wallace struggled at times, bringing Baudet in for him was a good move.
• Mullan was strong but silent in adding a 5th ring to his hand.
• Pablo caps off perhaps his best year as a Rapid by getting a trophy after 13 years in the league. Its great that he finally got the reward he deserved.
• Great to see the team celebrate with the fans by taking a trip around the stadium with the trophy.
• The team is having a rally at Skyline Park South, on Arapahoe between 15th and 16th, tomorrow at 4!

Player of the Game: Denver South's Conor Casey. A goal, an unofficial assist, and constant pressure all night keeping Dallas from getting into their groove. Matt Pickens could have also gotten the nod, but Casey bringing a championship back to where he grew up gives him the edge.

Simply The Best!

MLS Cup 2010 Starring Your Colorado Rapids!

Tomorrow is the game that, 3 months ago, no Colorado fan who was honest with themselves thought we would be playing in. MLS Cup 2010. The Rapids have a shot at their first major trophy, but to do it they have to go through their old foe FC Dallas. Obviously there's nothing more to play for after this game, one way or the other the season is over.

For those of you who haven't been paying attention the game is in Toronto at 6:30pm MST. The match is televised on ESPN. Supporters groups will be meeting in many places, but I'll be joining Class VI, Pid Army, and an expected 200-300 fans at the Celtic Tavern in LoDo. There should be a small but vocal contingent of fans in Toronto to support the team as well.

Injury Report:

OUT: MF Ciaran O'Brien (L hip sprain); FW Ross Schunk (R ACL tear)

PROBABLE: GK Matt Pickens (R groin strain); MF Jamie Smith (L calf tightness)

Dallas also has 4 players questionable or worse, so the depth between the teams is about equal. I think the lineup is fairly obvious but we've been hearing things this week that Gary Smith may make some changes to deal with Dallas. My best guess to start:

Pickens

Kimura - Wynne - Moor - Wallace

Mullan - Larentowicz - Pablo - Smith

Cummings - Casey

If Smith can't go, Thompson should go into his slot. Gary Smith has talked about possibly switching to a -5-1 to match Dallas 5-man midfield. To me, this would be a mistake. The Rapids played a 4-5-1 in the middle of the season and while we kept possession we couldn't score, and Omar Cummings was wasted on the right. He's also mentioned returning Baudet to the starting XI and moving Moor outside to Wallace's spot. The back 4 has done a pretty good job since Baudet went down injured and I'm hesitant to suddenly change it up in the final.

Key To Look For: I think there are actually two keys to this one. The first is the midfield, specifically Dallas' David Ferreria, who was just named league MVP today. He's the engine that makes Dallas go, and the Rapids will need to shut him down. Gary Smith has hinted he might just try to play 10 on 10 by assigning one player, probably Larentowicz, to stick to Ferreria all night and take him out of the game.

The second key is the goalkeepers. Matt Pickens is the only goalkeeper to record two shutouts this post-season, while Kevin Hartman has been on fire for the last couple months and almost single-handledly won their game against LA for them. It could be very difficult for the Rapids to get more than one past Hartman, so Pickens will have to put in a top performance.

Prediction: 1-1 draw, Rapids win in PKs. Goal by Conor Casey. This has been, by far, the hardest game to predict this season. My heart wants to say a Rapids win, while my head wonders if we can match their quality. The Rapids can not get into a shootout in this one, Dallas has the players to win going away. Instead they need to slow the game down and keep it low scoring. I don't think we can expect to get more than one past Hartman, and I don't see us getting a shutout. If we can get it to PKs though I think we're mentally tougher than Dallas and can win the tiebreaker.

Colorado - Dallas: 2006

Finally we come to our last matchup with Dallas in 2006, also the last time we made the playoffs prior to this year. The Rapids finished 4th in the West, 11 points behind the leading Dallas team and were once again facing them int eh first round. The format was the same as 2005, a two game series with the second leg being at the home of the higher seed.

