In their last Major League Soccer meeting on July 25, 2009, the Rapids tore through New York 4-0. Since then the teams have met for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, where the Red Bulls thumped Colorado 3-0 with John Wolyniec scoring twice. That May 26 defeat in at the new Red Bull Arena knocked Colorado out of the U.S. Open Cup.

Last Man: Of the four who scored against New York in 2009, only Mehdi Ballouchy is still on the roster. The other scorers that day were Nick LaBrocca, Jacob Peterson and Pat Noonan.

Angel Fire: Juan Pablo Angel has taken 19 shots on goal, more than anybody else in MLS this season, scoring eight times. He will come up against a Colorado defense that has conceded only 11 goals in 12 games, four of those in the past two matches.

Records: Colorado is 15-13-3 all-time against New York. On the season, Colorado is 6-3-3 overall (21 points), good for third place in the Western Conference. New York comes to town at 8-5-0 (24 points) and in second place behind the Columbus Crew in the East.

Streaks: Colorado return home after back-to-back 2-2 road ties, and on a five-game undefeated run. On June 9, Conor Casey scored a stoppage time goal to bring back a point from Chicago. Last weekend, the club left Houston with another 2-2 tie.

New York comes in on a three-game winning streak in MLS play, defeating Kansas City 3-0 at home the last time out.

DSG Park: The Rapids are 3-1-1 at home in 2010, while New York is 3-3 on the road to start the year.

As Pablo Mastroeni watches as Conor Casey fires home one of two penalty kicks during Sunday's 3-1 win over Toronto FC. (Photo by Jessica Taves/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

A trio of free-kicks propelled the Colorado Rapids past Toronto F.C., with a 3-1 victory Sunday on a clear day at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The win brings the Rapids to 2-1-1 on the season and second place in the western conference.

 In a first half that saw little action, Conor Casey netted his second goal of the season with a cheeky penalty kick, chipped just over Toronto F.C. keeper Stefan Frei. The penalty came after forward Omar Cummings made a dash into the box then cut back on defender Adrian Cann who slipped and handled the ball with his arm to prevent Cummings from a scoring opportunity. Casey then converted with confidence and composure.

“I’d like to be more productive out of the run of play,” Casey said, “it hasn’t come yet, but the important thing is we win and get three points.”

The half stayed mostly uneventful in the Rapids defensive third thanks to the athleticism of center back Marvell Wynne and a well organized back four, with tight marking and active tracking. Smart defending allowed goalkeeper Matt Pickens a stress-free start.

The second half started with chants of “Glory, Glory Colo-ra-do” from the Rapids cheering section and more stellar defense from defender Marvell Wynne, displaying his speed and agility as well as reassurance for his signing.

Toronto midfielder Martin Saric was booked in the 45^th minute for a hard tackle before teammate and Captain Dwayne De Rosario converted a penalty kick in the 58^th minute to the right of goalkeeper Matt Pickens. Pickens was called with the foul for bringing down Toronto midfielder Sam Cronin after he had found space in the box.

 Rapid’s Coach Gary Smith admitted he was uneasy after the equalizer, but his fears were put to ease in the 71^st minute when midfielder Jeff Larentowicz scored a freekick from the corner of the box, splitting the wall and beating Frei near-post.

 “To concede was a concern, at that point you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, and Jeff gave us that.” Coach Smith said.

 Casey then gave Smith and the Rapids their final assurance when he was brought down in the box by T.F.C. defender Makism Usanov after a dangerous cross from Cummings. Casey stepped to the spot cool and confident once again and netted his third goal in four games to the right of Frei.

The Rapids earned a solid home win with convincing play over a Toronto side who were much weaker on the day. The Rapids face the Revolution next Saturday in New England where they will look to continue their run of form.

Reunion: Four former Rapids took the field. Nick LaBrocca and Ty Harden started, with Jacob Peterson and Dan Gargan coming on in the second half. Each side used all three substitutes on a sunny, dry and nearly perfect day.

Rapids Starters: Pickens, Danny Earls (Scott Palguta, 83rd), Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, Kosuke Kimura, Colin Clark (Qunicy Amarikwa, 68th), Larentowicz, Pablo Mastroeni, Jamie Smith (Wells Thompson, 59th), Omar Cummings, Casey.

