New York Red Bulls 4-5 Colorado Rapids

By: Kyle | September 30th, 2008

How did New York win the Super Bowl? They peaked at the end of their season, going into the playoffs. That’s a different sport, of course, but it’s a good lesson to remember: to win a title, you have to finish strong. And so far, the Rapids are doing just that.

It’s hard to say that the Rapids don’t have momentum right now. Not only are they four games unbeaten, in the three games they won, they won decisively. Saturday was no exception. In MLS, a nine-goal game is usually a sloppy game with very little defense, but that didn’t seem to be the case during Bulls - Rapids. Both sides showed genuine inventiveness and creativity in front of the goal and played one of the best offensive games I’ve ever seen in the league. The moral of the season has been when the Rapids shoot, they win. By the end of the match against the Red Bulls, they had taken 18 shots, 11 on goal.

On the other side of the field, Preston continued to perform well managing the defense, and single handedly shut down several offensive attempts by New York. The four goals conceded where pretty remarkable, and if anyone was to blame it was the defense, not Preston.

Of course, the highest accolades must be paid to Connor Casey, having scored a hat trick. And MLS has taken note as well, nominating his game-winning third goal for Goal of the Week, which he has a real shot at winning. Even more importantly, he was named Player of the Week. Let’s not forget, though, where that goal came from. Mehdi’s cross was absolutely brilliant, beating two defenders and perfectly placing the ball for Casey to finish off, so second place man of the match goes to him.

Now, the Playoff picture: the Rapids are sitting in the last West playoff spot, a much more comfortable place than it was last week with the West having reclaimed one of the wildcards. In fact, if things go right with Dallas in the final few weeks, the West could end up with the five playoff spots. That would be even more unexpected then the Crew winning the Supporters’ Shield.