WASHINGTON, DC (May 16th, 2008) USSoccerPlayers -- Colorado won the early game honors in Week 8, beating Real Salt Lake 2-0 on Thursday night to go three points clear at the top of the Western Conference. FC Dallas will need to beat Los Angeles by three goals on Sunday to take first place away from the Rapids.
Omar Cummings scored in the 65th minute and Christian Comez converted a penalty in the 83rd, with Herculez Gomez getting an assist on the the opener and hitting the pass that led to the hand ball penalty on the second.
The second half scoring glossed over an even first half where both teams seemed hesitant.
“It was just two average teams and it got to a point where the first team to score was going to win the game," said RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman.... "It was kind of a stalemate, and then it kind of continued, but they we sharp and we were sloppy. The 3-5-2 caught us off guard. It isn’t really X’s and O’s on defense, there is some gray area and that kind of confused us for some reason.”
RSL coach Jason Kreis had his own reasons for why his club couldn't find a goal or keep the game even late.
"Maybe it is a little bit of fatigue," Kreis said. "We have played a few games now in a couple of weeks so that may have played a part. This is the second team we have played with a 3-5-2. I don’t think that it gave us a whole lot of problems in the first half. The players may have been a little confused about what was going on. I think the players made a bigger deal out of it then it was."
For his part, Colorado coach Fernando Clavijo wasn't surprised by Salt Lake's tactics. In fact, he had seen them before.
“It was easy to see their game plan," Clavijo said. "Their game plan was simple, they wanted to slow us down, counterattack and look to score on a set piece. It worked for them last time."
Real Salt Lake (2-4-2) vs. Colorado Rapids (4-4-0)
May 15, 2008 -- Dick's Sporting Goods Park
Scoring Summary:
COL -- Omar Cummings 3 (Colin Clark 2, Herculez Gomez 1) 65
COL -- Christian Gomez 2 (penalty kick) 83
Real Salt Lake -- Nick Rimando, Tony Beltran, Matias Mantilla, Chris Wingert (Dustin Kirby 87), Nat Borchers, Andy Williams (Matias Cordoba 84), Kenny Cutler (Robbie Findley 69), Dema Kovalenko, Kyle Beckerman, Kenny Deuchar, Fabian Espindola
Substitutes Not Used: David Horst, Tino Nunez, Jamison Olave, Chris Seitz
Colorado Rapids -- Bouna Coundoul, Facundo Erpen, Kosuke Kimura, Ugo Ihemelu, Colin Clark, Christian Gomez (Mehdi Ballouchy 88), Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Jacob Peterson, Omar Cummings, Herculez Gomez (Jordan Harvey 84)
Substitutes Not Used: Jose Burciaga Jr., Terry Cooke, Rafael Gomes, Mike Graczyk, Kelly Gray
