April 20, 2008 1:32 AM

Expansion Quakes outplay Rapids

I suppose you could look at Saturday's 2-0 Rapids loss to the Earthquakes one of two ways ...

1) The same old Rapids resurfaced, allowing the expansion team to collect its first victory, letting San Jose score the first two goals in the short history of the franchise and failing to score for the first time in 2008.

Or ...

2) The Earthquakes outworked the Rapids, showing throughout that they wanted to win more than their opponents.

I tend to believe the latter. Let me enter into evidence ... exhibit one: In the 18th minute, Jason Hernandez made a fairly poor cross over the heads of everyone in front of the goal, including Rapids right back Kosuke Kimura, who assumed the ball would skip harmlessly out of bounds.

But Ivan Guerrero streaked down the left wing and, from where I was sitting, stopped the ball from crossing the end line. The referee's assistant on the far side indicated that the ball had gone out, but the play illustrates how the Earthquakes were not going to settle for assumptions and missed opportunities.

Here's exhibit two: In the 20th minute, Nick Garcia, standing about 10 yards above his own penalty area, blasted a long ball down the left wing for striker Kei Kamara. Facundo Erpen gave chase, but the Rapids defender thought that he had enough position and that the ball had enough speed that he would simply escort it across the end line. Again, the Quakes were having none of it. Kamara snuck past Erpen, chopped the ball back to Guerrero and San Jose wound up with a cross in front of the goal that created problems for the hosts.

But it wasn't all hustle and opportunistic play. San Jose surprisingly steered the ship throughout the first half. I watched the Chicago-San Jose game last week, and Gavin Glinton and Kamara were tremendous. I knew coming in that the Rapids would have their hands full in Saturday's game.

But I thought that if there were a chance the Rapids would lose, it would come in a game in which Colorado controlled the flow, Joe Cannon stood out and the San Jose forwards struck against the run of play.

Saturday was anything but. The Quakes were the better team. Cannon rarely made an impact (other than wasting time and receiving a yellow card for it), and it was the Rapids who were trying to score against the run of play.

By the time Ronnie O'Brien blasted home a rebound in the 43rd minute, the Earthquakes deserved this victory.

ODD CHOICE NO. 1: The Earthquakes chose to attack the right side of the Colorado back line. San Jose's tendency to penetrate with Guerrero along the left wing made me wonder if coach Frank Yallop thought he had found an advantage going at Kimura and Erpen. But Kimura, outside of his poor reaction on the Hernandez pass, was impenetrable. He kept pace with Guerrero and allowed only one cross in that matchup. And Erpen, other than the blunder against Kamara, was the Rapids' best defender. By going down the left, San Jose ignored O'Brien. That was clearly not the way to go. When O'Brien did see the ball, he registered a goal and an assist and had another prime scoring opportunity in the 30th minute.

ODD CHOICE NO. 2: Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo chose to sub Kimura out at halftime. He replaced the injured John DiRaimondo and Kimura with Rafael Gomes and Herculez Gomez and went with three on the back line: Erpen in the middle, Stephen Keel on the right and Jose Burciaga on the left. I'm not complaining about the decision to attack. I, however, would've left Kimura in at right back and replaced Keel. Read on ...

KEEL MAULED: Keel had some really shaky moments in the latter stages of the first half. In the 37th minute, Ned Grabavoy flicked a ball to the corner that Kamara simply ran right past Keel to retrieve. With a poor angle, Kamara rocketed a shot to the near post that goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul had to dive to deflect wide. And on two occasions, Keel found himself dribbling back toward Coundoul with a striker pressuring him from behind. The first time, he could do no better than to kick the ball out of bounds laterally. The second time, he played a late ball back to Bouna in such a bad spot that Bouna had to clear the ball to the sideline. Keel rebounded in the second half and was valuable as the Rapids tried desperately to get back in the game. But the first half was a hit-and-miss period for Keel, who I had not seen play poorly before this game.

COULD'VE BEEN 3-0: In the 39th minute, Grabavoy looped a ball over the Rapids defenders and found Glinton alone. Coundoul rushed out of the net but arrived at the ball outside of the box. Glinton corralled the ball, seemingly with his chest, and slotted it into the empty net. But the referee's assistant ruled Glinton played the ball with his biceps or shoulder and disallowed the goal. The official had a good look at the play, but it serves as another example of the type of chances San Jose was creating.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Kamara. In addition to all the damage he did that I've described above, he hit the crossbar late in the 38th minute. He was a force on offense, and his play in the air helped San Jose win possession in the midfield.

NICE GAME, BLUE: Referee Jozef Batko called a very strong game, nearly always ignoring players who feigned injury in hopes of receiving a cheap whistle. Good on ya, blue!

Posted by George Tanner at 1:32 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack