all on the road.
"We did everything we should do on the road in the first half," said Rapids defender Mike Petke. "We frustrated them, clogged the middle, and possessed the ball. But we collapsed in the second half."
The Rapids created several quality scoring chances in the first half. In a five-minute span just past the half-hour mark, the Rapids forced Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan into making two saves on close range shots and sent a third shot just wide right of the goal.
Then, at the beginning of the second half, Sacha Klejstan sent a ball across the middle of the Rapids penalty area that sailed by several players before catching Cooke on the chest and bouncing into the net past Bouna Coundoul.
"We played well until the own goal," said Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo. "That changed the momentum and we needed to open up and send people forward and, of course, you pretty much put everything in their hands when you do that."
Despite the result, the Rapids put forth a strong effort.
Herculez Gomez was a handful for the Chivas defense as he applied constant pressure and nearly capitalized on a flubbed clearance but had his shot stopped by Guzan.
"We worked extremely hard and this is one of those games where we put forth the effort but didn't get the result," said Clavijo.
Petke also felt that the Rapids put together a solid effort.
"The effort was there," he said. "There have been very few games this year that for 90 minutes the effort, at least, has been there and this was one of them."
After putting together what he considered to be a strong effort, Petke sensed frustration in his team's inability to translate that effort into a positive result.
"There is a lot of frustration but it's not boiling over, it's not causing a problem," he said. "We already have more wins on the road this year than we did all last year so we had high expectations."
Added Gomez: "For me, it's definitely frustrating because I see the potential and I've seen what we can do. We've showcased it earlier this year. But all of a sudden there are one or two players out of the lineup and we freeze. We have to start creating opportunities for ourselves."
Clavijo was able to put the loss in perspective.
"There's frustration because we lost a game that we thought we controlled for big parts," he said. "But the frustration lasts only 24 hours then we move forward."
When asked what the Rapids need to do in order to break out of the current funk they find themselves in, Petke said they just need to get back to the basics.
"We need to get back into the Monday through Friday grind and dedicate ourselves in practice and come out on the weekend and dedicate ourselves like we did in the first half tonight and take pride in what we're doing ... have fun, enjoy it. Enjoy soccer. Sometimes it feels like we're not enjoying ourselves, but it's a beautiful thing, soccer."
Danny Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
