but the rebound went back to Kyle Beckerman, and he lashed home a low shot through the goalmouth scrum.
• The teams played to a 1-1 draw at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on May 10. The game got off to a strange start, as four minutes in, Herculez Gomez got free down the right flank. He whipped in a low cross and Nick Rimando dove out to get a hand onto it, only for it bounce off the thigh of a retreating Jack Stewart and into the RSL goal.
• But the Rapids returned the favor 11 minutes later. Freddy Adu - very active and dangerous all night long on the left flank, drove in a rolling cross from the left side of the penalty area that Pablo Mastroeni stuck out his foot to stop, only to see slip inside the near post as Rapids 'keeper Bouna Coundoul went the other way.
• It was the ninth time in MLS history there had been two own goals in the same game, and the sixth that each team had scored from an own goal in a game. But it was the first time that all the scoring in a 1-1 game came from own goals.
• On Sept. 22 in a driving rain on the Wasatch Front, Real took the lead at the half-hour mark as one of the players who made the Rocky Mountain competition a true rivalry played his part.
• Kyle Beckerman, reviled by the RSL fans in his days with the Rapids before his trade to the Utah club earlier this year, found Chris Brown free on the left. Brown took a shot that Colorado 'keeper Bouna Coundoul was able to get down and parry, but the rebound came straight out to Kyle Brown, and he knocked it back home for the eventual winner.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Chris Lancos, Matias Mantilla, Ritchie Kotschau, Chris Wingert - Kyle Beckerman, Atiba Harris - Chris Brown, Andy Williams (Carey Talley 46), Kyle Brown (Javier Morales 62) - Yura Movsisyan (Fabian Espindola 73). Substitutes Not Used: Robbie Findley, Willis Forko, Eddie Pope, Chris Seitz
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-3-1-2): Bouna Coundoul - Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Stephen Keel, Brandon Prideaux - Terry Cooke (Omar Cummings 66), Tony Sanneh, Colin Clark - Mehdi Ballouchy (Jose Cancela 63) - Jacob Peterson (Daniel Osorno 74), Jovan Kirovski. Substitutes Not Used: Nicolas Hernandez, Nick LaBrocca, Mike Petke, Zach Thornton
COLORADO RAPIDS
The Colorado Rapids kept their season alive into the final week of the campaign, staging a 90th-minute comeback for a 2-1 victory against Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center on Sunday afternoon. The Rapids have 35 points heading into the final game, but are still behind both the Chicago Fire and Kansas City Wizards by two points, who hold the final two spots in the MLS Cup Playoffs.
LAST MATCH
• The previous day's results had made it simple for the Colorado Rapids -- they needed to win to remain alive for the MLS Cup Playoffs. Chivas USA were riding an 11-game unbeaten streak -- and had yet to lose in a home match on the season.
• In the first game for Chivas without Ante Razov, out for possibly the remainder of the year with a knee injury, it was a taut first half for both sides. But the game burst to life immediately after the break. John Cunliffe sent Maykel Galindo in alone behind the Rapids defense and when he pulled down by Brandon Prideaux, referee Alex Prus gave him his marching orders.
• Down a man, though, the Rapids took the lead in the 64th minute. A corner kick was swung in from the right, and after bouncing off a few bodies in the goalmouth, Ugo Ihemelu banged it home from close range for his first goal on the season.
• Chivas drew level in the 78th minute. Sacha Kljestan held the ball and chipped a perfect ball over the Rapids defense for Orlando Perez to run onto, and he ripped home a low shot from inside the area for his first goal since the 2003 season.
• But somehow, the Rapids found the game-winner in the final minute of regulation time. A long clearance downfield reached Conor Casey on the left touchline, and after fighting off a defender, he turned the corner and raced at the near post. Drawing the 'keeper to him, he slid the ball across to the far post where Omar Cummings raced in to tap the ball into the empty net and keep Colorado's season alive.
• Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo made two changes to the team that defeated Toronto FC 1-0 the Sunday before in Commerce City, after both Pablo Mastroeni and Mehdi Ballouchy were sent off in that game. Ugo Ihemelu returned from suspension and José Cancela came back into the team in a new-look formation for Clavijo.
• Here's Clavijo's team (4-1-3-2): Bouna Coundoul - Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Mike Petke, Brandon Prideaux - Facundo Erpen - Terry Cooke (Omar Cummings 82), Jose Cancela (Tony Sanneh 91+), Colin Clark (Jacob Peterson 83) - Conor Casey, Jovan Kirovski. Substitutes Not Used: Nicolas Hernandez, Stephen Keel, Daniel Osorno, Zach Thornton
• "Playing shorthanded the whole half was definitely an emotional game for us. I think the effort was tremendous throughout the field for 90 minutes," Clavijo said. "This is what we've been playing for, we know the urgency of the points right now and there's no more time for us to get the three points."
TEAM NEWS
• On 35 points for the season, the Rapids still need some help to get into the MLS Cup Playoffs, even with a victory against Real Salt Lake. If Kansas City scrapes out a tie against FC Dallas, they will still need to defeat RSL by three goals or more - unless the Chicago Fire tie or lose to the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday. If the Rapids win and the Wizards lose, then Colorado will own one of the two available spots, with the other coming down to the winner of the Fire-Galaxy game (or, in case of a tie, Chicago).
• "Right now we put a little pressure on everybody else. Nothing is decided right now. We need to go home and play against Real Salt Lake in a game that we feel we should win. I know they are going to try to screw things up for us, no question about it, it's a big rivalry against Real Salt Lake and we have to prepare for them," Clavijo said.
