CARSON, Calif. -- Before Sunday's match against the Los Angeles Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids seemed to have a bit of fortune with the schedule. World Cup qualifying kept David Beckham from playing on Sunday and also kept Landon Donovan from starting the match, though he began the game on the bench.
But misfortune eventually ruined Colorado's day and perhaps the season. Ugo Ihemelu scored on own goal in the second half to break a 1-1 draw and the Rapids eventually fell by a 3-2 score.
Colorado now does not control its own destiny -- winning both of its remaining games would not guarantee a playoff spot.
"It makes things a lot more complicated, tougher," Ihemelu said. "Before this game we were right in the middle of everything, in a very good position but with this loss ... it definitely makes the last two games must-win. We need some luck."
Colorado's first order of business will be to win at The Home Depot Center a week from now. Colorado plays Chivas USA, who clinched a playoff spot on Saturday, before closing out the season at home against Real Salt Lake.
The Rapids have 34 points, sitting in fifth place in the Western Conference. Real Salt Lake currently sits in third place with 36 points, but in between is FC Dallas, with 35, and games at RSL and the Galaxy to conclude the season.
Had Colorado even tied, the result would have been in line with what coach Gary Smith had wanted prior to the game.
"It's very damaging," Smith said. "I really felt we needed at least four points, five maybe depending on other results, in the last three games. (The loss) means we put ourselves under a lot of pressure coming back here next week against Chivas, a very difficult game."
Facing a Beckham-less Galaxy squad may have made things easier for Colorado initially. Beckham was with England for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan. Donovan, meanwhile, went the distance for the USA on Saturday in a 6-1 win against Cuba in Washington, D.C.
Colorado, however, wasn't exactly licking their lips in anticipation of an easy game without Beckham and possibly Donovan.
"We came down here, had a game plan and it didn't work. We didn't think much about that," Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo said about the Galaxy's lineup. "That's the way it was with that lineup. We prepared all week. We had a decent team out there. That's just the way it went."
Edson Buddle scored the Galaxy's first goal when he shook off Rapids defenders and buried a shot from 15 yards out in the 36th minute. Cory Gibbs equalized, though, just two minutes from halftime when he buried a header off a corner kick.
But the game slipped away from the Rapids in the 70th minute. Ihemelu found himself in a bad spot at the wrong time on a Galaxy set piece.
"I was running with my guy," Ihemelu said. "The ball got through somehow. I was just on the goal line running."
Eddie Lewis knocked the ball into the penalty area when it skipped and found Ihemelu's chest.
"There was not much I could do about it. I saw it last minute and it went off me, own goal. Not something you want to do when the game is tied in a game you really need to win," Ihemelu said. "I just saw ball, you know, I'd say two feet away from me bouncing right to my chest. Any other part of my body maybe I could redirect it but it's a bad spot to bounce into."
With the game carrying such importance and significance, Smith conceded that nerves may have got to some of his players.
"Within a lot of teams that are in that playoff run right now, there is a real edginess to their games," Smith said. "Some players can deal with it and some can't. It affects their performances and ... I felt there were two or three of our lads who under-performed and left us in a difficult spot."
No comments:
Post a Comment