Denver, CO, July 02, 2004 (ASN) — Taking their cue from Bob Gansler's Kansas City Wizards, the Rapids have decided to pick up their road game. After a loss and a tie at home, they needed to do something.

And Colorado will continue to need the extra grit and determination as the middle of summer rolls around. After breaks where the team could lounge for almost two weeks at a time between matches, the Rapids may play an amazing 13 games in the next month and a half, including Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup appearances, with at least eight of those games on the road.

And Head Coach Tim Hankinson already knows he'll be missing his star defender, as Pablo Mastroeni has been called to the U.S. Men's National Team for the July 11 friendly versus Poland, which means Mastroeni will miss the important Western Conference matchup against the league-leading L.A. Galaxy.

Earlier in the year, Colorado's coach spoke about what it took to leave home without leaving your dignity.

"To get results on the road," said Hankinson, "it's about making a tremendous sacrifice. You are going to have to physically bring and leave everything you've got."

Despite not bringing six starters (Mark Chung, Rey Ángel Martinez and Zizi Roberts are injured, Captain John Spencer got himself suspended for both road games, Darryl Powell and Kyle Beckerman managed it only for the first), the remaining 12 available field players signed by the Rapids brought everything they had.

They worked for a win last Saturday, 2-1, over the Crew (Columbus assisted with an own goal) and put together another initially-strong-but-ultimately-inconsistent-yet-determined effort in their 3-2 win over the MetroStars in Wednesday night's game.

Two wins on the road to start their most grueling stretch of the calendar? Not too shabby for a roster seemingly in shambles, decimated by bad personal decisions from key players, and injuries all-around.

3-2 vs. MetroStars
Wednesday afternoon's game started with two surprises. First, the Rapids had (another) new forward to add to the mix - more on this later. Second, they'd lost (another) current forward as Jean Philippe Peguero was sidelined with a groin injury and did not bother to even dress for the game.

Thus, the Rapids arrived Wednesday evening without four strikers: Roberts, Spencer, Martinez, and Peguero.

Yet in the face of this, Colorado ended the game with a gutty win and two new additions to the Rapids scoring club. Starting in his second MLS game, Jordan Cila had two excellent tallies, and Nat Borchers showed why the Rapids have been pushing him up front all season for fellow defenseman Antonio De la Torre's free kicks and corners.

The Rapids exploded forward with strong pressure in the opening seconds and maintained their attack for the first 20 minutes, in which Cila pushed forward to accept a pass from Alberto Delgado for a dramatic, bending goalbound shot into MetroStars goalkeeper Jonny Walker's side netting.

Alberto Delgado? Whozzat? Read below for more, but he played 90 minutes Wednesday evening in his debut for MLS in the Rapids road whites, earning his first point assisting on the 13th-minute goal by Cila, acting as the lone forward as the Rapids chose a conservative 4-5-1.

After the game, Hankinson explained the flow of play best: "We won this game on guts, plain and simple.

"It seemed like we gained momentum when we could pressure, but our legs wouldn't allow us to pressure consistently the whole game. We told the players at halftime to go on the offensive and go out and win the game, and whether the result goes our way, we were not going to sit on our heels like we did in the first half."

Despite allowing the MetroStars to play one step ahead and following their two straight tallies, the Rapids equalized late in the second half. De la Torre delivered another searching free kick into the zone.

Gary Sullivan, inserted for defender Ritchie Kotschau, who went to the locker room bleeding from an elbow to the eye, rose up to win the header and deliver it to Borchers. In a sweeping left-footed one touch, Borchers redirected it out of the air and into the net past Walker for his first-ever MLS goal.

Cameras dutifully noted his exuberant, and warranted, celebrations.

Players appeared to slip frequently and none more so than Cila, who spent much of his 90 minutes getting a horizontal viewpoint on the game.

