The Colorado Rapids rested six starters for their U.S. Open Cup play-in match against the Kansas City Wizards on Wednesday. While the Rapids were eliminated from the 95-year-old tournament, 4-3 in a penalty kick shootout after a 2-2 tie over 120 minutes, they might have found a number of layers to add to the team over the long Major League Soccer season.
"I think we have a very deep team. I think we proved that," said Rapids forward Herculez Gomez.
Gomez pulled the Rapids into a first-half tie with his 36th minute goal. Gomez's strike partner, Jacob Peterson, gave the Rapids a 2-1 lead early in the second half before Ivan Trujillo scored the tying goal four minutes from the end.
Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo felt his two forwards were especially strong.
"The two strikers kept Kansas City extremely busy," Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo said.
Other young players stepped up to give strong performances throughout the lineup.
"I think Brian Grazier came in, stepped in and did very well," Gomez said. "Mehdi Ballouchy, inserted into the lineup -- it's tough for him to get minutes. He did tremendously well for our team."
If it was a litmus test for some players playing in their first game this season, they passed it. They left it all on the field with their effort.
"All the young guys in there playing in this environment like this where there's a lot of pressure -- it's do or die," Gomez said. "Playing at this level against a good team ... it's all going to benefit us when people go down with injuries. People are going to step up and know what it's like to play one of those teams."
The Rapids were just minutes away from winning before Trujillo scored the tying goal. After a scoreless half-hour of extra time, the Rapids missed just one penalty kick, as the Wizards made all five of theirs, and Kansas City moved on.
"We had good players here, they needed time to play," Clavijo said. "It's unfortunate that we should of got more out of the game than we did. We thought we had the momentum, we thought we had the better players. The only way we're going to keep learning is to keep playing games."
There's plenty to work on for the future for the Rapids, who still came up short because of a few mistakes. The learning curve was shown, and the team has plenty of young reserves that are talented.
"We have to shore up some up some defensive miscues," Gomez said. "It's soccer. Soccer doesn't forgive."
"We gave them opportunities to take us," said Clavijo. "We had two or three chances to finish them, we didn't."
Gomez broke out as a star player in part to getting chances in U.S. Open Cup matches and capitalizing on them. He knows from experience what those games can mean for a young player. And he got a glimpse at what the players relatively new to MLS can do for his team.
"I'm very proud of the way we battled tonight," Gomez said.
Thomas Foote is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
