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Colorado Embarrass Chivas USA With First Half Thrashing
Chivas USA continued a six game losing streak, receiving a 4-0 shellacking at the hands of the Colorado Rapids.
Aug 9, 2009 12:27:27 AM
The Colorado Rapids embarrassed Chivas USA when the Goats came to visit. Omar Cummings played a part in all four goals as the hosts won 4-0.
Colorado handed new signing Jamie Smith his first start in Major League Soccer, while Marcelo Saragosa earned his first start for Chivas USA, replacing the suspended Paulo Nagamura. The Goats pieced together a rag-tag backline, with Lance Parker starting his first MLS game in goal, Jonathan Bornstein in an unfamiliar central defensive role, and rookie Gerson Mayen as a fullback.
First Half
With the teams level on points heading into the game, the match in Colorado's Dick's Sporting Goods Park had very real playoff implications. Chivas USA and its blithe backline seemed completely unaware of that, as slack marking granted Colorado a 2-0 lead within four minutes.
Within 25 seconds, Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni slammed a golazo from nearly 35 yards past Parker to open the scoring. Omar Cummings found Mastroeni in a unmarked pocket of space and midfielder uncorked a swerving blast into the top corner of the net.
Three minutes later, the lead was doubled. Cummings headed on to Conor Casey, who delicately chipped Parker. The ball kissed the bottom of the crossbeam before finding the net.
Having sat out a couple weeks, Chivas USA looked disjointed and disorganized. It showed once again 23 minutes in as Colorado scored its third. Cummings notched a hat-trick of assists by beating Ante Jazic to a long ball and pulling it across the face of goal for Casey to easily tap home his second of the night.
Half an hour in, Chivas still couldn't get on the ball. The Rapids nearly took advantage of their lackluster visitors twice in short succession. Colin Clark sent in a cross in the aftermath of a corner and it spilled to Mastroeni. The U.S. international's shot was deflected and Parker plucked the ball out of the air.
Then, Jamie Smith, who looked tidy without standing out, chipped the ball over the Chivas backline into the path of the streaking Cummings. The chance was wasted when Cummings sliced his shot out of bounds.
The Goats' first real chance came a minute before halftime. Maykel Galindo ran onto a ball, but was sandwiched between two defenders, taking a spill in the box. The referee waved play on. A minute later, captain Jesse Marsch struck a ball from the top of the box sweetly, but Matt Pickens tipped it over.
From that play, the Rapids raced down the pitch to bookend a perfect opening half. Shavar Thomas yanked the arm of national teammate Cummings as the striker sprinted past him. As the last defender, Thomas was shown a straight red card. Despite being outside the box, a penalty was given as well, and Casey calmly chipped into the top corner for a 4-0 and one man lead heading into the half.
Second Half
With the game already out of reach after the first 45, Chivas coach Preki made all three of his chances during the halftime interval. He threw on Michael Lahoud, Bobby Burling, and Bojan Stepanovic for Sacha Kljestan, Eduardo Lillingston, and Sasha Victorine.
Even with the fresh legs, Chivas struggled to get into the flow early on. In the 49th minute, Casey tried to play provider. He laid a slicing through-ball in for Cummings, but the 27-year-old smashed his drive off the crossbar.
Then, in the 56th minute, Cummings switched flanks and Clark ran onto it. The American winger centered, and Nick LaBrocca redirected the ball into the chest of Lance Parker.
Though never looking very positive, Chivas gave a much better display of itself in the second half. Stepanovic in particular was lively. He thwacked a 40 yard ball that stung the palms of Matt Pickens in the Colorado goal, and he smashed a freekick into the head of Mastroeni, who had to be substituted off.
As the game wound down, the Rapids made a series of substitutions to protect key players, with hat-trick hero Casey and Cory Gibbs following Mastroeni off the pitch.
By the time the final ten minutes rolled around, Colorado was easily knocking the ball around a defeated 10-man Chivas side, wasting time but not forcing the issue anymore with the three points already assured.
The game eventually ticked meekly to fulltime. As the referee blew his whistle, the Rapids jumped three points ahead of Chivas USA into contention for a playoff slot in the Western Conference in emphatic fashion.