Dallas came into Invesco Field and did what you would expect a top seeded team to do, controlled the game. They got goals from Carlos Ruiz and Abe Thompson (now playing with Miami FC of D-II) early in each half. The Rapids answered early in the first half with a goal from fan-favorite Terry Cooke (now playing in Azerbaijan) but did not have a second half response. With two minutes remaining the Rapids went down to 10 minutes through a straight red card to Thiago Martins (now playing in Norway) and Dallas was comfortable with their victory.

A week later the teams met again in Dallas with Colorado being forced to go on the attack. This was made easier when Chris Gbandi (also playing in Miami) was red carded in the 29th minute. The game was still scoreless at halftime though Mastroeni had picked up a yellow.

Things got wild in the second half. Carlos Ruiz scored again right after halftime, putting the Rapids down two goals. Colorado turned to Nico Hernandez (now playing in Vietnam) to dig them out of the hole. Nico scored a brace in the 57th and 83rd minute, forcing the game into extra time. 2 minutes in Clarance Goodson (about to move from Norwegian team to Denmark) put Dallas in the lead. The Rapids were at the end of their rope with less than 10 minutes to play when Clint Mathis scored the biggest goal of his Rapids career with 6 minutes to play. The teams were back to settling things with PKs.

Both teams started strong in PK's with the first 3 being made by both sides. Dallas missed their 4th kick and Kyle Beckerman (now with FSL) made his to put the Rapids in the lead. Dallas put the pressure on by making their 5th kick, only for Aitor Karanka (now an assistant coach with Real Madrid) to miss his, forcing sudden death. Dallas keeper Dario Sala took the 6th kick for his side, only to miss it. Team captain Pablo Mastroeni stepped up to end the game and set off a crazy sequence of events.

After Pablo made his PK he immediately approached the Inferno Supporters Group behind the goal to return some of the taunting the Rapids had been taking all game. He was joined by some other players while Rapids keeper Joe Cannon tried to keep things from getting out of hand. Suddenly Dario Sala snapped. He leaped up from the ground and charged at the Rapids team. first he sucker=punched Jovan Kirovski in the back of the head, then laid out Hunter Freeman with a haymaker. Mike Petke came to his teammates defense with a flying kick to Sala's gut before Cannon leaped in to break everything up and settle things down. Sala would eventually be suspended for the first 6 games of the 2007 season for his actions, and Mike Petke was fined.

I bring this up because there was an article today where Sala blames Mastroeni for starting the scuffle and also suggests he's the only player of Argentinean descent who isn't friendly with other Argentinians. This is revisionist history at its best. Mastroeni was absolutely out of line with taunting the Inferno, but it was Sala that started throwing punches. I'm not sure why Sala is giving the Rapids bulletin board material 2 days before MLS Cup, but we'll take it.

The Rapids went on to lose the Western Conference Final in Houston 3-1 and that was the last playoff action we saw before this year.

Colorado - Dallas: 2005

By 2005 the playoffs had changed format. The first round was now just a 2 game series, with no away goals rule. the Rapids finished 3rd in the West, 3 points behind FC Dallas which set up another first round matchup between the teams.

The first game was at Invesco Field in Denver. Both teams came out looking for an advantage but all they found were yellow cards as the game ended scoreless, setting up a 1 game series at the brand-new Pizza Hut Park in Dallas.

The Rapids jumped out to an early lead off a Jeff Cunningham goal. Cunningham could be starting as the lone striker in Dallas' 4-5-1 formation on Sunday. That was the only event in a quiet first half, but the second half turned out to be very different. The first 20 minutes saw 3 yellow cards and a red card on Rapids midfielder Alain Nkong (now playing in the Mexican second division). In the 67th minute Dallas leveled the score on a goal from Carlos Ruiz (now playing in Greece). The teams would exchange 3 more yellow cards, but Dallas could not find a second goal despite being up a man and the game would go to 30 minutes of extra time.

