COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – For the first 20 minutes of Saturday night’s match against the LA Galaxy, the Colorado Rapids looked very much like the team that had won their past three Western Conference matchups.
The Rapids opened the scoring and didn’t show fear in the face of Steven Gerrard’s first appearance at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But things quickly began to unravel for the hosts in what was ultimately a 3-1 loss.
“I think it started after we scored the goal. We started dribbling and forcing passes,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said to the media in his postgame comments. “We were cheap and loose with the ball. You can’t lose cheap balls in bad areas, and we did that quite often. That’s what was disappointing to me.”
The status of Gerrard and teammate Robbie Keane was an uncertainty heading into the match, but both played key roles in the Galaxy’s win. But the Rapids didn’t blame the loss to being awestruck.
“They’re obviously good players, but we completely gave them the game,” Rapids captain Sam Cronin said. “We let them get back into it. It was from guys playing on our side of the field that didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to compete and didn’t want to impact the game.
“We just let them play too much, especially in the second half,” he added. “Guys didn’t have any desire to close the ball down. Against players like that, that’s what’s going to happen.”
The Galaxy were impressed by one opposing player on the pitch, however: former teammate Marcelo Sarvas. In his first match against his former team, the 33-year-old Brazilian notched the game’s opening goal.
“It was a good battle with him tonight,” Gerrard said. “I watched him in many games for the Galaxy before I arrived. I’ve got great respect for the player.”
- Get more Rapids news at ColoradoRapids.com
“It’s different from playing in training with him, but we didn’t kill each other,” Galaxy midfielder Juninho added. “We had to do our jobs to defend him. He’s a big friend of mine, and I wish the best luck to him.”
Following the loss, Mastroeni wasn’t keen on singling out any individual performance.
“The team played poorly today,” he said. “This isn’t about individuals, this is about a collective effort, and that first goal was a culmination of great team play. But we forget that real quickly. We got hit with a sledgehammer to remind us of how much work we need to do to remind us where we need to go.”