Toronto Starters: Frei, Maksim Usanov, Adrian Cann, Nana Attakora, Harden, LaBrocca (Peterson, 60th), Julian de Guzman, Sam Cronin, Martin Saric (Gargan, 80th), De Rosario, Chad Barrett (O’Brian White, 66th).

Next Up: Larentowicz and Thompson face their former teammates as the Rapids travel to the New England Revolution for a Saturday contest.

Road Warriors: The Rapids are entering a spell of playing four of the next five games on the road. The loan home game in that stretch is a May 5 match against the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Galaxy are currently the class of the league with a 4-0-0 record and Edson Buddle scoring seven goals in those four games.

That’s what happened in Toronto, where the mayor there felt the need to air his worries about the club after the Canadian side dropped the first two games by a combined 6-1 margin. Thursday night the club bought a measure of relief as Toronto FC eeked out a 2-1 win over the expansion Philadelphia Union.

“Eeked” is a loaded term — after all, even a lousy win is still worth three points in the standings — but considering that Toronto played a first-year team that lost its captain to a first-half red card at BMO Field in Toronto and needed a goalkeeping error for the first score and a penalty kick for the second, eeked seems about right.

Watching that game, the most surprising elements were how Philadelphia kept finding room to attack and how Dwayne De Rosario could provide just enough spark to get his team by a lesser side. De Rosario scored both goals, one on a restart and the other from the penalty spot. He also slotted back into more of a midfield position in the second half, where he provided distribution that the club otherwise lacked.

For Sunday, it means the Rapids (1-1-1)  may get the chance to expose some of the same flatness in the back with the strike tandem of Conor Casey and Omar Cummings. It also means that Rapids fans had better watch out if De Rosario is distributing the ball instead of waiting for service.

Homecoming: Sunday afternoon (game time at 3 p.m.) will represent the first time Nick LaBrocca, Ty Harden and Jacob Peterson will have appeared in Colorado since being traded to Toronto during separate transactions in the off-season. LaBrocca, a bulwark in the Rapids midfield the past two seasons, has brought his bull terrier nature to the field for Toronto and is likely to start. Peterson came off the bench on Thursday night, and seems to be the right-foot option on the midfield wing and in defense for the Reds. Harden has also been sitting on the subs bench.

Wynne’s World: Marvell Wynne also gets to face his former teammates on Sunday. Converted to a central back by Colorado, Wynne was a standout on the defensive wings for Toronto. Sent packing by new coach Preki, Wynne has been a revelation in the back for the Rapids, showing speed and strength that can negate many an attack while learning the center back position. For some reason, I suspect he will try to get forward on deadballs Sunday with the intent of poking something on goal in payback for his departure.

Against Toronto: While Toronto has drawn exceptional fan support in its first three seasons, the team has struggled on the field. One of the few clubs it has handled well has been the Rapids. Toronto owns a 4-2-0 mark against Colorado. However, the Rapids are 2-1-0 against the Reds at home.

Last Meeting: On Sept. 12 in Toronto, FC slipped by the Rapids 3-2.

Out Sunday: Defender Julien Baudet won’t be on the field for the Rapids on Sunday after being ejected from the game against Kansas City. While Baudet serves a one-game suspension, the only other Rapids out of action are midfielder Ciaran O’Brien, recovering from a hip strain, and forward Ross Schunk, who is out with a torn ACL in his right leg.

Harden was acquired by the Rapids in January 2009 in a trade with the LA Galaxy in exchange for Colorado’s 2009 third-round draft pick.

This is the second trade Colorado and Toronto have completed in the past four weeks. On January 21, the Rapids acquired allocation money from Toronto in exchange for midfielder Jacob Peterson.

The Reds already have at least three Harden stories and a video on their Web site.

Daniel Girard of The Toronto Star reports that Toronto’s new head coach, Preki Radosavljevic, may have acquired Harden because of what he saw when he  was coaching Chivas USA and Harden was playing with the Galaxy.

Harden, a second-round pick of the Galaxy in the 2007 draft, started 24 games for Los Angeles and was named the team’s defender of the year. But on the first day of training camp in 2008, Harden announced to Galaxy officials he was leaving the game of soccer. He went back to the University of Washington to complete his degree and then ended up teaching at a children’s center in Kenya.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Peterson,drafted by Colorado with the ninth pick in the second round of the 2006 MLS draft, recorded eight goals and five assists in 92 games for the Rapids. The four-year veteran from Indiana University played in 23 games last season, scoring two goals and adding two assists before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee on Sept. 23 and missing the remainder of the season.

