Colorado Rapids 2-0 Real Salt Lake

By: Kyle | May 15th, 2008

Throw all the trash you like, Salt Lakers. The Rocky Mountain Cup is coming back to Colorado.

Let me start by offering a formal apology for predicting yesterday that Salt Lake would score a goal. That was shameful and, in retrospect, I don’t know what I was thinking. I will put forth great effort to avoid saying such hideous things in the future.

This game was textbook Colorado Rapids, start to finish. Here’s how the Rapids win for those who don’t get to see many of their games (you’re missing out by the way). The Rapids can be described in one word: relentless. What was the difference between the play that scored and the attempts that came before it? Nothing, except that it was the seventh time the Rapids did it. The Rapids are very effective with the soccer fundamentals. They don’t try anything fancy (usually) to trick the defense. They play soccer by the textbook: work the ball through the midfield and send it up front when a forward makes a good run. That’s it, and they do it exceptionally. They’ll do it again and again, and, come the second half, the defense is tired enough and has tried to stop the same play enough that they make one mistake, and the Rapids finish strong. At that point, the Rapids use the lead to open up the field a little and control the rest of the game, usually scoring one or two more. It’s simple, methodical, and effective, and it’s a sight to see. The numbers show it, too: the Rapids have scored 13 goals this year so far and ONE of those goals have been scored in the first half. Scoreless at half time is SOP for Colorado. They look like a group of guys who go out and do what they practiced together. It’s fun to see that payoff for them.

Congratulations for a good individual effort, as usual, to Kosuke. Facundo also played good defense and provided some excellent service forward to feed the attack. He’s a real two-way soccer player. Christian was flawless in the midfield as usual, and Colin simply owned the right wing. Heck, I couldn’t find a bad thing to say about a single one of them if I wanted to.

Here’s an interesting note: with a New York – Kansas City draw on Saturday (it could happen), the Rapids take position in the last SuperLiga spot. Either way, let’s cheer for a Dallas – Las Angeles draw on Saturday, and the Rapids will be two points ahead. Even if that doesn’t happen, unless Dallas wins by 3 (unlikely), the Rapids stay where they belong: first place.