A year ago, the Colorado Rapids finished two points out of a playoff spot. On Saturday, Colorado had three points in sight as the Rapids held a 1-0 lead against Chivas USA in the second half.
However, the Rapids squandered the lead away in a matter of minutes and lost 2-1 at The Home Depot Center.
"Every point really counts," Colorado defender Ugo Ihemelu said. "Honestly, that's what I was thinking about. Every point counts and (Saturday) was a game in which we should have at least came away with one point."
Paulo Nagamura scored two goals in a four-minute span in the second half and completely turned the game around. Prior to his goals, Colorado had done well to open the scoring and stay on top of the match. Omar Cummings scored a goal in the 30th minute after he knocked in a rebound after Zach Thornton left a ball before him from an Ugo Ihemelu shot.
Earlier than that, Colorado had hit the crossbar as the Rapids had the better of play in the first half.
"We deserved our lead. I even thought we started decently in the second half," Colorado coach Gary Smith said. "The goal came out of the blue a little bit. It was a very good strike and we take nothing away from Nagamura for that."
Nagamura scored his first goal from 25 yards out when he knocked in a shot past Colorado 'keeper Matt Pickens. With the match tied 1-1, Chivas USA took the lead even before Colorado had a chance to settle down. Nagamura controlled a ball inside the box and fired a shot into the back of the net from 15 yards out.
"To concede very quickly after that was a big body blow and suddenly from the euphoria and confidence coming in at halftime, some of the players need to find a little bit more resilience and dig deep," Smith said. "I thought to a degree we did that."
Ihemelu pointed to the players on the field for having given Nagamura the opportunity to score.
"We just made some mistakes basically," Ihemelu said. "We let them get away with those. Once you let that happen, especially on the road, it's tough to get back into the game. It's the first game and we just have to learn from our mistakes and move forward."
The loss was even more painful for the Rapids considering the hosts' inability to produce any sort of attack for much of the game. Nagamura hardly counted as an offensive threat before the game as he had just four career goals in 104 games entering the season.
"I couldn't actually see in the first half where they were going to get a goal from," Smith said. "We were more likely to create. We were difficult to break down but in the space of (four) minutes you are behind and the game has a different picture."
Overall, though, Smith said his side showed some positives as the team will return home next week to play Kansas City.
"Our play was decent. we had determination in the game, even in the final five minutes we were still pushing to find the equalizer. It's tough when you have worked as hard as you have in the first 85 minutes. That's a big pat on the back for the fellows. It's just disappointing to have gone behind."
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
