Denver, CO, July 15, 2004 (ASN) — Another game, another lineup surprise.

Wednesday evening saw Darryl Powell pushed back to a left back defensive position for the injured Ritchie Kotschau, and two "injured" players managed to make strong appearances on the pitch for the Rapids.

None of this, however, was enough to get three points at home, just a consolation prize as Colorado went 0-0 against everyone's arch-nemesis, the league-leading L.A. Galaxy, to close out the home-and-home series as well as their final meeting of the regular season.

"It's frustrating," said Rapids keeper Joe Cannon, "because we know that at the end of the year, if we are sitting watching the playoffs that it's going to come down to these points."

Clearly playing a bit of gamesmanship and planting misdirection earlier this week, Rapids Head Coach Tim Hankinson cast doubt on the return of star midfielder Mark Chung, as well as newly-signed Cuban forward Rey Ángel Martinez for Wednesday's game, who is coming back from a broken toe.

Yet Martinez subbed late in the game and Chung was a halftime replacement, and both men helped Colorado make a strong showing on the field in the second half.

"We originally thought [Chung] would be a 20-minute stint at the end of the game," said Hankinson. "That was our plan.

"But when we had early injuries to Powell, and then Albert [Delgado] took a kick to the leg and looked like he was struggling before the half, [we had to insert Chung early]."

Chung —whose ability to play the coach indicated to be a game-time decision— was announced as a second-half sub. The veteran, returning from injury for the first time since May 29, received a lengthy roar of approval from the crowd of 13,050 on hand for the midweek showdown.

"It feels great to play again," Chung said after the game, "and to not be injured and just watching these guys play.

"It's upsetting and frustrating when I am watching when I just love to play. I didn't take any shots, I was a little scared to do that."

However, Chung added, "It feels good to come back."

"I was glad to see him get through 45 minutes and feel good [Thursday] morning," Hankinson added the next day.

And back he was, immediately stamping his mark on the pitch, lifting the flagging first-half play of the Rapids to good MLS form. Whether simply controlling the ball, making good runs, or creating key chances for the Rapids Chung demonstrated the extent to which his absence as a motivated, creative midfield worker has been disruptive to the team.

The opening of play was nothing personal on both sides, very quiet. L.A. opened with a few polite longball probes looking for traditional Rapids weaknesses, and soon Colorado returned the favor with searching passes of their own to the top of the 18-yard box.

The 23rd minute saw the first scoring opportunity as charging Galaxy forward Jovan Kirovski slipped the ball through to fellow striker Carlos Ruiz at the top of the box. Ruiz had a deft first touch, splitting Colorado's backline and finding himself one-on-one with the keeper.

Cannon anticipated the tactic and was already moving towards Ruiz.

"I saw him coming through and I just wanted to come out and take his angle," said Cannon." I thought he was going to go near post.

"I went down to my right, and after he saw me down, he just tried to chip it and he just wasn't able to get it underneath. In hindsight, I think that was really their only clear-cut chance of the game. I think it was kind of a lucky save, but we'll take it."

Cannon's self-effacing comments did not do justice to the critical save he made, which would prove necessary to keep his teammates in the game.

The only other interesting note from a discordant first half was the ping of Powell's left hamstring popping onfield in the 30th minute, a depressing but regular sight for Rapids fans hoping to see a team injury free.

"The disappointment is when we get one guy back we lose another," said Hankinson. "Powell is probably out for a number of weeks now with a pull, and [defender Gary] Sullivan has a stress fracture to his tibia."

Before Powell hobbled off the field, Hankinson was enthusiastic about his efforts for the defense.

"I thought he looked like the best left back in the league," Hankinson said. "And so it's unfortunate we are losing him, but it is as well as I've seen him play since he's been here."

Fans hoping for a better showing after the 45-minute warm up period were rewarded, as the Rapids took off ten minutes into the second half and continued an aggressive, three-forward charge to close out the game.

In the 59th minute, a Chung pass through to Chris Henderson was one-touched to Kyle Beckerman at the top of the box. Beckerman put a decent shot on frame and forced Galaxy keeper Kevin Hartman into a diving save to his right.

Two minutes later, Chung showed that he could create chances not only in the middle but also down the wings as he held the ball well and provided a good service from wide left.

A few minutes later, under pressure, a miskick by defender Ryan Suarez sent the ball back towards Hartman, and into the path of Henderson. But the Rapids midfielder had a few too many touches on the ball and the Galaxy backline closed the distance quickly to rush him into a poor shot directly at Hartman.

During the course of play, one player seemed to be missing from the L.A.'s lineup: Andreas Herzog. He was on the field, but not effective. This was an intentional effort by the Rapids to shut down the dangerous left-footed midfielder.

"That was Kyle Beckerman's job to focus on him," said Hankinson.

"Herzog, his first touch on the ball is always a penetrating pass over the top. We felt we had to be always close to him and preventing him from either getting the ball or getting a good look at those strikers. I felt Kyle did a very good job at that."

One of the most exciting chances of the night started as a grade-school scramble in front of the Galaxy's goal in the 74th minute.

Henderson stayed with the play and took possession of the ball outside the box on the left side. With great presence of mind, he crossed the ball against heavy traffic to a flying Chung, who presented a deceptively difficult header to Hartman, who's diving save kept L.A. even with the Rapids.

The health of a team's desire to win, mindset, and level of play can often be determined by the amount of stalling done by keepers during goal kicks.

It was difficult to judge who wanted out of the stadium more, L.A. or the Rapids. However, Colorado's final aggressive pushes towards net were clearly getting to the league leaders in the final minutes.

Hartman was upbraided by referee Ricardo Salazar for wasting time in the 80th minute, and the Galaxy's Chris Aloisi received a yellow caution for delaying a restart a few minutes later.

Posting his fifth shutout of the season, Cannon's deft play again earned him Man of the Match honors as he put body and soul in harm's (and El Pescadito's) way.

Hankinson feels the Rapids are well-positioned to face L.A. should they see them in the playoffs.

"If you think about the L.A. series, even though it's done and they have the head-to-head advantage, we have three draws and we made two mistakes," Hankinson said. "Really, if we had made just one mistake and Spencer comes away with a penalty and we come away with a point, we have four ties against what everyone considers the top team in the league."

San Jose Earthquakes
But before the Rapids have time to dwell on whether they should have taken three at home against L.A., they are again on the road, this time visiting the struggling San Jose Earthquakes in another critical matchup Saturday.

While defeating the A-League Portland Timbers Wednesday night to advance in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the Earthquakes have struggled with injury and national team call-ups that have kept their lineup shaky and their play more gelatin than gelling.

However, the attacking line of Landon Donovan, Brian Ching and Brian Mullan have returned from national team duty to face the Rapids.

And then there were 12
MLS Commissioner Don Garber was in Salt Lake City to announce that Utah will host the 12th team in Major League Soccer beginning in April 2005.

The team —which as of yet has no coach, name, crest, or colors— will play in Rice-Eccles Stadium for at least the first couple of years. The general manager and coach for Salt Lake will be announced in August and September, respectively.

In tune with the perennial search for MLS cities that can and want to support soccer-specific stadiums, new Salt Lake franchise owner David Checketts said, "We have to build a stadium and we will build a stadium."

Checketts went on to admit that Rice-Eccles is not the perfect solution in the long term, but it will work, and the FieldTurf currently installed will be re-striped for soccer.

Referring to a question regarding specific plans, Checketts facetiously added, "There's no concrete at this point." He stressed that several locations are already being scouted.

What we did not hear is where the SLC team will play in terms of conferences. Garber would only say "we are finalizing conferences [in] a couple of weeks."

Coach Hankinson discussed the potential for an instant rivalry next year.

"As landlocked as we are, sometimes we feel like we're on an island," Hankinson said. "There's no close rival team like in an Interstate 95 matchup, New York-D.C.

"If Manchester United is playing Arsenal or vice versa, all the fans from both teams are trying to grab tickets. You have this chemistry of rival fans in the same house that fuels the atmosphere. Having a team that much closer, we'll see more of that.

"That's why talk of Chivas going into L.A. is great, as newspapers will be covering two big teams, and they'll be the talk of the town. It's great for the league."

Garber made additional comments of interest for all MLS fans.

Negotiations are in the final stages for working on new club roster developments, specifically an expanded club roster. This dovetails with a possible upcoming announcement regarding a league-wide club reserve team system, which the Commissioner said could be a reality as early as next season.

Scoring Summary:

Galaxy: Kevin Hartman, Chris Albright, Tyrone Marshall, Ryan Suarez, Paul Broome, Cobi Jones (Alejandro Moreno 66), Ned Grabavoy (Chris Aloisi 79), Sasha Victorine, Andreas Herzog (Joseph Ngwenya 66), Jovan Kirovski, Carlos Ruiz.

Total Shots: 8 (Carlos Ruiz 3); Shot on Goal: 2 (Carlos Ruiz 2); Fouls: 15 (Carlos Ruiz 5); Offsides: 5 (Carlos Ruiz 4); Corner Kicks: 1 (Andreas Herzog 1); Saves: 5 (Kevin Hartman 5)

Rapids: Joe Cannon, Antonio de la Torre, Nat Borchers, Pablo Mastroeni, Daryl Powell (Seth Trembly 33), Jordan Cila (Rey Angel Martinez 70), Chris Henderson, Kyle Beckerman, Matt Crawford, Alberto Delgado (Mark Chung 46), John Spencer.

Total Shots: 19 (Kyle Beckerman 3, Chris Henderson 3); Shots on Goal: 5 (Chris Henderson 2); Fouls: 9 (Kyle Beckerman 2, Seth Trembly 2); Offsides: 1 (Chris Henderson 1); Corner Kicks: 5 (Matt Crawford 2, Antonio de la Torre 2); Saves 2 (Joe Cannon 2)

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