OK, that’s the official line from the team. The rest of this is me reading between the lines:

Peterson’s injury (when combined with injuries to Jamie Smith and Colin Clark) left the Rapids painfully thin at midfield, especially wide midfield, last season. The loss of these players directly contributed to the team’s late-season slump, which left the Rapids out of the Major League Soccer playoffs.

The Rapids reportedly attempted to acquire midfielders Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson from New England, but the deal fell through because of issues involving Cory Gibbs’ contract and medical exam.

So it would seem to me that the Rapids’ front office and coaching staff is out there looking to add depth in the middle of the field. Moving Peterson, mostly used in the midfield by the Rapids, does not add depth at midfield. Quite the opposite.

So my take on this is that they have some folks in mind and need the cash to make it happen. Stay tuned. We will see additions to the midfield before the season starts at the end of March.

This year the categories were limited to MVP, defender of the year, young player of the year, USSF humanitarian of the year and youth teams player of the year. Because I didn’t believe I’m qualified to vote on the latter two categories, that left only three for me: MVP, defender and young player.

Here are the winners:
YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Nick LaBrocca.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Matt Pickens
MVP: Omar Cummings
U.S. SOCCER FEDERATION RAPIDS HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR: Colin Clark
RAPIDS ACADEMY PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Brendan Roslund

To read more about Clark’s humanitarian efforts and the 2009 season of Roslund, a Denver Christian High School graduate, go here.

And here were my choices:

YOUNG PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Because of the caveat that this award be reserved for players younger than 25, I had to break out my media guide and see who was eligible. Roughly, the field looked to consist of anyone born in 1985 or later. That would include Greg Dalby, Michael Holody, Nick LaBrocca, Ciaran O’Brien, Jacob Peterson, Ross Schunk, Steward Ceus and Rob Valentino. Did I miss somebody? If so, let me know. If not, this award boils down to Best Player Among These Eight Guys. Not the most inspiring category. Dalby played nearly a dozen games. Holody played less than half of that total. The only real choices here were Nick or Jake, and Jake missed the end of the year with a knee injury. But that injury showed just how important Peterson is to the Rapids. With Jamie Smith and Colin Clark out with injuries, the team was prepared to rely on Peterson out wide. Unfortunately, his knee had other ideas. LaBrocca is a mainstay in the starting lineup and seems soccer-wise for his years; the spirit of this award didn’t seem to fit. So I voted for Peterson because of the potential that is implied in this type of award. Hopefully we’ll see LaBrocca and Peterson on the field together for years to come. I would’ve liked to have been voting for newcomer of the year, where there’d be a real discussion between Scott Palguta or Julien Baudet. If we were choosing rookie of the year, Holody played a little but shows real promise. But that’s not what we had here.

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR: Had Ugo Ihemelu finished the season in Colorado, he probably would’ve been my choice. However, his baffling midseason trade makes that point moot. Is it just me or does anybody think there’s some connection to the Rapids going 1-3-4 after the Ihemelu trade? Anyway, let’s focus on who is still here. Jordan Harvey and Kosuke Kimura were tremendous in a season in which Harvey was a mainstay and Kimura moved in and out of the lineup and up to midfield and back to right back. The ability of these two players to move forward offensively was a godsend to a team that lost a lot of skill on the wings because of injuries. The goalkeepers? Burpo and Pickens split time throughout the season, and each played a valuable role. But those roles were limited. Then we have Baudet, who arrived midway through the year and made a big impact. He’s a leader. He’s smooth. He’s skilled. I look forward to watching him with the team for an entire season. But I voted for Scott Palguta. The big guy played with the Rochester Rhinos (under Rapids assistant Steve Guppy) from 2005 to 2008 and signed with Colorado in March. He committed 11 fouls in 23 games, including 19 starts, and only seven Rapids played more minutes than he did. He was a steady force in the middle in his first season in Major League Soccer. I had a real difficult time choosing between Harvey and Palguta.

MVP: Conor Casey. I laid out the reasons here, and some readers sounded off on why they would’ve chosen Cummings. Each player was deserving, and I have no problem with the choice of Cummings.

Pickens also was the Centennial Firm’s defensive player of the year, and Cummings was the Class VI player of the year.

