The Colorado Rapids held their own with the Chinese national team for most of the night, but in the end their untested lineup came up short, losing 2-1 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday evening.
Despite starting a group of mostly young reserve players, the Rapids struck first, courtesy of Jovan Kirovski, in the first half. But China's Wang Dong made the most of his few chances, scoring the tying goal then assisting Manchester United's Dong Fangzhou on the winner.
The Rapids came out very aggressive on the attack, and had their first chance in the opening minute. After Kirovski's pressure forced Zhang Baofeng to concede a corner, Daniel Wasson had a great chance when the corner rebounded out to him at the top of the box. But his effort was well wide of the goal.
Wang Dong created the first chance of the night for the Chinese, as his cross in the third minute missed Dong Fangzhou by inches.
Both teams were resorting to the long ball in the early going, trying to outrun the defense, but the tactics did not result in many opportunities for either side.
In the 12th minute, Hao Junmin played a nice give-and-go with Li Ti, but his low shot was easily smothered by Rapids goalkeeper Zach Thornton.
Kirovski continued to be active in attack and in the 12th minute, he took one touch with his back to goal to settle Terry Cooke's cross before spinning and unleashing a shot which was nicely saved by 'keeper Yang Jun.
In the 18th minute, Wang Dong tried to beat Thornton, who was cheating away from his line, with a shot from distance, but the Rapids 'keeper recovered well to acrobatically push the ball over the crossbar.
Colin Clarke timed his run well in the 20th minute to beat the offside trap and received a nice through ball from Nick LaBrocca. His chest trap was a little awkward, which left him with an off-balance shot that went just over the crossbar.
Some nice passing from three of the veteran Rapids in the 21st minute created the home team's goal. Cooke received the ball on the right and centered to Nico Hernandez, who in turn quickly passed the ball to Kirovski, who had beaten a badly-executed offside trap. Kirovski had only the 'keeper to beat in the box, which he did with a cool finish before Yang Jun could cut off his angle.
Despite being down a goal, the Chinese played in a very defensive posture for much of the half, relying on target man Dong Fangzhou almost exclusively to generate offense. He was frequently left to use his speed to try to beat four Rapids defenders on his own.
Cooke created more chaos for the Chinese back line in the 38th minute. From the flank he played a nice pass inside for Kirovski, who dummied it to Daniel Wasson, who then played it quickly back to Cooke, who was streaking past the Chinese defense. Cooke then crossed the ball back across the face of the goal, but Wasson was barely out-jumped by a defender who headed the ball to safety.
The final chance of the half fell to the Rapids. LaBrocca played a great through ball from the midfield stripe to Clarke, who was left alone on the other side by an again unorganized Chinese defense. Once again, Yang Jun was the only player to beat, but this time he made a great save when Clarke tried to beat him with a shot between his legs.
For most of the second half, neither of the teams was particularly friendly to each other, combining for 23 fouls and four yellow cards (with three of the cautions going to the Chinese).
The second half increase in aggressiveness paid off for the Chinese in the 53rd minute, as Wang Dong was able to penetrate the Rapids' defense to unleash a shot past Thornton to score an unassisted goal.
The Chinese struck again soon after in the 57th minute, as Wang Dong played a ball forward for Dong Fangzhou, who outpaced Stephen Keel before beating a diving Thornton with an outside of the foot shot.
After the two Chinese goals, the pace of the game became very disjointed as both sides engaged in numerous substitutions, injuries, fouls, cautions and arguments with the referee.
The Rapids showed signs of life in the 77th minute as Kirovski took a free kick from the top of the box, but his shot, although out of reach of the goalkeeper, went over the bar.
The Rapids kept trying to come back, but were having trouble breaking down the bunker defense China had retreated into. In the 87th minute LaBrocca unleashed a hard shot from outside of the penalty area that again beat the diving Yang Jun, but the ball went harmlessly over the bar.
Wang Peng nearly put the game out of reach in stoppage time as he took on three Rapids defenders on a counterattack and did well to let loose a shot that Keel had to dive to deflect out of danger.
The Rapids had one last good chance to score in stoppage time as Cooke unleashed a long cross that was just a shade too high for substitutes Omar Cummings and Jose Cancela.
The win gives the Chinese one victory on their three-game American tour, while the Rapids will take the experience back to league play on the road as they travel to Carson, Calif., to take on Chivas USA on Saturday.
Geoffrey Urland is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