Zac Lee Rigg, Goal.com
Keep up on all things MLS with Goal.com
Colorado handed new signing Jamie Smith his first start in Major League Soccer, while Marcelo Saragosa earned his first start for Chivas USA, replacing the suspended Paulo Nagamura. The Goats pieced together a rag-tag backline, with Lance Parker starting his first MLS game in goal, Jonathan Bornstein in an unfamiliar central defensive role, and rookie Gerson Mayen as a fullback.
First Half
With the teams level on points heading into the game, the match in Colorado's Dick's Sporting Goods Park had very real playoff implications. Chivas USA and its blithe backline seemed completely unaware of that, as slack marking granted Colorado a 2-0 lead within four minutes.
Within 25 seconds, Rapids captain Pablo Mastroeni slammed a golazo from nearly 35 yards past Parker to open the scoring. Omar Cummings found Mastroeni in a unmarked pocket of space and midfielder uncorked a swerving blast into the top corner of the net.
Three minutes later, the lead was doubled. Cummings headed on to Conor Casey, who delicately chipped Parker. The ball kissed the bottom of the crossbeam before finding the net.
Having sat out a couple weeks, Chivas USA looked disjointed and disorganized. It showed once again 23 minutes in as Colorado scored its third. Cummings notched a hat-trick of assists by beating Ante Jazic to a long ball and pulling it across the face of goal for Casey to easily tap home his second of the night.
Half an hour in, Chivas still couldn't get on the ball. The Rapids nearly took advantage of their lackluster visitors twice in short succession. Colin Clark sent in a cross in the aftermath of a corner and it spilled to Mastroeni. The U.S. international's shot was deflected and Parker plucked the ball out of the air.
Then, Jamie Smith, who looked tidy without standing out, chipped the ball over the Chivas backline into the path of the streaking Cummings. The chance was wasted when Cummings sliced his shot out of bounds.
The Goats' first real chance came a minute before halftime. Maykel Galindo ran onto a ball, but was sandwiched between two defenders, taking a spill in the box. The referee waved play on. A minute later, captain Jesse Marsch struck a ball from the top of the box sweetly, but Matt Pickens tipped it over.
From that play, the Rapids raced down the pitch to bookend a perfect opening half. Shavar Thomas yanked the arm of national teammate Cummings as the striker sprinted past him. As the last defender, Thomas was shown a straight red card. Despite being outside the box, a penalty was given as well, and Casey calmly chipped into the top corner for a 4-0 and one man lead heading into the half.
Second Half
With the game already out of reach after the first 45, Chivas coach Preki made all three of his chances during the halftime interval. He threw on Michael Lahoud, Bobby Burling, and Bojan Stepanovic for Sacha Kljestan, Eduardo Lillingston, and Sasha Victorine.
Even with the fresh legs, Chivas struggled to get into the flow early on. In the 49th minute, Casey tried to play provider. He laid a slicing through-ball in for Cummings, but the 27-year-old smashed his drive off the crossbar.
Then, in the 56th minute, Cummings switched flanks and Clark ran onto it. The American winger centered, and Nick LaBrocca redirected the ball into the chest of Lance Parker.
Though never looking very positive, Chivas gave a much better display of itself in the second half. Stepanovic in particular was lively. He thwacked a 40 yard ball that stung the palms of Matt Pickens in the Colorado goal, and he smashed a freekick into the head of Mastroeni, who had to be substituted off.
As the game wound down, the Rapids made a series of substitutions to protect key players, with hat-trick hero Casey and Cory Gibbs following Mastroeni off the pitch.
By the time the final ten minutes rolled around, Colorado was easily knocking the ball around a defeated 10-man Chivas side, wasting time but not forcing the issue anymore with the three points already assured.
The game eventually ticked meekly to fulltime. As the referee blew his whistle, the Rapids jumped three points ahead of Chivas USA into contention for a playoff slot in the Western Conference in emphatic fashion.
Zac Lee Rigg, Goal.com
Keep up on all things MLS with Goal.com
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