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The end is near
Teams that can’t score don’t make it far in the postseason, and the Colorado Rapids are a team that can’t score.
The latest evidence came Sunday evening as the Rapids fell 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City in the first leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Colorado, which edged the Columbus Crew 1-0 in the wild card match on Thursday, couldn’t generate legitimate threats as Sporting spent the evening shoving them around the field.
There was a great deal of literal shoving as Kosuke Kimura, Drew Moor and Caleb Folan all departed with injuries. Moor injured his shoulder, Kimura broke a bone in his left foot, and Folan left with an ankle sprain.
This means a team that hasn’t scored more than two goals in an MLS match since July 20 would have to win by at least that margin just to get a penalty kick chance against KC on Wednesday night. Or, the team could repeat its three-goal win from July 20 and advance to the next round.
Otherwise, Kimura, Moor, Folan, Jamie Smith, Pablo Mastroeni, Conor Casey and Anthony Wallace — who will all be out with injuries on Wednesday — will have company in the training room.
Teal Deal: Teal Bunbury scored both goals for Kansas City on Sunday. The second-year player from Akron continues to make a fool of my prediction that he would be a bust when KC drafted him in the first round before the 2010 season.
Also Missing: Defender Tyrone Marshall was ejected during the Sunday match, which makes him unavailable for Wednesday’s return leg.
This ejection and the injuries leave Marvell Wynne guiding a back line of Scott Palguta, Danny Earls and either Mike Holody or a player transplanted from another spot (Wells Thompson?) on Wednesday night. This is not good news for a defensive clampdown.
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