FRISCO, Texas -- The Colorado Rapids' recent playoff success against FC Dallas has been well-documented. However, that success hadn't carried over to the regular season until Thursday, when the Rapids got a goal from Mike Petke in the 60th minute to hand the Hoops a 1-0 defeat at Pizza Hut Park.
It was Colorado's first win in Dallas since May 5, 2001 at the Cotton Bowl. It was also only the second win away from home for the Rapids this year, the first coming April 12, when they prevailed 1-0 against New England at Gillette Stadium. Since then, Colorado has gone 0-7-2 away from Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
"Well, after very bad away results over the last few weeks and months, I thought it was great certainly to get on track again and win a game away from home," said Rapids interim coach Gary Smith. "I did feel that the first hour of the game, we played as well as we have done away from home. We kept the ball a lot better than we have done for a period and showed few nerves. A lot of the boys looked as they had come here to prove a point."
Petke's goal came after the veteran defender was left unmarked completely unmarked at the edge of the six-yard box to head home a well-placed corner from Terry Cooke into the far side of the net for the eventual game-winner.
Smith couldn't say enough good things about Cooke, who returned to the field after missing last week's 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake with a hamstring injury. The assist was his team-leading eighth of the year.
"Terry's delivery, as everybody in and around the league knows, is as good as anybody's," Smith said. "We know that from good areas that we're going to get great delivery when he's around. Over a period of time now, we've worked hard on the training field at being more aggressive and attacking the ball to get more out of set plays."
The Rapids coach was at a loss when asked to explain how Petke was so wide open on the goal.
"It was probably a training ground move," Smith said. "I'm taking full credit for it. I don't know. The reality is that in the penalty area there, there is a lot of jostling. The big fellas are trying to find some space. Terry can hit a sixpence and big Mike did enough to win the game for us."
Several Rapids players agreed that the win was huge in keeping them alive in the Western Conference playoff picture. With the win, Colorado moved from last place in the West into a tie for third with Chivas USA, though the remainder of the conference has still to play over the weekend.
"It was very important," Cooke said. "In both halves, we shaded and dominated. In the first half, we did that for 25 minutes. When we scored the goal and went up, we went more defensive. They were pushing more people forward and getting more free kicks and corners. Tonight we got through it very well."
Petke agreed. "This is a close to a must-win game as I've been part of in 11 years in this league. If we didn't win tonight, it's still going to be an uphill climb but if we didn't, it was dire. My goal, I was just fortunate enough to lose my mark. Anyone could have done it and the ball was put right on my head. That's one of the easiest scores I've had in my career. I didn't do anything special. I just got open and was able to put it away. It helped us get the result tonight and I'm definitely excited about that."
The veteran defender also liked how much heart he and his teammates showed when FCD put them under considerable pressure late in the game.
"That's typical soccer when you're down a goal late in the game," Petke said. "No matter who it is, you know they're going to pressure you and throw everything at you. We handled it well to get the result. (Preston) Burpo had a couple of great saves and fortunately, they had a couple of misses. They really put pressure on it and we handled it for the most part."
For Cooke, the result came down to something that hasn't been on Colorado's side for much of the season.
"The main thing tonight was luck," he said. "It was on our side tonight. We've had some bad results in our last couple games. Tonight is the first time we have been shown a little bit of luck all season. It's very important that we got three points because it gave us a shot of confidence again."
Smith also heaped considerable praise on several other players who had key roles in the win.
"Along with many of the players that you might see in that changing room, Cory (Gibbs) is moving along nicely in a positive direction," he said. "His injuries over the last few years have hindered what might have been otherwise been a good international career. We're delighted to have him on board."
The Rapids coach had similar comments about captain Pablo Mastroeni, who played 52 minutes before leaving in the second half for John DiRaimondo.
"The captain has got the heart of the lion," Smith said. "He came off 10 days ago with a hamstring injury and has worked incredibly hard to get fit. We only got 50 minutes out of him today. Fortunately, he's still in one piece and will live to fight another day. What we got in that 50 minutes gave us a tremendous foundation to go on and win the game."
Still, in the end, Smith gave his players all the credit.
"While I'm in here talking, here maybe able to offer my opinion and maybe taking a little credit for what's happening, those players in there are the ones who have won a very, very important game of football for us and one that puts us into the mix again," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment