June 2, 2007 11:42 PM

Bad first half dooms Rapids at Toronto

The Rapids were lucky to have lost only 2-1 on Saturday at Toronto, having been outplayed throroughly by the expansion team in the first half.

The Rapids gave up goals by Danny Dichio in the ninth and Andrew Boyens in the 28th minute. But it could've been worse.

The first 45 minutes were so lopsided, that Toronto FC could've had a 5-1 edge at halftime. Only some spectacular saves by Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul kept the Rapids in the game.

Trailing 1-0 in the 17th minute, Coundoul made two highlight-reel saves. Former Rapids striker Jeff Cunningham was sprung loose up the middle, and Coundoul managed to block Cunningham's shot with an outstretched leg. The rebound, though, found Andy Welsh on the left wing. Defender Chris Wingert slid over to cut off Cunningham as an option, and Welsh was left with little choice other than to shoot. Bouna made a point-blank stop on a hard shot by Welsh to end the threat.

In the 27th minute, Coundoul had to come off his line to stop Dichio from collecting his second goal. Midfielder Maurice Edu flicked a quick header to free Dichio up the middle, and again Coundoul had to stop a Toronto player on a breakaway.

Just a minute later, Kevin Goldthwaite launched a twisting shot that Bouna had to punch away (it was the resulting corner kick that led to the second goal of the game).

And seconds before halftime, Ronnie O'Brien's corner kick found Boyens unmarked in the box again. Boyens, who scored off an O'Brien corner kick earlier, just missed over the crossbar this time.

FIRST-HALF STATS: Toronto finished the one-sided first half with 11 shots (nine of them on goal) to the Rapids' four shots.

FIRST-GOAL FOIBLES: Marvell Wynne made the Rapids look bad on Dichio's goal. The Toronto defender streaked up the right wing then nutmegged Niko Hernandez to find himself alone in the box. Wynne's posture seemed to announce that his tendency would be to peel back toward the top of the box. Rapids defender Mike Petke interpreted Wynne's body language just that way, and moved to stop Wynne from doing so. But with Petke vacating his spot, Wynne saw a clear path to the goal, and he took it. He laced a bullet pass to Dichio, who had to do little but redirect the ball on goal.

UP NEXT: The Rapids will play Thursday at Houston. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Then the Rapids will return to host the Chinese national team on Sunday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

OUCH: The Black Panther blog has an interesting look at which teams commit the most fouls in the league. The two teams in this game figure prominently.

Posted by George Tanner at 11:42 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack