A tie at home on opening day isn’t the worst possible result, nonetheless it left me a bit unsatisfied.

First Half

The Rapids looked enterprising in the first half, and managed to go ahead 2-1 on two goals by Thunder (Casey on a PK) & Lighting (Cummings on a delicious strike). Mr. Vaughn gave the visiting Fire an equalizer in the 2nd half after Patrick Nyarko went down on a Marvell Wynne challenge. It looked soft live, and still looks soft on replay. Take a look below and tell me what you think.

Cummings opens the scoring

John Collins equalizes

Casey makes it 2-1

Second Half

Crappy-ass call gives McBride and the Fire the equalizer

Maybe…maaaaybe their feet got tangle, but totally incidental. I think he may have just dove.

Takeaways

Smith is still experimenting with the backline. Our attack is solid and looked enterprising for all but 20′ in the middle of the 2nd half (when Ballouchy went out I’m surprised to say). But along the back there was a good bit of space for Collins and others to make mischief.

I’m voting for Baudet and Moor in the middle, with Wynne and Earls on the outside of the defense. Then again, this isn’t a democracy and my vote doesn’t count.

Rapids News and Analysis Brian McBride, Chicago Fire, Conor Casey, Gary Smith, Marvell Wynne, Omar Cummings

“Out of position tonight I think he’s produced one of the best debut performances that I’ve seen for sure, certainly as a defender.”

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Gary Smith, Marvell Wynne

Coach Smith talks about Omar’s goal, the “new” Chivas USA, and his “incredible…belief” in our team.

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Chivas USA, Gary Smith, Omar Cummings

International Soccer, Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis arsenal, Conor Casey, Gary Smith

To the puzzlement of this Rapids fans, and apparently to some Toronto FC fans, the Rapids have traded Jacob Peterson. From the Rapids PR, Colorado received “allocation money in exchange for midfielder Jacob Peterson. Per club and league policies, financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.”

From a great writer to the north, The 24th Minute:

This is a bit of a head scratcher. Peterson is a wing player, which we all know Toronto needs, but he’s a wing player that blew his knee out in the final month of the 2009 season. In Colorado it was expected that he might not be ready to play until August.

For me this is a head scratcher as well. As I discuss in relation to my interview with Gary Smith, the loss of Peterson as our final healthy winger had profound implications on our tactics. After losing Clark and Peterson, we were de-clawed. If I’m not mistaken, we didn’t score a non-PK goal after September 12th, or at least we scored very few. How can trading away one of our wingers do anything but hurt an already susceptible role.

HOWEVER. El Capitan Gary Smith is undoubtedly aware of this, and in his interview discussed the affect of losing wingers. I can only assume this money will go towards acquiring another winger, of an ever greater quality. My hope is we will also pick up a solid backup, a true winger perhaps later in their career. Training Kimura on the job, late in the season, to be a winger was not effective.

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Gary Smith, Jacob Peterson, Kosuke Kimura, Toronto FC

Colorado Rapids got one point, but it’s the two points we didn’t get in our final home game that have Rapids fans concerned. New England have struggled to score recently, and this looked to be our best chance to secure a playoff spot. I’m not saying the alarm is sounding, but I can hear some kind of high pitch beeping.

Basics

The Rapids came out in a 3-5-2 before the 16,535 that were in attendance. This formation was likely designed to generate the service to Thunder & Lighting that have eluded us (our last non-PK goal was September 12th). It gave our offense a spark in the first half that we have lacked over the last month, and our boys worked their tails off as they do every week.

We were able to contain New England all day, but gave up an open header to Dube and he didn’t waste the chance. The Revolution had few chances off open play, and one can’t help but wonder what “would’ve been” if we had covered that free kick better or made more use of our own free kicks.

Bummer

The Rapids continue to struggle finding that final ball. The 3-5-2 created more chances, but Casey and Cummings now only expect 1 legitimate chance per game on goal. Early in the season, it was more like 3 or 4. As Gary Smith mentioned, we will have to be near flawless on executing those chances, which simply isn’t realistic. Even the best strikers in the world like Fernando Torres or Lionel Messi do not execute anywhere near 100% on golden chances.

I’m starting to feel like a broken record…but where is our service going to come from for the rest of this season? Players like Ballouchy and LaBrocca are playing very well, but simply do not have the killer instinct like Colin Clark had.

Bonus

• The calls have gone our way when we needed them to. Plain and simple, the PK’s have been our life ring, and Casey has not wasted them.
• Preston Burpo is playing excellent in goal for Pickens. He hasn’t registered the clean sheet I’m sure he wants, but is playing a steady veteran game every Saturday.

Backtalk

For the backtalk, I’ll be putting up the same survey about whether we are going to make the playoffs. Has your opinion changed? I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer, but the Rapids have gone from one of the most prolific attacks in the MLS to a team who just can’t put it in the back of the net.

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Colin Clark, Conor Casey, Gary Smith, New England Revolution, Omar Cummings

After Wednesday’s draw with San Jose, Gary Smith talks in this audio clip about the change of tactics with the loss of Peterson (which was assumed but not confirmed at the time. 2 min 5 sec

Interview with Colorado Rapids Coach Gary Smith

(First question by me, second by Nick Thomas of WeWantRapidMan)

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Gary Smith, Jacob Peterson, San Jose Earthquakes

The results of our survey were clear: respondents felt 43 points were needed for a wildcard spot. This would mean the Rapids need 5 more points from the last 4 games, 3 of which are on the road.

Fans also felt that New England was the most likely bubble team to make it in.

UPDATE: El Capitan Gary Smith said after the San Jose game that the magic number was 42. His vote counts as 4 votes for me, so consider 42 points the victory!

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Gary Smith, New England Revolution, San Jose Earthquakes

93 minutes of frustration. One aggressive challenge by Ryan Johnson of San Jose on Drew Moor, who made the most of it and earned a PK that Casey did not waste.

Basics

This was a game full of annoyances. John Harkes saying “Bow-det.” The ball bouncing around on a field full of mini-moguls. Most importantly, a complete lack of service from the midfield to Thunder (Casey) & Lighting (Cummings) up top. Read more…

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Colin Clark, Conor Casey, DC United, Drew Moor, Gary Smith, John Harkes, Marcel Balboa, Omar Cummings, Pablo Mastroeni, Ryan Johnson, San Jose Earthquakes

Growing up in the northwest, when I went to college in northern Indiana I heard some quaint sayings. One of my favorites is a response to some asking how you are: Fair to middlin’. At this point in the season, the Rapids have shown signs of breakout potential but still find themselves…fair to middlin’. Read more…

Major League Soccer (MLS), Rapids News and Analysis Conor Casey, Gary Smith, Julien Baudet, Ugo Ihemelu