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Rapids down Sounders in closed-door exhibition
Striker Conor Casey scored on a penalty kick in the 38th minute as the Colorado Rapids defeated the Seattle Sounders FC in a closed-door exhibition today at Qwest Field in Seattle.
It was the third straight preseason victory for the Rapids, who finished with a 5-2 record. The Rapids open the Major League Soccer regular season March 21 against Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. The team’s home opener is March 28 against the Kansas City Wizards.
The Sounders will begin their inaugural MLS season Thursday at home against the New York Red Bulls. Friday morning’s scrimmage was Seattle’s first against an MLS opponent at Qwest Field. And for a “closed door” contest, some folks did manage to get a first-person view of the match.
MattG of the Rave Green blog got inside the stadium and had this to say: “(Sounders coach Sigi) Schmid played most of his players for the full 90 minutes for the first time all training camp, showing that the team’s fitness is up, and outside of the penalty kick the defense only allowed limited chances for the Rapids. The central defender pairing of Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Tyrone Marshall proved up to the task against able forwards Casey and Omar Cummings.”
And gosounders.com had the following quote from Schmid: “I thought Tyrone got better as the game went on. And for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, this was really first test against MLS forwards. Obviously Conor Casey has been a good forward, not only here in MLS but also overseas, and is a national-team guy. He’s been on the national team and the Olympic team. You have Omar Cummings, who is one of the fastest forwards in the league. I don’t think you saw Omar’s speed was a problem for us all night. I thought we did a pretty good job of battling Conor.”
Because the match was “closed door” by nature, the Sounders would not give the Rapids their lineup. However, the Rapids Undercurrent blog lists the Rapids’ lineup as Matt Pickens, Jordan Harvey, Cory Gibbs (Ivan Guerrero 66), Ugo Ihemelu (Ty Harden 66), Kosuke Kimura, Pablo Mastroeni (Nick LaBrocca 66), Colin Clark (Terry Cooke 66), Jacob Peterson, Mehdi Ballouchy, Omar Cummings (Gregory Richardson 66), Conor Casey (Ross Schunk 66)
I hope that Casey can continue his performance from last year.
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