Make no mistake about it. Friendly or not, the Colorado Rapids were out to win when they took on the Mexican first division club Tigres Friday night. Ultimately, after 90 scoreless minutes, it came down a nine-round shootout, with the Rapids edging Tigres 7-6 on penalty kicks.
"We said all along that it is a friendly, and it's easy to say after you win the game and you win on penalties," head coach Fernando Clavijo said. "If it would have gone the other way around, of course it's nothing that we were looking for. We always want to win. We play to win."
Wednesday night, however, the Rapids were looking to win more than simply an exhibition match with a quality international club. Hosting just their second international match in the past four seasons, it was the chance for the Rapids to win some respect for Major League Soccer against a skeptical opponent.
"I told the boys before the game, 'these guys don't like us, they don't respect us, they don't respect the league. They don't respect you,'" said Herculez Gomez, who served as captain for the night. "I said, 'make them come out of here respecting us.' I think they did. I think we achieved that. It's a good test for these guys. See the caliber of players and how we measure up to them. I think we rose to the occasion."
Tigres, who are in their preseason, started a side made up primarily of first-teamers, making four substitutions at the half and one more in the 74th minute. Colorado, on the other hand, fielding a starting squad made up primarily of reserves, waiting until the last 20 minutes to bring in their regular first team.
The flurry of late substitutions was not Clavijo's attempt to avoid a shootout, but a pre-arranged effort to give his regulars a midweek high-level drill as they prepare to pursue a league win Saturday in San Jose.
The crowd seemed to multiply when the match did go to penalty kicks, thrilling at the nine-round shootout that saw the Rapids take a lead after the second round, fall back to a tie after missing in the fifth round, and finally take victory on a Colin Clark game-winner in the ninth round.
"Once we went to PKs, I knew we were going to win," said Gomez. "I don't think a Mexican team has won a PK shootout since the 1994 World Cup against Bulgaria, so I knew it was in our favor."
The best perspective on the shootout belonged to goalkeeper Preston Burpo, who kept up with Tigres 'keeper Oscar Perez, though Perez was credited with two saves on the penalty kicks, while Burpo benefited from missed shots, wide and high. Had the sudden death shootout lasted two more rounds, the goalies would have each had their own shot at the opposing nets.
"It was getting close to Burpo, let's put it that way," the Rapids 'keeper said. "I knew that. I'd be fine taking it. Colin Clark stepped up, banged it in, and that's all she wrote.
"Sometimes those go well for you. Sometimes they don't," Burpo added, explaining the goalie's unenviable task of stopping shots from the spot. "You try to wait it out to the last second and give it a go and hopefully you go the right way. I got a good jump on a couple of them. They pushed a couple wide, one high. Just to get a win and say we won the game tonight is good."
The Rapids took a two-fer, winning both the match and the respect of their opponents, but it was also an important opportunity to get more time in a competitive situation for some of their players who have seen less action this season.
Mike Petke has yet to play in a game this season, and he played the entire second half, exceeding Clavijo's expectations as he tries to ease the veteran defender back into regular playing time.
"It was great to see Petke back," said Clavijo. "We can see for 45 minutes he was good. Now he needs to get comfortable. His confidence needs to come back to him. It was good to see him back for sure."
Greg Dalby, a Rapids draft pick from 2007 who is not eligible to play for the Rapids until July 15 of this year, got 80 minutes on the field, reinforcing Clavijo's confidence in his abilities.
"Greg Dalby played a very good [80] minutes," Clavijo said. "He is the player that we all thought he was. I'm very pleased, I thought it was good."
Though the Rapids were understandably not at their sharpest in the early part of the match, the fact that their reserves could hold their own against Tigres' first team was a clear confidence boost for a team continuing to forge its identity.
"We may not have looked as dangerous as we wanted, but we didn't allow Tigres to be dangerous," Clavijo said. "We played well. It was even the game for 90 minutes. It was a very clean game. We got exactly what we wanted from these kinds of games. I hope it was good for Tigres."
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
