Colorado Recap and Arsenal Run Smash & Grab Operation

Let's start with the Arsenal game. They're up 4-1 on the Kotters from Stoke City at half time, who appear to have thrown in the towel early on this one. The Gunners have a clutch of Arsene's young Gunners in the line-up, including a goalkeeper I've never heard of before. Vito Mannone? My sources are telling me that he's a kid wearing an Arsenal Jersey that Arsene saw outside the stadium prior to the game. I'm not able to verify that yet, but lets pretend that's the case.

Anyhow, Arsenal is enjoying 75% posession and has 16 shots on the Sotters' goal, to 3 for the gang from Choke City. Arsenal has already switched to the 5-pass rule (the team has to make 5 consecutive passes, including to Eboue, who is on the bench, before shootign).

Key question: Will Arsene let RVN play goal in the 2nd half?

Now, on to my boys in the Rave Green jerseys...

Bottom line is that we took a point on the road with the 2-2 draw, against a key conference rival without Ljungberg, Porkchop (Evans) & my season MVP, Alonso, who went down in the first minute.

There are three keys to this game.

1. Kasey Keller. His goal was under assault. He must've thought he was starring in a remake of 300. The Persians just kept coming in waves. Keller made 2 of the nicest saves you'll see anywhere. In honesty, at times I've wondered whether Kasey is worth the Sounders FC hype. Yup. He is.


2. James Riley. One of the most outstanding players for Sounders this season, he was our only offensive spark, providing the runs down the side channel and the crosses that turned into our scores. That pass to Montero that set up the equalizer was a gem. And he wasn't bad at defense, either. Rapids ran riot down the right side, but had very few successful attacks on Riley's side.


3. Peter with the really awkward last name. It's going to take a few games for me to get the pronunciation right, or at least, not obscene. I thought Vagenas solidified a midfield that was in shambles from losing Frederik, Porkchop and Ozzie. He did what was needed to keep a lid on things through the middle, and worked very hard to complicate the Rapids' attacking plans. He was really unfortunate to cause the deflection for the OG, but was hustling back to defend on a play where the Rapids had once again sliced open our defense.

Also, worth note.

Fredy Montero had his best game in some time. Not a great game, but more energy and he figured in both goals. The first goal was just a nice run and persistence to take the easy deflection.

Gary Smith made a huge mistake taking Cummins out of the game. He shredded us all game long. Once he was out, a lot of air left the Rapids' river raft. Maybe he was hurt or tired, but that felt like a real momentum shift there, and we had great chances to steal the win after the speedy striker left.

Cummins and Casey are a great strike pair. They are an example of what an MLS front line should look like. Montero and SloJack are no comparison. In fact, while SloJack scored the equalizer, it was a sitter. Other than that, I thought he looked pretty pedestrian. Is it me, or is he reacting rather than anticipating his runs?

Nonetheless, our front line scored the goals, so all's to the good.

Oh, and Arsenal have beaten Croak City, 4-1. And it doesn't appear to be even that close. They finish 4th. Whoopee.

I took a look at some stats. Arsenal finished with 68 goals for. The top 4 all had 68 or more goals. The difference, though, came in goals against. Arsenal allowed 37. No top 3 team allowed more than 27. Hmmm. Where do we need to get stronger? How about a stud center back and a man's man holding midfielder?