• For the third time in five games, the Rapids played a man down - the sixth time over the course of the year they played shorthanded. That includes the win against Toronto FC when they went two players down.
• "We're used to playing shorthanded because it's happened so many times throughout the year," said Clavijo. "With 10 men, you cannot lose patience and lose track of what is going on but you have to have the right players to accomplish that. You know the team is going to try to possess the ball in front of you. You have to have the right player to be able to break into the counterattack, somebody who can hold the ball in the corner. This is what happened today, I think it serves as motivation for players to know that they may need to take that extra step."
• It was just another occasion where the Rapids were counted out. They went on a 10-game winless run over the middle third of the season, then responded with consecutive wins against Houston, New England and LA Galaxy. Then came a five-game winless streak, staunched with a win against Toronto. Then, when Chivas scored the late equalizer, their season was once again finished - until the big finish.
• "All the guys on the team are fighters," said Ihemelu. "We easily could've been down after losing a player and then letting them tie it up but we just kept fighting and believing and not thinking of what would happen if we didn't get the win. It's a great feeling to know you still have a chance" for the playoffs.
REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake concluded the home portion of their third season in existence on a down note, falling to the only goal of the game by Houston Dynamo on Monday evening at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Real are tied for last place in the MLS overall standings with Toronto FC heading into the final weekend, both teams on 24 points.
LAST MATCH
• Dynamo had seen their six-game unbeaten streak put to an end in their last match, while Real Salt Lake had lost back-to-back games and were eliminated from playoff consideration for a third season.
• After a quiet opening 45 minutes there were narrow misses at each end after the break. Yura Movsisyan hit the base of the post for RSL, and Stuart Holden saw his header tipped over the bar by a tremendous acrobatic leap from Nick Rimando in the Real goal.
• Dynamo then took the lead in the 66th minute. From the right flank, Holden hit a seeming cross that instead sailed goalward and crossed up Rimando, and the RSL 'keeper was able only to get a hand to the ball as it sailed into the upper corner.
• Six minutes later Dynamo went down a man when Eddie Robinson was sent off after Kyle Beckerman went down as he dribbled into the area on a near-breakaway. But referee Tim Weyland left the sides level in the 77th minute when he gave Movsisyan his marching orders after he tangled with Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad.
• RSL head coach Jason Kreis made seven changes to the team that defeated Chivas USA 3-2 the Saturday before in Salt Lake City. The only holdovers from that team were Ritchie Kotschau, Carey Talley, Chris Brown and Andy Williams, with Chris Lancos, Matias Mantilla, Kyle Beckerman going to the substitutes' bench while Chris Seitz and Robbie Findley were on international duty with the USA and Willis Forko and Fabian Espindola both injured.
• Here's Kreis's team (4-2-3-1): Nick Rimando - Chris Wingert, Dustin Kirby (Fabian Espindola 79), Eddie Pope, Ritchie Kotschau - Nathan Sturgis, Carey Talley - Chris Brown (Jamie Watson 46), Andy Williams (Kyle Beckerman 46), Alecko Eskandarian - Yura Movsisyan. Substitutes Not Used: Atiba Harris, Chris Lancos, Matias Mantilla, Kyle Reynish
• "It's very disappointing, another game that we're at home and feel like we're doing some good things and some not so good things and at the end we feel like we deserved a result. I guess I was very emotionally into that game," Kreis said. "I put a lot into that because it was a very special game for Eddie (Pope); I wanted it to be a special going out for him. I also wanted it to be a good result for us because I feel that we have a good crowd there -- and we have had a good crowd there for a very, very long time -- and it's about time that we start giving back. I really felt that tonight was going to be that night, and I am just very disappointed with that."
TEAM NEWS
• It was the final home game for Eddie Pope, who came to the club in the inaugural season and now concludes his career as one of the few MLS Originals still remaining.
• "It's bittersweet. I have told some of you guys before that, for me, I'm feeling that I'm going out on my terms and it's certainly great to retire, so I don't think it's anything that feels negative," Pope said. "I am just happy to have been a part of this team, this city, and a part of these fans."
• While things have certainly turned around for RSL over the final half of the season, they still go into the season finale with just one win over the last eight games.
• "We had some opportunities that we should have put away and we should have finished some open shots that needed to be put on frame so we could test their goalkeeper a bit more," Pope said. "Overall I thought we played pretty well, we played very well defensively. Again, the one shot that goes upper 90 and to have the header that Nick makes the incredible save on, and we end up with zero points. To move forward it's important for us to start getting the ball on the frame and start to finish our chances and to start punishing other teams for their defensive errors."
• Among his myriad lineup changes, Kreis gave Dustin Kirby his MLS debut in central defense. "I am very proud of him. The coaching staff has been watching him for quite a few weeks and we feel that Dusty has deserved an opportunity," Kreis said. "We really didn't think that he was going to get a starting chance in our first XI in an MLS match. He got it and I think he took full advantage of it, and he did very well for himself."
• But it all could be pushed aside somewhat with a win against Colorado in the season finale - giving Pope a real sendoff, knocking their arch-rivals out of the MLS Cup Playoffs and ending the season with a trophy.
• "We all are disappointed to have not gotten him a win to go out with at home, so we will try desperately now, another reason, and we've got a couple already, but we have another reason for next week to get a win for Eddie in his last MLS game," Kreis said.
