Kosuke Kimura celebrates his winning goal with striker Conor Casey on Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

 

When Colorado Rapids defender Kosuke Kimura arrived at his locker after Saturday night’s game, nearly every member of the media at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park was there waiting — microphone, camera or pen in hand.

And Kimura was beaming.

Who could blame him? Only a few minutes had gone by since his goal late in the second half lifted the Rapids to a 1-0 victory over FC Dallas. The win was the team’s first since June 20, and many of the Rapids still had thoughts of two consecutive losses in the past two weeks on their minds.

Then there were the memories of playing Dallas in Commerce City less than three weeks ago, when Colorado searched for more than an hour to find a tying goal in a frustrating 1-1 draw.

But Kimura’s winning goal on Saturday lifted spirits throughout the training room.

“If somebody had given odds on Kosuke scoring, not only a goal but a winning goal, I’m not sure too many people in the stands will have taken it,” Rapids coach Gary Smith said. “If he didn’t get man of the match, I will be absolutely flabbergasted. He was absolutely fantastic: the energy, the determination that he showed and the goal. … It was a terrific goal. He could’ve been forgiven for being a fullback, and a young fullback at that, for panicking a little bit. But he hit the target and with some serious power in a very, very important game.”

Kimura brought the ball up the right wing in the 79th minute and saw Mehdi Ballouchy near the edge of Dallas’ penalty box. He sent a crisp pass forward to the midfielder’s feet.

During a scoreless game, many players in Ballouchy’s position would turn and shoot, but Ballouchy is not wired like that. Instead, he saw Kimura continuing to rush forward. Ballouchy flicked a pass through the legs of one defender and drew Kimura in behind the Dallas defense, in a perfect position to strike.

Kimura hit the ball high and hard over Hoops goalkeeper Ray Burse.

“I just kept my head down and smashed it,” Kimura said. “I knew that (Ballouchy) was going to pass it. He’s a great player on the ball. I trust him. I just kept running. The ball came, and I took a touch.”

Kimura said the insightful one-two between him and Ballouchy was not a play that the team rehearses. He said the key was eye contact.

“He looked at me,” he said. “Right after he got the ball, I looked up. He saw me running, and I saw him, too.”

The goal was the second of Kimura’s career in Major League Soccer. The native of Japan scored May 2 in a 2-0 victory over Real Salt Lake, also at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. But that night, Kimura’s parents were at the game and he made a quick exit from the locker room to be with them afterward, leaving all the journalists empty-handed.

So the media was very interested in catching up with Kimura on Saturday. And he did not disappoint.

“Against an opponent that has proved over the last six weeks that their form has turned ’round, it was never going to be a runaway victory,” Smith said. “But, somehow, we just had to find a goal from somewhere, and fortunately we did.”

MAN OF THE MATCH: Kimura, obviously. But before he scored, he had done enough to earn the honor. He helped create the best scoring chance of the first half: He squirted through two defenders on the right wing and sent a pass toward the middle of the field. Conor Casey ran to the ball and tapped to Jacob Peterson, who shot over two sliding defenders but right at Burse. In the 89th minute, Kimura made a strong tackle on Blake Wagner in the Rapids’ penalty area, and he aggressively muscled Wagner off the ball in extra time, again inside the Rapids’ box. But one thing that makes Kimura special is his work rate. At one point in the second half, he was pushing forward, fighting for possession near the Dallas end line. The ball crossed the line for a Burse goal kick, and Kimura sprinted back to his position. Most players trot or even walk back to their station, but Kimura sprints. He’s the Charlie Hustle of Major League Soccer, without the greenies, the gambling and the haircut.

THE FANS’ MAN OF THE MATCH: The Rapids conduct a poll for man of the match via text messaging. In the 75th minute, before Kimura scored, he was one of three choices on the scoreboard whom fans could vote for. Even then, Kimura was the clear choice.

MAN OF THE MATCH, HONORABLE MENTION: The Rapids ran a 4-3-3, and the midfield triangle of captain Pablo Mastroeni, Nick LaBrocca and Ballouchy was sharp. Crisp passing. Strong challenges. Dogged pursuit. The three did everything they could to keep Dallas off balance.