I thought it was interesting that I was on the money for nearly all of my picks in the MLS Best XI balloting. But when it came to the Rapids, the team I saw play more than any other in 2009, none of my votes matched the eventual winners.

When Colorado Rapids coach Gary Smith said, “We need better players,” after losing to Real Salt Lake in the regular-season finale, there was speculation on my part (and others) that one player he was referring to was Mehdi Ballouchy.

So I wasn’t surprised to find that Ballouchy is on the list of players who are eligible to be drafted by the Philadelphia Union in Wednesday’s expansion draft.

However, I wasn’t expecting to see Jordan Harvey and Scott Palguta, who I thought were the team’s two best defenders, or Jacob Peterson, whom I voted for in the team’s annual end-of-season awards as the Rapids’ best young player under the age of 25.

The draft will last 10 rounds, and  Philadelphia may not claim more than one player from any team. Five teams will not have a player taken in the draft. The Rapids have never had a player chosen in any of the league’s expansion drafts.

The Rapids have a much more thorough look at the rules of the expansion draft on the team’s blog.

Here’s a look at all the available Rapids players:
Mehdi Ballouchy
Preston Burpo
Greg Dalby
Facundo Diz
Ty Harden
Jordan Harvey
Pat Noonan
Scott Palguta
Jacob Peterson
Steward Ceus
Mike Holody
Ross Schunk

And here are the players the team protected:
Julien Baudet
Conor Casey
Colin Clark
Omar Cummings
Cory Gibbs
Kosuke Kimura
Nick LaBrocca
Pablo Mastroeni
Drew Moor
Matt Pickens
Jamie Smith

Interestingly, the Rapids protected Ballouchy and Peterson in last year’s expansion draft for the Seattle Sounders, and Kimura was left unprotected. (And, oddly, the Rapids protected Bouna Coundoul, who wound up leaving the team after a contract squabble, and Ugo Ihemelu, whom they traded midseason for Moor).

Burpo, who played a significant role for the Rapids in 2009, survived the Seattle draft, and he also was available for Toronto FC in the 2006 expansion draft. Here’s an old FC Rocky post I wrote about that draft. I had some hits and some misses, but look at the goalkeepers who were available in that draft: Zach Thornton was on the 2009 MLS Best XI, and Nick Rimando, who just was named the MLS Cup MVP with Salt Lake.

So let’s have a look at this year’s expansion draft. Here are the available players from all clubs who will be available on Wednesday for Philadelphia. If you were putting together your own mock draft, who would you pick?

Chivas USA
Conway, Jon
Curtin, Jim
Harmse, Kevin
Jazic, Ante
Kennedy, Dan
Lillingston, Eduardo
Marsch, Jesse
Razov, Ante
Saragosa, Marcelo
Stepanovic, Bojan
Suarez, Claudio
Talley, Carey
Thomas, Shavar
Trujillo, Mariano
Victorine, Sasha
Chijindu, Chukwudi
Mayen, Gerson
Parker, Lance

Chicago Fire
Banner, Michael
Blanco, Cuauhtémoc
Carr, Calen
Dimitrov, Stefan
Dykstra, Andrew
Myrie, Dave
Rolfe, Chris
Segares, Gonzalo
Woolard, Daniel
Lowry, Peter
Washington, Austin

Columbus Crew
Garey, Jason
Gruenebaum, Andy
Hejduk, Frankie
Iro, Andy
Moreno, Alejandro
Nyazamba, Stanley
Oughton, Duncan
Padula, Gino
Renteria, Emilio
Schoeni, Kenny
Burns, Kevin
Elenio, Cory
Grendi, Alex

FC Dallas
Burse, Ray
Purdy, Steve
Ricchetti, Pablo
Rocha, Andre
Sala, Dario
Torres, Daniel
Van Den Bergh, Dave
Wagner, Blake
Wallace, Anthony

D.C. United
Emilio, Luciano
Gomez, Christian
Habarugira, David
Jacobson, Andrew
Janicki, Greg
John, Avery
Khumalo, Thabiso
McTavish, Devon
N’Silu, Ange
Olsen, Ben
Vaughn, Lawson
Wicks, Josh
Allen, Ely
Barklage, Brandon
DiRaimondo, John
Kocic, Milos
Shipalane, Tiyiselani

