The Colorado Rapids have earned a reputation for making Dick's Sporting Goods Park a fortress and on Saturday nigh the San Jose Earthquakes were reminded of that fact.
The Earthquakes tried in vain to break through the Rapids stingy defense, but for the second visit this season, San Jose came away goal-less. The Rapids rode standout performances from Omar Cummings and Kisuke Kimura, who's floated long-range cross beat Jon Busch to give the Rapids a 1-0 victory in the Eastern Conference Final.
The win earns Colorado its first trip to the MLS Cup Final since 1997, and the Rapids will face off against the winner of tonight's Los Angeles-FC Dallas Western Conference Final.
San Jose played well to start the match, but couldn't test Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens with any shots. Kimura effectively neutralized San Jose star Bobby Convey, while Chris Wondolowski missed on the few looks he was able to muster.
Colorado's back-line was organized and tough all night, with Marvell Wynne and Drew Moor shutting down San Jose's strikers. Jeff Larentowicz and Pablo Mastroeni controlled the middle, leaving the Earthquakes with few reliable options.
If you missed last night's match, here are the highlights:
What did you think of Colorado's win? Think the Rapids can win MLS Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
rapids 3-2 in extra time no pk’s
I wish RSL would have been placed in the eastern bracket. The last two years the eastern bracket has been the way western lower seeded teams have found their way to MLS Cup. Dallas wins this MLS Cup in a 2 nil win.
Sadly that’s still a gift and a curse.
You didn’t misread it but rather misunderstood it. Colorado has one game left and the Supporter Shield was already awarded, the MLS Cup is the trophy I’m referring to.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the words “Colorado Rapids…CCL participants”. Rapids…you’ve come a long way, baby. 😉
He’s saying that the Eastern Conference Champions trophy doesn’t represent sh*t.
Don’t most NFL teams not even celebrate the conference winner trophy?
Folks with 2 teams in Canada next year you can’t use “American” for a conference name.
(SBI-The American League in baseball has had the Toronto Blue Jays for some time.)
Still one game left for the supporter’s shield? Did I misread your question?
Calling them the American and National conferences wouldn’t help when it would still have been a team from the rival conference that “won” the conference last night.
Stopped watching after the 5th time he said, “Snap down header!”
WTF?
Cummings is a very fun player to watch.
Feel bad for Ryan Johnson.
1. He would have had a pretty easy play if Sealy hadn’t tried to go for the chip and had just played him into the space in front of the keeper.
2. Obviously someone didn’t scream “Man on!” loud enough for him to notice Kimura gaining on him as he had otherwise only the keeper to beat.
Mullins, Mastroeni, Kimura– lots of clever players. They did all the little things right.
Congrats to a solid team.
Out of curiosity, was there a celebration / ceremony for the Supporter Shield?
I’m all for MLS and no eurosnob but what exactly did that trophy/cup represent? Because if I recall correctly there’s still one game left.
US Open Cup, MLS Cup, Supporter Shield and CONCACAF Champions League. Those should be the only cups, trophies or ceremonies in my opinion.
Eastern / Western Conference trophies cheapen the value of a trophy. Not to mention pointless in name.
I’m glad Colorado won–they have a pretty good team. It’s sad to think what might have been for the Red Bulls but this will be a good final either way. I know the league wants LA in the final but COL vs. DAL would be ok too.
As for the whole Eastern conference champs thing–you know the league could avoid that by calling the conferences American and National like the NFL.
I think it’s to credit the team with better record
I had to DVR the game but I couldn’t get into it. I’m happy the Rapids won but I hope they lose to LA in the finals.
The rational is those 30 games played in the regular season should count for something; ie, the team with the better record gets the advantage. This is the playoffs, not WC qualifying or an independent tournament.
A Conference final in a neutral location? Talk about no rationale.
Nice article.
And dont worry Ives, your still my favorite Soccer writer.
Rapids can definitely win MLS Cup. The Rapids beat LA 3-1 a month ago, and tied Dallas (like everyone else) both times in the regular season. I would likely favor the Galaxy if they advance, and would very slightly favor Dallas (maybe a toss-up) if they advance.
It’s likely going to be a close game, no matter who the opponent is.
There is no rationality. The game should either be in a neutral location or it should be two legs. The MLS is getting better but it still has a ways to go.
I’d say to give the higher seed more of an advantage, and therefore put more importance on the regular season. Also, as play-off games have typically had poor attendance (though that seems to be changing), there might be a desire to generally minimize the number of play-off games.
And other factors I’m probably forgetting or not considering.
I’m fan of JB but Cummings shots were straight at him, Busch didn’t have to do anything special to make those saves. It was all on Cummings ability to not finish, despite the fact that he did the hard part in putting himself in a position to have those opportunities.
“The performance of a player does not exist in isolation…” Save the quote for a U16 team. He sucked by not finishing those opportunities and he’d say the same thing.
Kimura was excellent on balance.
Deserved win by the Rapids, but yeah temps in the mid-20s and thin air, talk about a home court advantage. Quakes crosses were all floating too far, and Sealy’s brilliant long range chip never came down. The Quakes weren’t ready for the cold nor calibrated for the ball carry in the thinner air. Ryan Johnson looked cold from the get go, and Convey never looked comfortable. Wondo’s shoulder were sagging under the weight of the expectations and burden of being the only guy scoring much.
Cummings and Casey are a tough duo to play against, and I really thought Omar should have scored a brace in the 2nd 45 when the Quakes took big chances going forward, everything but the finish from Omar was there.
I was glad to see the Quakes play in the positive style they did, showing a lot of really good football in the first 40 minutes; neither team showed much quality in the final third. The Rapids were effective, but boring – I think the league needs to grow beyond that – the Quakes needed to force the issue with some goals
Maybe a dumb question here: what is the rational behind not having a 2 leg conference final?
Woohoo Eastern Confrence Champion Colorado Rapids.
What a crowd and what a game! Outstanding performance from the Rapids!
You could also, you know, give credit to John Busch. The performance of a player does not exist in isolation–the opposing team exists as well.
Omar just had one of those nights where a striker just can’t finish. His track record over the last two years has been outstanding, and he takes nearly all of his chances well and even creates goals when they are not there.
Unless this becomes a habit, last night is definitely the exception not the rule.
How in the hell does Omar Cummings not finish with a hat trick. His lack of finishing last night was horrendous. Having said that, I enjoyed last night’s match and look forward to tonight’s.
Kosuke Kimura is like a miniature Alex Ovechkin.