Post-Game: DDC Match 2 Vs Houston

By: Michael Sandoval

It was a game worthy of the title…preseason.  The Colorado Rapids took on the Houston Dynamo in their second game of the Desert Diamond Cup preseason tournament being held in Tucson.  After being humbled by the brand new USL side Swope Park Rangers (SPR) 3-1, fans and critics have already started criticizing Pablo and his squad, many of them dooming the Rapids to last place even before the start of the regular season.

While it is pretty far-fetched to say a team is going to get last place because of one preseason loss (even against a team created in October), Colorado did little to squash such claims Saturday night as our boys in burgundy played Houston to a lackluster 0-0 draw.  Offense was our struggle last season, and the theme continued against the Dynamo.  Pablo sent out what could be argued as his best 11 for the first 70 minutes and they did little to calm any preseason nerves fans are currently feeling.

Colorado’s plan of attack seemed to be kick the ball up the field to the area of Kevin Doyle, let him win the ball out of the air and hope Dominque Badji or Dillon Serna is there to collect it.  The Doyle Badji pairing does resemble in some fashion the Cummings Casey partnership that won us glory, but even during those days the style of play was criticized as “old” and “boring”.  Isn’t this why we parted ways with Gary Smith? I guess it is a preseason game so I won't  look too much into it. This style of play lead to limited chances in the first half.  Powers and Serna both got decent looks but were denied by Houston goalkeeper Tyler Deric. 

On the plus side, my bro crush Kevin Doyle  already seems ready for March 6^th.  He continues to win the battles with defenders and connected well with the rest of the team, especially Powers.  John Spencer has a lot of work to do in that final third, but he does have a bright spot in Doyle (and we hope Shkelzen Gashi).

The defense did a decent job throughout the night and left little for Zac MacMath to do.  In the first half Axel Sjoberg and Bobby Burling did a good job limiting Houston star Will Bruin.  It wasn’t until the second half that the team from the lone star state got a quality look at net.  A ball from midfield cut through the Rapids back line, who seemed to fall asleep.  Bruin was alone on net but a bad touch combined with a good jump by MacMath robbed the Houston striker of any chance to get a shot off.  The next Dynamo scoring opportunity came in similar fashion when the defense simply backed off the Dynamo attacker, allowing him plenty of space to let a shot rip from the corner of the eighteen.  MacMath was equal to the shot and pushed it wide with his foot.

The back four’s lapse into insanity peaked shortly after, when Burling was called for a push in the back which resulted in a Dynamo penalty kick.  Our old friend Ricardo Clark stepped up to take it and…sent it about 20 feet to high. 

Around the 70^th minute Pablo made wholesale changes, bringing in 9 new players.  The subs fared about as well as the starters with Marc Burch and Luis Solignac being two who stuck out to me the most.  Burch continues to impress me with his ball placement and Solignac seems like the guy who will always give you 110%. 

All in all (yeah 5^th grade closing statement) it was a step in the right direction, but not a step worth celebrating.  Pablo knows this, the teams know this, and we know this.  The Rapids take on Sporting KC on Wednesday before wrapping up the tournament on Saturday.