Houston Dynamo
Barrett, Wade
Chabala, Michael
Clark, Ricardo
Cochrane, Ryan
Landin, Luis
Mulrooney, Richard
Onstad, Pat
Robinson, Eddie
Thompson, Abe
Waibel, Craig
Deric, Tyler
Hayden, John Michael
Ustruck, Erik

Kansas City Wizards
Besler, Matthew
Cristman, Adam
Gomez, Herculez
Hartman, Kevin
Hirsig, Santiago
Hohlbein, Aaron
Kraus, Michael
Kronberg, Eric
McKenzie, Rauwshan
Morsink, Kurt
Watson, Lance
Marquess, Matt
Pardo, Boris

New England Revolution
Albright, Chris
Badilla, Gabriel
Heaps, Jay
Igwe, Amaechi
Jankauskas, Edgaras
Knighton, Brad
Matamoros Castro, Mauricio
Ombiogno, Stephane
Phelan, Pat
Thompson, Wells
Tierney, Chris
Videira, Michael
Shuttleworth, Robert

Los Angeles Galaxy
Dunivant, Todd
Eskandarian, Alecko
Gordon, Alan
Griffin, Leonard
Jordan, Bryan
Kirovski, Jovan
Klein, Chris
Lewis, Eddie
Miglioranzi, Stefani
Sanneh, Tony
Saunders, Josh
Valentin, Julian
Marshall, Yohance
Patterson, Kyle

New York Red Bulls
Boyens, Andrew
Cepero, Daniel
Garcia, Walter
Krupnik, Leonid
Patterson, Caleb
Petke, Mike
Rojas, Jorge
Sassano, Luke
Ubiparipovic, Sinisa
Wolyniec, John
Mbuta, Andongcho
Zimmerman, Nick

Real Salt Lake
Alexandre, Jean
Campos, Pablo
El Khalifi, Rachid
Gonzalez, Nelson
Grabavoy, Ned
Horst, David
Mathis, Clint
Movsisyan, Yura
Reynish, Kyle
Russell, Robbie
Williams, Andy
Cox, Raphael
Nunez, Tino

San Jose Earthquakes
Amarikwa, Quincy
Convey, Bobby
Elliott, Simon
Pitchkolan, Aaron
Ribeiro, Antonio
Salinas, Shea
Weber, Andrew
Wondolowski, Chris
Graczyk, Mike
Roberts, Jamil
Zaher, Michael

Seattle Sounders
Boss, Terry
Eylander, Chris
Graham, Taylor
King, Stephen
LeToux, Sebastien
Levesque, Roger
Riley, James
Scott, Zacharias
Sturgis, Nathan
Vagenas, Peter
Wahl, Tyson
Brown, Evan
Fucito, Michael
Neagle, Lamar
Nyassi, Sanna

Toronto FC
Edwards, Brian
Fellinga, Lesly
Garcia, Nick
Gerba, Ali
Guevara, Amado
Robinson, Carl
Vitti, Pablo
Gala, Gabe

SIZE MATTERS: The official dimensions of the pitch at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park are 120 yards long by 80 yards wide. In contrast, the fields surrounding Dick’s are 110 by 70. The Kansas City Wizards’ media guide suggests that Community America Ballpark is 110 by 70, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were narrower than that. Whatever the size, it’s smaller than the Rapids’ home turf. And the Wizards play to the size of the field, attacking the ball religiously. The Rapids do that on the larger field, which might be more difficult. So when you throw the two teams together on a smaller field, the results are predictable: very tight matching and very little magic.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Davy Arnaud had a few flashes of excitement in him, including nearly ending the game in the third minute of extra time. Kai Kamara centered he ball from the left wing. But although Arnaud got inside of Rapids defender Julien Baudet, he couldn’t put his boot on the bouncing ball, which was all he would’ve had to do. In the 54th minute, Arnaud nearly scored on a snap header that went wide left. Less than five minutes later, his shot sailed just over the crossbar. Arnaud also was part of the most creative play in the game. In the 82nd minute, Claudio Lopez pushed the ball forward to Arnaud, who centered the ball from the left wing to Zoltan Hercegfalvi. The Hungarian, though, poked it just wide of goal. Consideration for man of the match also would go to Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo, K.C. goalkeeper Kevin Hartman and Kansas City left back Michael Harrington, who might be my second choice. But Arnaud was the player most likely to decide the game. Fortunately for the Rapids, he didn’t.