It turns out he was simply practicing for his dramatic overture in the 89th minute. Reacting to a De la Torre corner kick that Borchers headed down into the six-yard box, Cila pinwheeled around on the ground like a lawnmower blade, catching the drifting ball and sending it goalward for the Rapids first three-goal game of the year, their second win on the road, and their first two-game winning streak.

"I'm always nervous before the games," said Cila in reviewing his play, "Once I go into the mentality, get one, two, a couple of simple touches during the game and get my rhythm going, I feel confident that I could play in this league."

Cila feels that there is "a big difference between the college game, the speed of play and everything, but slowly, surely it's coming together, and now we're getting results so it's good."

Led by keeper Joe Cannon, the Rapids worked tirelessly to draw a time-wasting yellow from the referee in the first half. However, it wasn't until the 95th minute that Cannon finally forced the official to open his pocket and share some yellow love with the netminder and time redistributor.

Unable to get a yellow was Powell, who flew in for the game but was not used during the run of play. The Rapids have said the midfielder is listed as questionable for this Sunday's matchup due to an ankle strain, possibly received in the airport as he has not been playing any footie for Colorado recently.

Replacements for their replacements
Struggling to find midseason form, the Rapids have continued to face significant lineup challenges and changes.

Whether it was poor coaching or just plain ol' bad personal decisions, it was out of order for three regular starters to lose their cool (during an embarrassing at-home tie with the lowly Dallas Burn) to the point of getting suspended and leaving the team short-handed.

Clearly frustrated with their current depth, the Rapids have brought in a striker to replace the ailing Roberts, and a left-footed, bleach-blond replacement for the hurting, black-coifed Chung.

Roberts finally —officially— underwent season-ending surgery Wednesday afternoon around 4:30 p.m. (MDT). Unfortunately, Martinez, Roberts' replacement, broke his big toe and will be out several weeks, thus precipitating the urgent need to sign another replacement, striker Delgado. And Joey DiGiamarino, Chung's replacement, is finding 100% fitness somewhat elusive as well, being replaced in turn by Seth Trembly at halftime against the MetroStars.

You're fired...errr, you're waived
Yes, another current roster member is going home.

Coach Hankinson must be feeling a bit unlucky with the extensive injuries and unruly players under his command. Certainly, he was looking for a further change of fortune.

Even with two major lineup shakeups in the past few weeks, which saw Zach Kingsley and David Castellanos released, the Rapids were not satisfied.

Hankinson told American Soccer News last week: "Well, let's get through Saturday. We'll have to see and hopefully we'll get through healthy."

That time has come. The Rapids announced the signing of Martinez' fellow Cuban Alberto Delgado, whose start up top Wednesday evening after signing with the Rapids as a Senior International in the morning was nicely scripted, as predicted starting forward Peguero was injured.

To free up roster space, infrequently utilized Transitional International Adrian Cann was waived. However, as MLS provided roster relief in allowing Delgado to be signed for the injured Roberts, it remains unclear why the Rapids needed the space. Perhaps they are planning further lineup changes, but they have not as yet provided an answer.

Spencer will return for Sunday's game against the New England Revolution, and Peguero is also likely to be back in the mix, despite an abdominal strain. Chung also failed to show up on the injury report, a good thing unless you are a Revolution fan.

Of concern for the upcoming lengthy series of games is the risk of caution warnings for Borchers and Mastroeni, both nearing another suspension if they receive further cautions.

New England faces some real injury challenges of their own. Carlos Llamosa, Joe-Max Moore, and Rusty Pierce are definitely out, while Shalrie Joseph, Kyle Singer, Brian Kamler, Andy Dorman, Taylor Twellman, and Adin Brown are listed as questionable.

The Rapids hope to continue their hot 7-1-0 streak at home for games played on our national holiday, July 4th. They have made a good choice with the struggling New England Revolution, Sunday night, Invesco Field at Mile High, 7 p.m. (MDT). No public television, but plenty of fireworks and tailgating for the expected 60,000+ crowd.

BilFish can be reached at bilfish@cybersoccernews.com.
© Fisher/Cyber Soccer Associates, LLC 2004