Come blow your vuvuzela! It's time to get on the horn as the Rapids stumble into midseason following a promising start. (Photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

I feel like the old announcer in “Bull Durham” when he proclaims that it is time to call it like it is.

While he rails on it being the worst Bulls team in a half-century, my concern is on a Colorado Rapids squad that is stumbling toward the All Star game after starting the season with such promise.

Something is wrong in Commerce City. The Rapids are mired in a five-game winless streak and foundering under Gary Smith’s tactical experiment.

Looking at recent results is not encouraging.

The Start: After 10 games, the Rapids were 6-3-1. They had just beaten the Columbus Crew 1-0, and the team had allowed just six goals. They weren’t scoring much, but 10 goals had been enough. They were looking up at the Los Angeles Galaxy, but in control of their destiny. It was June 5, and the team hasn’t won since then.

In the subsequent five games, the Rapids are 0-1-4. They have scored six and given up seven. They have slumped to fourth in the Western Conference. They have seen the best start in club history turn into a middling, muddling mess.

And they have looked bad doing it.

Now it’s time to see what the Rapids can piece together to make a run for the promised land of the playoffs in the season’s second half.

Junk the 4-5-1: Notice that Jeff Larentowicz has gone from crucial to ineffective. Watch Omar Cummings chafe as a sorta-midfielder. See the pressure put on Conor Casey to set up and finish attacks. Worry that a team supposedly trying to clog the midfield and then convert to a 4-3-3 on attack is having little success doing either.

I admired Smith for making this tactical change to take advantage of the team’s strength in midfield. However, it’s time to acknowledge that the experiment is not working. The team has become less creative in the attack, relying on airballs at midfield to Casey’s head to start scoring chances.

This team has to get the ball wide to score. Jamie Smith proves that every time he is on the field. Fettering Cummings with the defensive responsibilities of a midfielder is taking away his killer prowess at forward.

This seemed to be confirmed Saturday night when Claudio Lopez and Smith came on. The team reverted to a 4-4-2 in the second half, found the equalizer and nearly had the winner. The team knows the 4-4-2 and needs it.

Lumbering Backs: Big central defenders can be useful for breaking up anything in the air. They can be a liability when facing darting runners. Colorado seems to have an overreliance on big, slow men in the back, and the rest of the league is exposing that fact.

Scott Palguta faces nothing but frustration as an outside back. Experimenting with him there is a mistake. Danny Earls, Kosuke Kimura and Marvell Wynne have the speed and positioning to fill either wing spot. Palguta and Julien Buadet are interchangeable in the middle and should be left there.

Drew Moor has been the one revelation in the back. He has handled the center with aplomb, and made the trade for him with FC Dallas make sense.

Lopez-Ballouchy Conundrum: Mehdi Ballouchy and Caludio Lopez haven’t fit on the pitch at the same time. While the team could benefit from either one, I think it is time to sit Ballouchy and let Lopez pull the strings.

The Argentinian may not be able to go for 90 minutes over the second half of the season, but I would rather have him for 60-70 a night than on the bench for weeks. His touch and passing broke open KC. Sure, he knows his former teammates well, but he knows the game better. It’s time to get the most out of this veteran’s savvy.

Ballouchy has played well, but look at his passing choices against Houston, New York and KC. He has reverted to the back passes and square balls of old. He’s not looking to make the probing pass, in part because he has usually had only one option in front — Casey — and that option had two men marking him. Ballouchy’s old passivity is getting the worst of him and the 4-5-1 doesn’t help.

Forward Conor Casey rounds goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen before clanking a shot off the near post. (Photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Forward Help?: Who comes on when Casey has a bad night? Who comes on if he gets a knock? There is no obvious answer.

The guy has been remarkably healthy and has scored seven of the team’s 16 goals. He’s crucial. He’s also not getting pushed by anyone on the bench.

The lack of SuperLiga, U.S. Open Cup or any other competition means the Rapids can’t complain about wearing out over the season. It also means that there is little room for experimenting. However, why not get Quincy Amarikwa some playing time? I can’t fathom an opposing coach who would look forward to seeing Amarikwa and Cummings on the same front line.

Beat Bad Teams: Kansas City has 16 points on the season and four of them have come against the Rapids. They are a mediocre squad that has gotten the best of Colorado. This can’t continue.

Colorado faces a bad D.C. United team at home and gets two games against the expansion Philadelphia Union in the second half of the season. There’s nine points. Next up is a fading Seattle Sounders squad and a Sept. 4 home date against an adrift Chivas USA. There’s six more points.