DESPITE WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, PART 1: Arnaud broke into the starting lineup for the Wizards as a rookie in 2003 and has been there ever since.

THERE WERE A COUPLE OF OTHER CLOSE CALLS: Jimmy Conrad off the post in the 79th minute. Kosuke Kimura, attending to one of the posts on a corner kick, stopping a shot with the family jewels. It takes a tremendous amount of courage not to cover the jewels with your hands, which is a risky proposition on the road in the enemy’s penalty area. Nice work, Kosuke.

SAVE OF THE MATCH: A tie between Hartman’s save on Omar Cummings in the 24th minute and

BJORN BORG CALLED AND WANTS HIS STYLE BACK: What’s up with Jimmy Conrad’s headband? If he wore it any lower, it’d be a blindfold.

SATURDAY, BLOODY SATURDAY: At the hour mark, Kansas City striker Josh Wolff made a huge fuss about not getting a call after receiving a bloody nose from a Rapids player. The ref didn’t see the contact, and neither did the television audience, at least not live. But some good work by the camera crew in Kansas City showed what happened: Wolff was behind Scott Palguta, who was running toward his own goal. Palguta’s arm smacked Wolff in the nose during Palguta’s normal running motion. No foul. However, the replay also showed that just before Wolff recoiled from the blow, he gave Palguta a little one-handed shove in the back. Nothing like a little disingenuous outrage for the ref, when you can get away with it.

TWO WRONGS? On the third of three consecutive Wizards corner kicks in the second half, Burpo easily rushed forward and hauled in the ball. But Conrad put both hands on Baudet and spun him to the ground. No whistle. Conrad then gave Baudet an elbow gesture, rationalizing or justifying his opportunity to commit a foul, perhaps.

WITH APOLOGIES TO DAVID LETTERMAN: Kimura, Kamara. Kamara, Kimura.

MISSING: The Rapids announced that Jacob Peterson and Jamie Smith are out for the season with knee injuries. Pickens also missed Saturday’s games.

DESPITE WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, PART 2: Smith had one assist and no goals in the four games he played for the Rapids in 2009.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Burpo, Moor, Baudet, Palguta, Harvey, Mastroeni, LaBrocca, Kimura, Ballouchy, Casey, Cummings. Significantly different lineup and formation. Three in the back, five in the middle. Harvey and Kimura on the wings in the midfield. Pablo and LaBrocca sharing the holding role. Coach Gary Smith used no subs.

DESPITE WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD, PART 3: The last time the Rapids chose to use a three-man back line (intentionally, not out of necessity) was in the Tim Hankinson years. Hank regularly used a defense of Rick Titus, Robin Fraser and Ritchie Kotschau in 2002, especially toward the end of the season.

WIZARDS STARTERS: Hartman, Leathers, Conrad, Besler, Harrington, Arnaud, Hirsig, Jewsbury, Lopez, Kamara, Wolff.

You’ve got to be kidding. For the second time in less than a week, Conor Casey scored on a penalty kick deep into extra time as the Colorado Rapids tied the San Jose Earthquakes 1-1. Casey scored his 15th goal of the season, a Rapids record, about a minute before the end of Wednesday’s match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. Jason Hernandez tripped Omar Cummings in the box in extra time, and referee Ricardo Salazar had little choice but to blow the whistle.

Quakes keeper Joe Cannon dived to his left, and Casey, the leading goal scorer in Major League Soccer, went down the middle for his 15th of the year.

Salazar called the foul on Hernandez just moments after he ignored a collision between San Jose’s Bobby Convey and Casey in the Quakes box. Convey came in from behind as Casey was in the air attempting a header and knocked Casey down. No whistle. The fans in Commerce City were furious.

But the mood changed a few minutes later when Casey scored.

It was a carbon copy of the end of Friday’s game. Casey and the Rapids ended the match nearly the same way. Casey scored on a PK late in stoppage time after Drew Moor was pulled down from behind in the penalty area at San Jose. The Quakes were angry then, and the mood in the locker room was no better after Wednesday’s match.

“Deja vu, y’know? Groundhog Day for us,” Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop said. “Maybe it might’ve been a foul on Casey on the header. I’ll need to see it again. I sort of saw the replay quickly, Bobby Convey over the back.