THE HOOPS’ BEST CHANCE TO SCORE: In the 70th minute, the ball skipped over mass of defenders and attackers at the top of the Rapids’ penalty box and sailed through to Eric Avila, who had been in a wide position. He corralled the ball and fired it toward the far post, where striker Jeff Cunningham slid and just missed making contact.

BEST INDIVIDUAL MOVES: This was a tie, and both came in the first half. Kimura did a quick one-two around Dax McCarty that left the normally sure-footed holding midfielder stabbing helplessly at a ball that wasn’t there anymore. Later, Casey produced a sexy little stepover that ended in a nutmeg of defender George John. Both moves brought gasps from the crowd.

GOLD CUP IN MIAMI: Rapids striker Omar Cummings scored the winning goal for Jamaica in the 70th minute against El Salvador on Friday in the pool stage of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The 1-0 Jamaica victory clinched a berth in the final eight for Costa Rica and left Jamaica third in the group with the possibility of advancing. Jamaica will have to wait for the rest of this weekend’s results. Read the whole story here.

MORE GOLD CUP: And former Rapids striker Fabrice Noel scored for Haiti in a midweek 2-0 victory over Grenada. Check out this story about Fabrice in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

GOLD CUP’S EFFECT: Dallas’ Kenny Cooper and the Rapids’ Colin Clark missed Saturday’s MLS fixture because they were with the U.S. national team. The Nats tied Haiti 2-2 in Foxborough, Mass. Cummings’ participation at the Gold Cup meant Omar missed the Rapids’ Jamaican Heritage Night celebration because he was representing the Reggae Boyz in international play. Ironic, ain’t it?

ALSO MISSING: Rapids central defender Cory Gibbs was suspended for Saturday’s match because of yellow-card accumulation. Ugo Ihemelu will miss the next MLS match (Saturday at D.C.) because of a caution he picked up early against Dallas.

ATTENDANCE ISSUES: The official attendance was 8,128, but that looked like a generous estimate. There were no weather issues to blame it on, but some other factors dimmed the enthusiam: The Gold Cup removed some of the talent. It was the second time in three weeks that the Rapids have hosted Dallas. And the game after the Fourth of July is typically a poor seller. However, this year’s July 4 debacle may have had the biggest impact on crowd size. It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for the rescheduled fireworks show on July 25.

UGO IHEMELU, TRACK STAR?: I’ve never seen Ugo beaten in a foot race. Last week, he and Patrick Nyarko were in two sprints to long passes that were played forward by Nyarko’s Chicago teammates. Both times Nyarko wound up with the ball, but both times Ihemelu had more ground to cover. Ihemelu was faster. On Saturday, Ugo and Jeff Cunningham raced to a ball played deep into the corner of the field, and both arrived at the same time. But in the 74th, Cunningham looked to be in a position for an unobstructed break-in on goalkeeper Matt Pickens. This time, in an impressive show of speed, Ugo chased him down from behind and broke up the play. After the game, new teammate Julien Baudet was joking with Ihemelu about all the running he had to do.

ALL-STAR TEAM ANNOUNCED MONDAY: Expect Casey to be in the starting 11. Something’s seriously wrong if he’s not.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Pickens, Kimura, Ihemelu, Palguta, Harvey, Cooke, Mastroeni, Peterson, Ballouchy, Casey, LaBrocca.

HOOPS STARTERS: Burse, Moor, Davies, Ricchetti, John, Shea, McCarty, Rocha, van den Bergh, Cunningham, Ferreira.

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.

To advertise on Colorado Soccer Now, e-mail George at ColoradoSoccerNow@gmail.com.

Related posts

• Game 2: Cummings rescues Rapids; relentless pressure creates late 1-1 tie
• Once again, it all comes down to RSL
• Rapids sink last-place Red Bulls
• Failure to finish: Rapids, Kansas City end in scoreless draw
• Baudet returns early from injury to lead Rapids past first-place Dynamo
• Marshall’s free kick provides just enough punch for Columbus
• Part I: Rapids’ leaders in minutes
• Examining the Rapids’ salaries
• My votes for 2009 postseason awards
• Casey PK ties game in extra time – again