Match Day #3 Rewind

Match Day #3 Rewind……zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

            So the Fire went in to Colorado, full of confidence off of their first win of the season 8 days before, looking to take all 3 points from the Rapids who the week before were destroyed by the resurgent Redbulls. Well things did not go as planned for the Fire and let’s just say I’m going to keep this rewind very short. The first half was dull from both sides and I think I might have taken a quick nap in there someplace. Both sides looked sloppy, not being able to connect multiple passes, and not creating any memorable chances on net. And now that I have awoken from rethinking about the first half, let’s move on to the horrible second half. Both sides came out looking like the first half but the Rapids started to maintain possession and create chances and they finally found the breakthrough with a goal from Omar Cummings in the 58^th minute. Mullan received a long ball on the right side and slotted into the middle and Cummings collected and found the back of the net. The Fire defense was caught napping and ball watching as the ball came to Cummings. In response to the Rapids goal the Fire had nothing, which I will explain later. The Rapids finished off the game in added time when Kamani Hill received the ball about 35 yards out, dribbled towards the box and took a long shot that Tornaghi pushed back into the path of the on rushing Hill who collected the rebound and slotted it home past Tornaghi. That’s how the game ended, 2-0 in favor of the Rapids.

Player Ratings

            This week I’m going to do an overall team rating. Drum roll please………….I give the team a flat F-.

My overall impressions

            Time for a little rant of what I was thinking watching the game. First of all, what were Rabayo and Pappa doing? Robayo’s first start reminded me a lot of Julio Martinez when he was with the Fire. Rabayo was all over the middle and did not look comfortable at all. Pappa on the other hand looked too comfortable and tried taking on 3 defenders by himself, taking shots from 30 to 35 yards out, or playing out position specifically crowding up the middle. Second Grazzini and Nyarko were effectively shut down. They both had touches of the ball but were shut down by the Rapids defense. Third, Oduro had nothing because of the game plan that Rapids had employed. The Rapid’s defense was playing a step behind Oduro all game and the Rapids had Wynn man marking him all game. Also with the midfield being shut down, it forced the Fire to start playing long balls up to Oduro which had no affect due to the way the Rapids were playing defense. Last and most important, the defense was caught ball watching on both goals. On both goals the defense was just standing there watching the ball go to Rapids players and when they reacted the ball was already in the back of the net.

            This game showed how the rest of the league should play the Fire in order to shut them down. It also showed that Frank has a tough time adapting when plan “A” does not work, the entire game the possession was 61% to 39%. What was that? Even the Fire’s strongest midfield out there they could not adapt. It seemed as though they just had nothing to answer to the game plan that the Rapids employed and to me that is very disturbing. Now I’m also still hearing that the Fire show promise to get better, but I don’t like when people say this. I don’t like it for the simple fact that championships aren’t won with promise. Last time I checked this is a result orientated business. The Fire are not going to sell out the stadium with promise, they are not going to win an MLS cup with promise, and they are not going to get into the playoffs with promise. Frank has got work something out so this team can adapt when plan “A” does not work. We will have to see what happens over the next 10 days and see if they come up with when they face Houston at Toyota Park. But this past Sunday’s game was one of those that the team and fans need to forget and hope there is no further repeats of it in the coming games, because if there are repeats of it then we are going to be in for a long season and Frank may not last the season as coach but it’s still too early to call that last statement.