“I just said to our guys I feel for them. The ball slips away from Bobby Burling, and then Jason’s got to come over late. Cummings is crafty, right? He’s gonna shoot, so he’s thinking, ‘I’ve got to block this.’ ”

So the Quakes, who were within minutes of collecting the full six points against the Rapids, had to settle for two. After finishing two matches in that fashion, there were smiles all around in the Colorado locker room, right?

“I don’t know about smiling. I don’t think anyone is smiling, to be honest,” Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo said. “In the first game we snuck out with a point. Tonight we’ll take the point and keep clawing away at it and head to Kansas City (on Saturday).

Chris Wondolowski scored San Jose’s goal in the 67th minute on a penalty kick. Salazar awarded the PK for a handball in the box on a free kick by Simon Elliott.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Ryan Johnson may be the most underrated striker in the league. He’s strong, fast, big. … He holds the ball well and distributes with ease with his back to goal. … He’s got a great shot, finishes well and is capable of creating space for himself. But how many folks around the league know this? I’m not sure. The folks at Dick’s on Wednesday should know now. In the 82nd minute, he had his second excellent chance at a goal in the late stages that could’ve made the score 2-0 at the time. Frank Yallop knows. “I thought Ryan Johnson was excellent. I feel for him because I think he should’ve got that second goal that he deserved.” He was physical on Wednesday. He worked hard. And he created chances. He was in the mix more than anyone. He was the man of the match.

MORE INJURIES: Jacob Peterson left the game in the 12th minute with an injury to his right knee. He was on crutches after the game. Burpo collided with Wondolowski in the first half and came away with a bright red strawberry under his left eye. He said he was fine.

RAPIDS SCORING RECORD: Casey had been tied with John Spencer for the team record for goals in a season. Spenny scored 14 in 2001 and 2003. Yay, Spenny!

VISIBLE PANTY LINES: Some folks were incensed at the football lines on the field at Dick’s. Gridiron football. And odd football lines at that. Apparently the Denver Dream of the Lingerie Football League played its first game Friday night at “home” while the Rapids were in California. The Dream’s field is about 35 yards wide and 50 yards long plus two end zones. It runs from east to west on the north side of the stadium. And even though the game was six days ago, the lines on the field lingerie on, er, linger on.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS: Painfully small crowd on Wednesday: 6,234. Apparently the threat of rain matters. The temperature matters. The midweek matters. Perhaps even the lack of a sexy opponent matters. But when Casey scored the PK, 6,234 people never sounded so loud.

YALLOP FINED: The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee announced a fine for Yallop. He was fined $750 for confronting the officiating crew following the Earthquakes’ match against the Rapids on Friday.

EARTHQUAKES STARTERS: Joe Cannon, Chris Leitch, Jason Hernandez, Brandon McDonald, Bobby Burling, Andre Luiz, Ramiro Corrales, Ramon Sanchez, Bobby Convey, Ryan Johnson, Chris Wondolowski.

FEW CHANGES FROM FRIDAY: The only starters on Friday who were not on the pitch when Wednesday’s game started were Shea Salinas and Cornell Glen.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Julien Baudet, Drew Moor, Jordan Harvey, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Jacob Peterson, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.

ONE CHANGE FROM FRIDAY: With Mastroeni’s suspension over, he started the game. The player who made room for him from Friday’s starting lineup was defender Scott Palguta.

STYLE MATTERS: Despite the cold night (it was 48 degrees at kickoff), Pablo, LaBrocca, Harvey, Moor, Kimura and Baudet started the game with short-sleeve jerseys.

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 affiliate 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.

Let’s start with the more controversial of the two plays.

Late, late, late in the game, with the Rapids finally putting four or five passes together, the pressure was on the San Jose defense. Colorado earned a corner kick, and Mehdi Ballouchy headed to the left corner flag.

All of the visiting team’s biggest bodies were in the box: Conor Casey, Julien Baudet, Michael Holody, Facundo Diz … even goalkeeper Preston Burpo.

Ballouchy’s corner was headed out of the San Jose penalty area, then second-half Rapids substitute Pat Noonan volleyed the ball back in. His pass sailed over everyone in the middle, but defender Drew Moor was at the far edge of the six-yard box and made a run. Moor had a step on Johnson and was going to get to the ball first.

Then Johnson put his left hand on Moor’s left shoulder and yanked him down from behind.

