Colorado vs. Columbus Match Summary

March 10th, 2012

The Rapids began their 2012 season and a new era with coach Oscar Paraja on Saturday in Commerce City against the Columbus Crew. Before kickoff Rapids fans, all 14,743 of them, unveiled a giant new Colorado flag and tifo saying "In Papi we trust", referring to Paraja. There was also a Colombian flare coming out of the North End Terraces with many Colombian flags in honor of Peraja's home country.

The Rapids started the match using their shiny new 4-3-3 system that Paraja hopes will bring a different and more exciting style of play to Colorado, though at times it looked like the Rapids were playing in a 4-5-1. The three forwards up top were Brian Mullan, Omar Cummings and Super Draft pick Tony Casico. The match began slowly with many players on both sides falling and tripping around the pitch, with many fouls called on both sides. Columbus was forced to make an early substitution due to injury.

The Rapids did find their rhythm near the end of the half when they began to dominate possession. A corner kick in the 44th minute by Colorado was easily cleared by Columbus, but Kosuke Kimura of the Rapids was able to put a beautiful cross back into the box. Drew Moor headed the cross straight into the back of the net to give the 'Pids a 1-0 lead going into the half.

The second half started strong, with the Rapids creating many chances on goal. Colorado's three forwards were really pushing up the field, but not able to put anything in the goal. Columbus had a few good shots on goal that forced Rapid's keeper Matt Pickens to make some great saves. At one point Pickens leapt and barely got his finger tips on the ball to send it over the woodwork.

Towards the end of the match, the Rapids aggressive style of play began to dwindle and the Pids started showing more of a 4-4-2 formation after subbing out Tony Casico for Quincy Amerikwa.

In the 89th minute, Kosuke Kimura found Quincy Amerikwa just in front of the penalty area. Amerikwa maneuvered around a few defenders and fired a laser shot into the back left corner of the net to give the Rapids a 2-0 victory and the three match points in their season opener.

Man of the Match:

Kosuke Kimura created both goals with on target passes and crosses. Kimura also drove the ball up field numerous times trying to create an opportunity to cross the ball into the box from the right side. Kimura was key for the Rapids defense as well, winning the ball back from Columbus many times.

Notes of the Match:

The anticipation of seeing the Rapid's new Argentinian #10, Martin Rivero, continues to grow as he was still unable to play due to logistics in the match against Columbus. Many fans are curious to see how the Rapids offense will change once Rivero and injured striker Conor Casey can both start seeing significant minutes.

Up Next:

Next week Colorado travels to Philadelphia to take on the Union. Philadelphia opens their season on Monday night In Portland. 


What did you think of the first match? How did the new-look Rapids play? Sound off in the comments below!

How to Fix the MLS Playoffs

The MLS Playoffs have always been controversial. Many US soccer fans feel the league should scrap the playoffs and have the winner of the Supporters Shield be crowned the MLS champion like in European Leagues. This is to reward the best team over the stretch of the season, instead of the best team in a playoff competition.

In the 2010 NFL season, the 8th best team of the regular season, The Green Bay Packers, beat the 4th best team in the Superbowl. The playoffs represent not only the best team down the stretch, but the team that preforms the best in high pressure situations. They pit the best of the best teams against each other in a loser goes home situation. In football though, one mistake may send the better team home.

In baseball, hockey and basketball, the playoffs involve seven game series to demonstrate which team is best over the course of many games. If the better team has an off-night and loses one game they have the ability to rebound in the next game and demonstrate their superiority.

The MLS playoffs involve a one game wildcard match, a two-game semifinal's series determined by aggregate goals, and then a conference finals and a championship match of one game each. Each series has different rules. Plus the many times the best teams in the league play each other early in the playoffs, which doesn't allow them to meet in the finals. Many times teams from the western conference ends up playing in the eastern conference's playoff bracket or vis verse. This can give a team from one conference an advantage because had they played in the other conference they would have finished the season ranked higher. For example the western conference is usually much better than the eastern conference and the fourth ranked team in the west may be better than the first ranked team in the east.

With all this confusion in the MLS Playoffs there's no wonder why there is so much controversy.

The MLS does need a playoff system for two reasons. First, many American fans will not understand the appeal of giving the best team in the league at the end of the season the championship. All our other sports have playoffs and soccer should have one too. Second, the US is a big country and MLS is expanding. It will not be possible to play a balanced schedule much longer because it would require too many games and too much travel. This means that every team in the league will not play every other team.  If two teams never meet in the regular season I don't think it's fair to give the championship to the team with the best record.

Many people have begun to recommend a World Cup type system for the MLS playoffs, and I fully support this. In this system the top four teams in each conference would move on to the playoff tournament and be placed in two groups:

Group A	Group B
West 1	East 1
East 2	West 2
East 3	West 3
West 4	East 4

Each team would play every other team in their group once. The first ranked team plays all three games at home. The second ranked team plays two of three games at home...etc. This gives the higher seeds home-field advantage.

The two teams in each group who have the most game-points move on to a semi finals round that looks like this:

Semi Finals 1	Semi Finals 2
Group A 1 vs. Group B 2	Group B 1 vs. Group A 2

In the semis the top seed from each group plays the second seed from the other group. This forces them to play a game against a new team and still allows the best two teams in the league (who may have originally been in the same group) to be able to meet in the finals match. The semi-finals would be played as a home-away series, with the top seed playing the second leg of the series at home.

Finally, the winners of each series would move on to the MLS Cup finals, a one game winner takes all competition.

Had this system been in place this year, my Colorado Rapids would not have made the playoffs. But I still think it's the best system for US Soccer. This is what the Group Stage of the playoffs would have looked like this year under this proposed system:

Group A	Group B
1. LA Galaxy (67pnts)	1. Sporting KC (51)
2. Houston Dynamo (49)	2. Seattle (63)
3. Philadelphia Union (48)	3. Real Salt Lake (53)
4. FC Dallas (52)	4. Columbus Crew (47)

Now The Rapids finished the season with 49 points, for 5th place in the Western Conference. Had they played in the East, they would have finished 2nd with 49 points and made the playoffs in this system. Sure there will be people who say it's unfair because Colorado is a better team than Columbus. Why do they have to miss the playoffs? I don't like seeing the Rapid's out of the playoffs, but the same happens in other sports playoffs systems.

Last year in the NFL the Seattle Seahawks made the playoffs with a record of 7-9 to become the first playoff team in history with a losing record. New York and Tampa Bay both missed the playoffs last year with a 10-6 record, one that is much better than the Seahawks. Yes, the NFL playoffs system probably needs reforming too. But this is just an example that not all playoffs are fair. However, this proposed system seems to be the best and fairest way of hosting a playoff tournament when MLS moves to an unbalanced schedule.