Right at the end of the first 15 minutes of overtime Carlos Ruiz scored again and things looked bleak for the Rapids. Right after the teams switched sides Richie Kotschau popped up out of nowhere to level the game (He still lives in Denver and has been seed at Rapids games and events). Colorado was called for a PK and Ruiz stepped up to take the lead and complete his hat-trick, only for his shot to hit the post so the series went to PK's. Much like the recent series against Columbus the fist 4 kickers for each side made their kicks. Then Roberta Mina had his saved by Rapids keeper Joe Cannon (still playing for the San Jose side the Rapids defeated on Saturday). Jean-Philippe Peguero put his shot away to send Dallas out again and the Rapids to the conference final against LA. Much like this year Colorado hosted the Conference final since the Galaxy, as the 4 seed, knocked off the top seeded Earthquakes. LA would come into Invesco Field and control the game en route to a 2-0 victory and a trip to MLS Cup (which they won, 1-0).

Colorado - Dallas: 2002

Colorado and Dallas finished equal on points in 2002 and were matched up in the first round of the playoffs. Dallas, by virtue of their 2-1-1 record against the Rapids in the regular season, had home field advantage in the 3 game series. Game 1 at the Cotton Bowl did not go well for Colorado. Carlos 'El Pibe' Valderrama scored after 2 minutes but the game was all Dallas after that. Steve Morrow, who now oversees international partnerships (including the one with the Rapids) for Arsenal, scored first followed by now FSL coach Jason Kreis, Chad Deering, and Antonio Martinez. Rapids Gallery of Honor inductee John Spencer (now the coach of the Portland Timbers) got one back in stoppage time but Dallas took the 3 points for this one.

3 days later the teams met again at Invesco Field with a completely different result. While the first game featured 6 goals this one had just a single score. Chris Carrieri (currently playing for the USL-2 Richmond Kickers) scored in the 78th minute to level the series and force a deciding game 3 back at the Cotton Bowl 4 days later.

Game 3 started much like game 1 with a quick goal. This time it was Dallas' Bobby Rhine (still working in the front office of FC Dallas) putting Dallas in the lead in the 6th minute. Colorado would strike back 16 minutes later as John Spencer would get his second of the playoffs. The two teams would battle for the rest of the game but neither could break through, forcing an overtime session to settle the series. In one of the shortest overtimes (MLS used the Golden Goal rule until the end of the 2002 season) Colorado's Mark Chung scored in the first minute to send the series and send Colorado through to the Conference Finals. Colorado lost that series to LA in 2 games by a combined score of 5-0.

Colorado - Dallas: 1997

This is the first of a series of posts this week recapping our playoff history against the Dallas Burn/FC Dallas. We've faced them 4 times in the last 14 years and beat them all 4 times.

The first meeting was in the Western Conference Finals in 1997. Colorado has put a beat down on Kansas City (the #1 seed) int eh first round, winning the first two games of the best of three series 3-0 and 3-2. Dallas, as the #2 seed, did the same thing to LA 1-0 (in a shootout) and 3-0. This gave Dallas the home field advantage in the series with games 1 and 3 at the Cotton Bowl and game 2 at Mile High Stadium.

Colorado pulled off the upset in Dallas in the first game. Chris Henderson (now Seattle's Technical Director) slotted home a goal in the 42nd minute to give the Rapids the lead and keeper Marcus Hahnemann (now with EPL side Wolverhampton Wolves) was a brick wall, preserving the shutout. The Rapids took their advantage home to Denver the next week. The first 5 minutes of the game resulted in goals from Adrian Paz for the Rapids followed closely by the equalizer from Damian. The game looked destined for a Shootout and probably a return to Dallas for Game 3 when Chris Henderson stepped up and put away the series winner in the 87th minute, sending Colorado on to their first MLS Cup.

In researching these series of articles I found something interesting. The Rapids have made it past the first round of the playoffs 5 times. 3 times they beat Dallas in the first round. The 4th time (detailed above) they beat Dallas in the 2nd round. The 5th time this year they play Dallas in the final. will the streak continue?

Eastern Conference Champions!

Full game review coming later today or tomorrow. MLS Cup next Sunday at 6:30pm MST!!!