Colorado Rapids beat Columbus Crew 1-0
An only goal from Pablo Mastroeni gave Colorado Rapids a 1-0 win at home over the Columbus Crew in the first match of MLS playoffs. Colorado were to be blamed for the missed chances which could have given them confidence heading into the second leg at home.
Rapids were in complete control of the game and bossed the midfield throughout. The lethal pairing of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings was never able to stamp its presence on the field. Crew need a massive improvement in their game if they are to make up for
the 1-0 deficit.
First Half:
Columbus started the game brightly and aggressively in the earlier minutes but Colorado settled in and started controlling the show after 10 minutes. Omar Cummings' speed was a never-ending threat to the Crew defensive line in the first half, and he almost
created a goal scoring opportunity for Casey in the 13th minute but luckily for Crew, the final ball was too long.
Pablo Mastroeni played a diagonal ball into the right for Cummings, who didn't miss it and put the ball in Casey’s path who missed an attempted back heel, but luckily the ball presented itself to the ever ready Mastroeni. He then slid in to put the ball
into the roof of the net and gave his team a 1-0 lead.
Colorado thus got the confidence required and in terms of possession, floodgates opened for Crew as they could barely clear the ball out of their half and their midfield kept giving the ball away. The talismanic Guillermo Barros Schelotto was never able
to shake the Rapids' defence and was marked out effectively throughout the game.
Crew were finding it difficult to handle the quick Cummings as he kept on stretching the Crew defence. Crew needed some last ditch defending to deny Rapids chances to improve on the 1-0 lead.
Second Half:
Crew sensed the urgency to score a goal and came close at the start of the 2nd half with Robbie Rogers firing wide and Schelotto missing a chance. Brian Carroll received a yellow card for fouling Cummings.
Crew lacked proper coordination and were all over the park as they kept struggling to retain possession. Rapids started to sit back more but brought on Mac Kandji for Wells Thompson to try and get one more goal. But, his introduction did not turn out to
be that effective as Rapids could not create any more clear chances.
The game started getting more physical and Crew started pushing forward with only 10 minutes left. Mastroeni picked up a booking as Crew got a number of free kicks in Colorado's half but couldn’t make anything out of them.
Matt Pickens made a great save to deny Andy Iro while Kevin Burns almost scored as he caught Pickens off his line with a header that touched the far post. This proved to be the last chance of the match as the game finished 1-0 to Colorado.
Colorado Rapids take the 1-0 advantage to Crew Stadium and will now be looking to preserve it even if they are not able to improve on it. If Colorado win the 2nd leg, they will set up an Eastern Conference final with either New York Red Bulls
or San Jose Earthquake.
Judging by Rapids’ performance in this match, it is not clear if they have the goal scoring prowess that is needed so much against superior possession. Rapids had the lion's share of the possession throughout the match but were not able to convert it into
goals. They need to improve on that a lot and should start killing teams rather than sitting back on a 1-0 advantage.
Meanwhile, Crew need to massively improve if the team is to progress to the next stage of the playoffs.
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