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Rapids beat Revs on the road
Road wins and Pablo Mastroeni goals, once rare occurences for the Rapids, are suddenly coming into vogue.
The team captain, who went more than four years between goals before scoring in ’09, delivered a 73rd minute dagger Saturday that propelled Colorado to a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution. Mastroeni’s goal came eight months after he scored against Chivas USA on Aug. 8, 2009.
With the road win, the Rapids moved to 3-1-1 (10 points) and second place in the West. New England fell to 2-3-0 (6 points).
In three road games this season, the Rapids have won two. In 2009, the Rapids won only two road games. Prior to this season, the Rapids had never won a season opener on the road. After beating Chivas USA to start the season, the Rapids added another surpising win. In three previous meetings against the Revs, all three games ended 1-1.
The win was a deserved one for the Rapids, who had the better of play in the first half, and were the most threatening side throughout.
Mehdi Ballouchy gave the Rapids an early lead and proved particularly dangerous in the first half. In the 14th minute, Ballouchy beat former teammate Preston Burpo with a bouncer during the run of play, the midfielder’s first goal of the season. The shot from outside the box just eluded the ‘keeper as he dove to the right.
The Rapids lead didn’t last, as Marco Perovic scored his first MLS goal with a left-footed free kick that eluded Matt Pickens in the 18th minute. It was a clinical strike from outside the box.
Jeff Larentowicz nearly brought Colorado to the fore again in the 26th minute. His shot from outside the penalty area beat Burpo, but bounced off the far post. This paled in comparison to the scramble that came in the 33rd minute.
Hard-working Omar Cummings delivered a bounding ball to Ballouchy in the box. The midfielder controlled the ball and, with his back to the goal, delivered a bicycle chip to the far post. The ball came off the woodwork to the feet of Casey. In the scramble, Casey couldn’t get off a shot and the ball, which seemed to take residence in a dangerous spot, was eventually cleared by the Revs.
The Series: Colorado improved to 17-11-7 against New England, including a 6-8-4 record when playing the Revs on the road.
Rapids 11: Pickens, Danny Earls (Scott Palguta, 88th), Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Kosuke Kimura (Julien Baudet, 78th), Ballouchy, Jeff Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Wells Thompson (Colin Clark, 74th), Omar Cummings, Conor Casey.
Revs 11: Burpo, Seth Sinovic (Kenny Mansally, 77th), Darrius Barnes, Cory Gibbs, Kevin Alston, Perovic, Joseph Niouky, Pat Phelan, Sainey Nyassi, Kheli Dube (Khano Smith, 70th), Zack Schilawski (Edgaras Jankauskas, 62nd).
Next: The Rapids return to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to face the Los Angeles Galaxy at 7:30 p.m. on May 5.
Fantastic strike from Pablo, equally good play from Casey to hold off five defenders and lay that off. Lets hope the Rapids can keep this up.
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