It was deep, deep, deep in the penalty area, and every Rapids player threw his hand in the air immediately. So did Coach Gary Smith and assistant Steve Guppy.

Referee Edvin Jurisevic had no choice but to award the penalty kick. Of course San Jose fans weren’t happy. Whose fans would be? But Johnson’s infraction was undeniable. It wasn’t a 50-50 call. The foul was blatant, and it was crucial. As crucial as Jurisevic’s decision.

Casey took the penalty kick and, remembering that he’d missed two of his three previous attempts this season, smacked it right down the middle.

This is a game Johnson won’t forget, and it won’t be because of that goal he scored in the eighth minute.

Oddly, that play started from the same area of the field as the one Johnson was whistled for at the end of the match.

Johnson headed a long throw-in from the left sideline into the right side of the Colorado net. Nearly half of the Rapids players seemed to be defending the same piece of the pitch, and nobody was eager to put a body on Johnson. The throw went straight to Johnson, his header sent a looping ball toward goal, and Burpo was caught in no man’s land.

No, in retrospect, that goal will provide no relief for the Earthquakes when thinking about Friday’s game. They did everything they needed to for about 94 minutes to walk away with a victory; it would have been their sixth win of the season.

But as abrupt as the surprise ending developed, it was not unearned or undeserved. Johnson’s foul at the end of the match was as quick and as unexpected as Johnson’s goal at the beginning.

The difference between one team driving home angry and another team flying home happy was the timing.

THE REACTION ON TWITTER: From the reaction expressed on tweets from fans, it’s surprising so many blame the Rapids for this outcome. The Rapids did nothing wrong in this match, other than letting lackluster play devolve into the finish that was so unsavory for the folks of San Jose. Blame the ref? Maybe. Blame Johnson? Certainly (but unlikely). Blame the Rapids? How is that possible?

“The Quakes were screwed by the MLS refs once again, add the Colorado Rapids to the suck it list”

“Bull—”

“hmmm, maybe it’s the 5000+ feet of elevation to their advantage? Nah”

“at least the Earthquakes kept the Rapids from advancing too far.”

“Down with Colorado Rapids”

“casey’s pk goes up…theirs. lol”

“bullshit call at the end gives rapids a pk. casey scores tie game. f— soccer.”

GOOD PLAY IN SHORT SUPPLY: The ESPN audience probably was hoping for a show from Colorado’s high-scoring fowards. And although Casey did add to his league-leading goal total, this was no offensive showcase. The only time the Rapids looked dangerous was in the 50th minute. Casey began a breakout when he took a quick restart at midfield. His pass led Kosuke Kimura up the right wing, and Kimura laced a perfect cross to the forehead of Omar Cummings, who was sprinting straight toward goal. The bang-bang play, however, ended in the sure hands of Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon.

POINTING THE FINGER: ESPN commentator John Harkes put some blame on Julien Baudet and Burpo for Johnson’s goal, and he was right. Baudet did not offer any resistance on Johnson’s header, and Burpo got stuck between Johnson and the back post, where the ball went in.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Cannon. In the 69th minute, Cannon made a stop on a hard, low bouncer from Casey, and then Cannon stopped Cummings on the rebound. Without these two clutch saves, the Rapids leave with all three points, not just one. And Cannon got a hand on Casey’s PK, as well.

CAPT. CONOR: That was Casey with the armband on.

WHAT’S NEXT: The same teams meet again Wednesday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids have six games left, four on the road.

NICE COMBO: I can’t stand the blue tops with the blue shorts, but when the Rapids wear the blue kits and white shorts, it looks really sharp.

MISSING: This was the third game of Pablo Mastroeni’s three-game suspension for a reckless foul against Houston. Goalkeeper Matt Pickens missed his second straight game because of a knee injury suffered a week ago in training. Darren Huckerby was out because of a possible career-threatening injury.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Burpo, Jordan Harvey, Scott Palguta, Baudet, Moor, Jacob Peterson, Ballouchy, Nick LaBrocca, Kimura, Casey, Cummings.

EARTHQUAKES STARTERS: Cannon, Ramiro Corrales, Brandon McDonald, Jason Hernandez, Chris Leitch, Bobby Convey, Ramon Sanchez, Andre Luiz, Shea Salinas, Johnson, Cornell Glen.

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 affiliate 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.