The Rapids lost 1-0 to the LA Galaxy on Wednesday night.  The Rapids suffered their second loss in a row and their first home loss of the season.  The Rapids managed to outplay the highly regarded LA squad for about 60 minutes but failed to convert. The Galaxy had their fair share of possession and chances on goal, but the early goal on the road combined with the elevation, forced the LA club to play more conservatively in the second half.

This is the second time the Rapids out played their opponent and failed to come away with any points. Coach Smith believes there are plenty of positives to take away from this match and hopes his players will believe in their quality.

“I think we’ve seen a group for seven games now that have kept the ball well. Good possession, have a nice shape, we’ve evolved a little bit, but we’ve certainly got enough strength and enough quality to be reckoned with. Sadly we’ve lost two games on the spin, and you know our stock will go down somewhat, but as long as those guys keep the belief in that changing room, that they are a good team, which they are, I do believe we’ll get enough points to reach the achievements.”

“If we continue to play like that I have no fear that we will achieve something we haven’t’ done for the past 3 or 4 years. The challenge is obviously to continue to play like that, and be a tad more clinical in front of goal.”

The sentiment was echoed by Drew Moor in the changing room. He thought the group played extremely well but failed in that final third.  Drew thinks it is only a matter of time before the goals start pouring in.

“Obviously we need to score goals. We have some fantastic attacking players, some great goal scorers.  The goals will come, I have no doubt they will come. They’ve come from other sources lately, but they will start coming and we need to be patient.”

The Rapids will have a few days off before they resume training.  Their next match is on Saturday May 15, at DC United.

Player Ratings:

Pickens: 7, best game of the season so far. Looked solid and had some big saves.

Earls: 8, excellent on both sides of the ball, a real revelation this season.

Baudet: 7, not a perfect game but a fantastic performance by the big man.  Kept Buddle off the score sheet.

Moor: 6, much better when he moved into the middle, looked a little uncomfortable on the right.

Wynne: 6, earned man of the match, but needed to do more offensively in the second half.

Larentowicz: 7, moved the ball well for the Rapids and took control of the midfield.

Mastroeni: 6, not his most dominating performance, but helped control the midfield.

Ballouchy: 5, ineffective as an attacking midfielder but great at keeping possession.

Thompson: 5, invisible for most of the first half, mainly because the Rapids failed to use the left side of the field. Substituted at the half.

Cummings: 7, electric going forward and created plenty of opportunities. Drops a point for failing to put the ball on frame.

Casey: 6, won some important physical battles but wasn’t available to convert chances.

Subs:

Clark: 7, made an impact off the bench. Was able to get outside the defenders and deliver crosses.

Lopez: 6, first few touches were poor, but provided some very dangerous deliveries at the death of the match.

Coach Smith mentioned a possible formation change in the near future.

Against Toronto this past Sunday, Coach Smith inserted forward Quincy Amarikwa late in the game and pushed Omar Cummings out right.  Coach Smith was pleased with Omar’s play on the right and is considering a change in the forward’s position.

“There is a possibility that Omar can slide out wide. He’s got a lot of qualities that lend itself to a 4-3-3. He’s quick, he’s athletic. One-v-one he’s very good, his delivery is decent. So yeah there are some nice qualities in the future that might help us.  So it wouldn’t be a surprise if you saw that, but when, where, and how that is implemented is a completely different question.”

The addition of Claudio Lopez and the Rapids depth at center mid lend itself to a 4-3-3.  I’m curious to see if Coach Smith opts for a 4-3-3 late in the game this weekend, should Claudio make his debut.

For now it sounds like Coach Smith is going to stick with his usual formation and rotation.

“At this moment in time, I’m really pleased with how the group is moving forward. We’ve got some nice fluency in the group and there are also opportunities for rotation of players because we have nice depth.”

Do you think the Rapids should move to a 4-3-3?