photo by Kyle Terada/USA Today Sports

By FRANCO PANIZO

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. — Kaka may have won the MVP award for his contributions in the final third, but it was the player at the other end of the field who the Brazilian gave credit to for “saving” the team.

Goalkeeper Nick Rimando turned in the latest in an assembly line of strong performances on Wednesday, making three huge saves to help the MLS All-Stars defeat Tottenham, 2-1, at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Rimando’s trio of stops all came against the same player, budding Spurs star Harry Kane, and what made the veteran’s 45-minute performance even more impressive was the fact that he did so well despite playing hurt.

“He was possibly not going to play tonight because he had a knee injury and he couldn’t really kick the ball,” said MLS All-Stars head coach Pablo Mastroeni. “I said to him, ‘Listen I’m not making any decision. You’e got a lot of experience I’m going to leave it on you to decide whether or not you play.’

“Yesterday after training he was kind of (like), ‘I don’t know,’ and by last night he said, ‘I’m feeling it. Even if I can’t hit the ball with the inside of my foot I want to play.'”

It turns out the injury that was hindering Rimando during this week was a contusion to his right MCL. He picked the knock up on the last day of the U.S. Men’s National Team’s campaign at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and might miss Real Salt Lake’s game on Friday against D.C. United because of it.

Rimando may have been fighting through the injury against Spurs, but you would not have been able to tell that he was at less than 100 percent. The 36-year-old goalkeeper came up with three crucial blocks on Kane, whose first attempt came nine minutes in following a deflected shot from a teammate but was blocked well by Rimando.

Kane was again left wondering how he had not scored in the 22nd minute, as Rimando cut off the angle and got in the way of a point-blank volley. The RSL netminder also got in the way of a sliding effort from Kane in the 34th minute, but it was the second stop that was arguably the biggest due to the fact that it allowed the MLS All-Stars to race down the field and score the eventual game-winner through David Villa.

“He was unbelievable. I think he saved the game,” said Kaka, who had a goal and an assist en route to being named the game’s MVP. “The (22nd-minute stop) was amazing. The second one was great as well. But the first one was amazing and it would’ve probably been the tie, 1-1. We have to say thank you to him because in the end he saved the team.”

Rimando, who like the rest of the MLS All-Stars starters was subbed off at halftime, admitted Wednesday night that he would not have played if the game was a day earlier. His desire to compete eventually won out, however, and the ensuing performance was vintage Rimando.

It was so impressive, in fact, that Kane came up to Rimando after the final whistle. The Spurs striker could have talked smack at the goalkeeper since he finally hit one past him on a long-range bomb in the 34th minute, but instead Kane recognized Rimando for his solid outing in between the pipes.

“He’s a tremendous competitor,” Dax McCarty told SBI. “Obviously, he’s been one of the best goalkeepers in the league for a while now, and the guy just wants to be on the field. You can just tell how competitive he is in training, you can tell how competitive he is in games, he hates giving up goals.

“Obviously the one that Harry Kane did score was pretty much unstoppable. I think he’ll just take his hat off to him and say, ‘Well done,’ but Nick’s a great guy, a great player, and we’re just happy he could be on the field for us.”

Rimando was equally as pleased to be able to contribute, even if he had to play through an injury to do so.

“These games are fun, you want to be part of these games,” said Rimando. “Some of these guys, it’s special to step on the field with, so I wasn’t going to waste that opportunity.”