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Cooke jolts offense in Rapids’ 2-1 win
That was some first touch.
Terry Cooke scored the Rapids’ first goal on a free kick immediately after entering the game in the second half, then he set up the winning goal in Colorado’s 2-1 victory over Kansas City on Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“The second half was lit up really by Terry,” Coach Gary Smith said. “He had an absolutely wonderful free kick, and his pass to Colin was absolutely wonderful. Terry is an extremely valuable member of this group, and he did win it for us tonight. There are no two ways about it. He won it for us.”
Cooke opened the scoring in the 64th minute after a foul was called just outside the left edge of the Kansas City penalty area. Smith subbed Cooke into the game in favor of Jacob Peterson. Meanwhile, Colin Clark and Mehdi Ballouchy waited for Cooke at the spot of the foul.
“I ran in, and Mehdi said, ‘Do you want it?’ And I said no, and he said it again,” Cooke said. “He said, ‘You take it. You know you want it.’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah.’ ”
Clark and Ballouchy faked taking the free kick, adding some misdirection to the play, and left Cooke to do the deed. He struck the ball cleanly and drove it into the top corner of the goal, just inside the near post.
About 10 minutes later, shortly after Kansas City had tied the game, Cooke set up the go-ahead goal by starting a breakout in the Rapids’ end of the field.
A Kansas City corner kick wound up in Cooke’s lap, and instead of hastily clearing the ball, Cooke took a moment and spotted Clark streaking on the left wing. Cooke sent a beautifully weighted cross-field pass that hit Clark in stride. Clark, in turn, pushed forward a ball that allowed Omar Cummings to break free into the Wizards’ penalty area. Cummings slotted the ball past Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, again, inside the right post.
Not only was the earlier free kick Cooke’s first touch of the game, it was his first touch of the Major League Soccer season. The midfielder did not play in last week’s opener against Chivas USA, a 2-1 loss, but he did play Tuesday in the Burgundy & Blue friendly against Metropolitan State College. Cooke scored a goal against Metro State, was a playmaking threat throughout the game and was named man of the match.
And on Saturday, he made his case for spending more time with the first team.
“I want to play week in and week out,” he said after the game. “I don’t have to prove myself to anyone that I can play. People in this league know what I can do. Not many people can do, in this league, what I can do. And all I can do about it is work hard, keep my game sharp and have a good attitude.”
Smith said choosing between Peterson and Cooke is one dilemma of settling on the team’s starting lineup.
That’s not likely to get any easier. On Saturday, Smith had an extra position for Cooke and Peterson to fill because captain Pablo Mastroeni was in El Salvador with the U.S. men’s national team.
THE FOUL THAT SET UP COOKE’S FREE KICK: In the 64th minute, Clark was dismantling Jonathan Leathers so badly that the Wizards defender was forced to grab Clark around the midsection. Had he not done so, Clark would’ve been free inside the penalty area with no one between him and Hartman. It was a desperate foul, and Leathers was lucky not to be ejected.
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR: Smith lamented how close the Rapids can come to scoring without actually finishing the deal. In the 54th minute, Jordan Harvey (yes, Jordan Harvey) was twisting and cutting through the Wizards’ defense before he shot wide right. In the 80th minute, Conor Casey served up a perfect through-ball to Cooke, who shot into the lower left corner. Hartman made the save. In the 82nd minute, Cooke returned the favor to Casey. Cooke, on the right wing, delivered one of his trademark crosses right to Casey, who shot wide. In the 84h minute, it was another Cooke-to-Clark production, and this time Clark shot wide. In the 88th: Cummings to Casey to Clark to Ballouchy, who shoots (you guessed it) wide. “Our ratio for hitting the target is rock bottom,” Smith said. “How many times did we get in for clean opportunities, and then we don’t hit it?”
KANSAS CITY’S GOAL: Again, a short lapse nearly cost the Rapids a victory. What appeared to be a harmless throw-in and a long clearance in the 70th minute turned into a breakaway for Michael Kraus. The 24-year-old ran onto the clearance and chipped it over Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced into the goal. Kraus, who attended Creighton University, made a bunch of folks happy when he tied the score. Nearly a dozen family members, his traveling cheering squad, were at the stadium on Saturday for his first regular-season appearance for the Wizards. And his first career goal.
