Sunday’s showdown in Seattle showcased each team’s strengths in seizing the tempo and pace on the pitch, but despite a sense of satisfaction after feeling they outpaced Seattle for 70 minutes Sunday, Colorado left town empty-handed and disappointed after losing 2-1.
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The Rapids were slow out of the gate, but they responded well to a Sounders squad that came out firing, beating keeper Matt Pickens on an early charge in the eighth minute – the first time the Rapids had conceded a goal in the first 15 minutes of a match all season.
“The start killed us, but after that we played all right,” Pickens said. “They had limited chances, but they scored. We had way more opportunities than they did. Being away from home, it's overall a decent performance, but we didn't get the points. Giving up two goals is just unacceptable on the road. We need to really tie it down."
The Rapids regained their footing, but too much damage was done too early and the improved play only made it that much more frustrating to leave the points in Seattle.
“It took us a little while to settle,” Rapids head coach Gary Smith said. “I don’t think their play was especially cultured, but it was effective. Sadly, we looked very unsettled for 10 or 12 minutes, and they won the game in that time.”
Colorado’s Omar Cummings responded to Seattle’s first tally with an resilient and immediate goal, splitting a pair of defenders from the top of the box and drilling a shot into the upper left corner past a leaping Kasey Keller.
“Pablo [Mastroeni] got a ball and chipped it over,” Cummings said of the goal. “I took a touch inside and shot. Once we got scored on, we knew that we had to score on them right away to get back in the game as quickly as possible before the game could run away from us.”
Cummings’ equalizer came less than a minute after the opening goal by Seattle’s Steve Zakuani and stole the momentum from the Sounders, getting the Rapids instantly back into the match.
“[Cumming’s] goal was outstanding, especially as we conceded fairly early,” Smith said. “He does look extremely exciting at the moment. [But] somehow, some way, we’ve got to try and take the weight off him a little bit.”
Though Seattle reclaimed the lead in the 17th minute on Zakuani’s second goal, Cummings remained a force throughout the match, pacing Colorado to some tantalizing second half chances highlighted by a one-on-one with Keller in the 62nd minute, when the striker launched a bouncing ball over the crossbeam on the Rapids’ best shot at leveling the match.
“It was a really good bit of linked play to get him behind their back four,” Smith said of the set-up. “I’m not quite sure what happened from there. Somehow the ball sailed over the bar.”
The Rapids were increasingly more effective the later they went in the game, with Mastroeni and Jeff Larentowicz winning the midfield battles and creating promising opportunities.
“The second half was their best spell,” Smith said of the midfielders. “It took them a while to take control. That first 15 minutes, I thought the momentum of the goals gave the balance to [Seattle]. But I thought once [Mastroeni and Larentowicz] got on the ball, the game started to shift and we started to have more possession. For a large portion of the game, they were really in control of it.”
Smith wasn’t only happy with the way his two midfielders played, but he was also pleased with the effort the rest of the squad put in.
“They showed a lot of spirit, a lot of determination,” Smith said about his players. “For probably the vast percentage of the game…we were the better team overall. Better chances, more clear-cut chances, better football; I thought we looked the more composed and more efficient. The two big stats were the goals that they scored, and they’ve gotten the points.”
One player that showed that undying determination was forward Conor Casey. Fighting for the equalizer until the last minute, Casey collided with Seattle’s Patrick Ianni in the box and ended up with a gash that would require stitches after the match. However, Casey was otherwise uninjured and remained with the club.
The Rapids remain winless in their last six and have scored just three goals in four July matches, but their ability to bounce back and stay in the game for 90 minutes while staking a claim on the game’s tempo in a tough road environment bodes well for them as they head into a July 31st match against a hot FC Dallas team.
