as a starter. The goal broke a 320-minute Rapids scoreless streak.
"I wasn't concerned about the goal," Cunningham said. "I read about the scoreless streak. We weren't playing good football. Our confidence was down. The result was more important, believe me, than getting a goal.
"We played 10 men down for most of the game and nine men down for 30 minutes. That commitment and team spirit we showed proved to me that we have a quality team and we'll continue to build on that."
Though he wasn't healthy, Cunningham has shouldered the responsibility for Colorado's slow start.
"Obviously, you are not happy when you're not getting results," he said. "My situation always seems like, when it happens, I am the one held accountable most of the time. It's just the nature of the business. I accept that responsibility. If I'm not scoring, that's fine. Once we start getting results and playing good football, I'll be very happy."
Cunningham pointed out the Rapids' record -- now 4-8-2 and in fourth place in the Western Conference.
"I cannot put a finger on what the problem is," he said. "I do know we have a good team, have quality players and have a good coaching staff. I think right now we're going through a stretch of bad luck. Over the years I've learned that teams at some point of the season are going to struggle. They do everything right and play well and at the end of the day not having a result to show for it.
"We're just having bad results right now. I feel confident. It's just a matter of getting a couple of wins in a row and I believe things will start clicking.
"It happened in Columbus last year. We went 0-3-2 in our first five games and after that we went four months without losing. We weren't necessarily playing good football, but the results were going our way."
Michael Lewis writes about soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has covered MLS since its inception. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