HARTMAN SETS MLS SAVES RECORD: When Nick LaBrocca forced a save out of Hartman late in the first half, it pulled Hartman level with Tony Meola for the MLS record for career saves. When Hartman knocked away a shot from Cummings in stoppage time, the record was Hartman’s at 1,137. Thanks to mlsnet.com for this one.
KANSAS CITY MAN OF THE MATCH: Claudio Lopez. The Argentine international was the most active and involved player on the visitors’ roster. Whether he was shooting, asking his teammates for the ball, directing traffic or telling Herculez Gomez how to be more effective on defense, Lopez was the Wizards’ engine on Saturday.
George Tanner is a former writer and editor for the Rocky Mountain News; the Greeley Tribune; The Daily Independent of Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Durango Herald; and the Boulder Daily Camera. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and an associate professor at Metropolitan State College of Denver. E-mail him at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.
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You should rate the players they way they do in Europe.
Kimura, Gibbs, and Mendi would get low marks.
Mendi has one gear, a slow jog. He never sprints anywhere ever. Watch him during the next game, never a sprint. He is a decent passer of the ball but he does not really create anything, not a great defender,an average shot. I just don’t see it. Cooke would be a much better choice as the attacking creative midfielder. At least Cooke can create, has amazing distribution, and hustles.
Where are all the fans? Opening night attendance under 12K…That spells trouble in Commerce City to me.
Cooke was the spark and salvation on the night. He has the sense of the game and skills to effectively make his team better. He needs to be out there every night.
I can’t say the same for Ballouchy. He trots. He pouts. He shows very little. It is time to admit that this experiment is not working. I can’t believe we traded Beckerman for this guy.
Finally, the lack of finishing is a worry. I’m going to hope that two games are merely an indication that the team is still coming together. I just don’t think we can count on Cooke as a lasting scoring threat and we will only go as far as Casey can take us. I’ll feel better when he finds the back of the net.
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Becca Mays Colin Clark Colorado Force Colorado Rapids Colorado School of Mines Columbus Crew Conor Casey Cory Gibbs Dick's Sporting Goods Park Fort Lewis College Gary Smith Jacob Peterson Jordan Harvey Julien Baudet Kosuke Kimura Landon Donovan Major League Soccer Matt Pickens Mehdi Ballouchy Metro State Nick LaBrocca Nikki Marshall Omar Cummings Pablo Mastroeni Preston Burpo Real Salt Lake Scott Palguta Seattle Sounders University of Colorado University of DenverAbout ColoradoSoccerNow
Our goal at ColoradoSoccerNow.com is to cover the sport in this state like no one else, from colleges to the Colorado Rapids, from the W-League to the U.S. men's and women's national teams.
About George: George Tanner fell in love with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the North American Soccer League while living in the Tampa, Fla., area in the mid-1970s. He got his first taste of newspapering while following the Rowdies every day in the Tampa Tribune, and from there grew the seeds of a journalism career in which he has worked at the Colorado Springs Sun; the Daily Camera in Boulder; the Durango Herald; The Daily Independent in Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Greeley Tribune; and the Rocky Mountain News.
E-mail George here.
About Cole: Not since the days of Ace Ntsoelengoe, the Minnesota Kicks and the North American Soccer League has Cole McGinnis been so excited about soccer. Cole handles the business functions of ColoradoSoccerNow.com, and he's the man to speak with about front-office issues.
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About Jonathan: Jonathan Ingraham is a Colorado native, sports hound, outdoors enthusiast and Metropolitan State College student, working on a journalism degree. Outside of school, he works as a freelance photographer and is available for photographing places, people, events, games or artistic shoots for businesses or personal collections.
E-mail Jonathan here.
About Tom: Tom Auclair remembers watching the New England Tea Men when he was younger and thinking what a terrible name that was for a sports team. He has worked for the Rocky Mountain News, Longmont Daily Times-Call and several newspapers in New Hampshire. He's currently working as an editor and photographer for a collection of Web sites. He can't believe how quick Omar Cummings is.
E-mail Tom here.