Bag all 15, and you’re going to the playoffs. Whatever you don’t get will have to come in matches against Los Angeles, Dallas and archrivals Real Salt Lake. Make the job easier and beat bad teams.

Mid-Term Grade: After Saturday night, this looks like a C+ team. The strength of the first 10 games, and the promise of getting to play the Union twice, gives me hope. For that, I’m putting a B- on the page and a “needs improvement” for this report card.

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

Major League Soccer released the finalists for the league’s 2009 awards today. The winners will be announced starting Wednesday and ending Nov. 19.

The finalists, listed in alphabetical order below for each award, earned the most votes in polling of MLS players, general managers, coaches, referees and members of the media. The MLS W.O.R.K.S.–U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year will be determined by representatives from the U.S. Soccer Foundation and MLS W.O.R.K.S., and is scheduled to be announced Friday.

This season’s most outstanding individual plays will be honored on Nov. 18, when the goal and save of the year are announced. Voting for the goal and save of the year is conducted on the league’s Web site.

The 2009 awards announcements culminate Nov. 22 with the unveiling of the Commissioner’s Award winner.

To go along with the announcement of the league’s award finalists, I’ve included my votes, in order, below.

GOALKEEPER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Kasey Keller – Seattle Sounders
Donovan Ricketts – Los Angeles Galaxy
Zach Thornton – Chivas USA
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Thornton
2) Keller
3) Will Hesmer – Columbus Crew
Hesmer was huge in the Crew’s 1-0 victory over the Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids went 1-0-2 in all competitions against the Galaxy, and they were done playing Los Angeles by April, well before the Glax got hot. So we didn’t see Ricketts at his finest, either.

FAIR PLAY FINALISTS
Kasey Keller – Seattle Sounders
Pat Onstad – Houston Dynamo
Steve Ralston – New England Revolution
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Keller
2) Nat Borchers – Real Salt Lake
3) Chad Marshall – Columbus Crew
I wanted to vote for Omar Cummings of the Rapids, who never falls down unless he’s physically unable to keep himself upright and who never mouths off to the referee unless he believes he was wronged and a more-favorable call would’ve changed the outcome of the match. The two candidates from the Rapids who we were able to choose from were Pat Noonan and Scott Palguta. And why wasn’t Borchers among the three finalists? He was one of a handful of MLS players to start every match, and he committed fewer than 30 fouls during the season.

COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Brian McBride – Chicago Fire
Ben Olsen – D.C. United
Zach Thornton – Chivas USA
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Thornton
No one deserves this more than Zach Thornton. I made only one vote.

DEFENDER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Geoff Cameron – Houston Dynamo
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado – Seattle Sounders FC
Chad Marshall – Columbus Crew
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Marshall
2) Wilman Conde – Chicago Fire
3) Borchers
Marshall was spectacular against the Rapids in August (and all year against everyone). He is the best defender in the league. Conde also was dominant against the Rapids; his Fire squad shocked the Rapids on July 4, and he scored the winning goal. It was perhaps the best performance by a defender in a Rapids game all year. Borchers was instrumental in shutting down Casey in the season finale. He played every game for the Utah squad and was named the team’s MVP.

REFEREE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Alex Prus
Ricardo Salazar
Kevin Stott
I chose not to vote in this category.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Stefan Frei – Toronto FC
Omar Gonzalez – Los Angeles Galaxy
Chris Pontius – D.C. United
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Gonzalez
2) Frei
3) Steve Zakuani – Seattle Sounders
Gonzalez was a beast against Casey in those early games. He was the reason the Rapids won only one of the three meetings between the teams. Frei might win the award. Pontius was the early leader, but I thought he slowed as the season wore on.

COACH OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Bruce Arena – Los Angeles Galaxy
Sigi Schmid – Seattle Sounders FC
Robert Warzycha – Columbus Crew
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Arena
2) Warzycha
3) Denis Hamlett – Chicago Fire
Arena should and will win this. In Los Angeles, he made lemonade out of turmoil and dissension. It was a mess, and he turned it around.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
Kasey Keller – Seattle Sounders FC
Freddie Ljungberg – Seattle Sounders FC
Fredy Montero – Seattle Sounders FC
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Keller
2) Montero
3) Ricketts
I don’t think Ljungberg played enough to be considered here. I was surprised that Ricketts was not selected by more of the voting group. However, I’d have liked to have seen Scott Palguta among the candidates in this category. I thought he was deserving.

MVP FINALISTS
Jeff Cunningham – FC Dallas
Landon Donovan – Los Angeles Galaxy
Shalrie Joseph – New England Revolution
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Conor Casey – Colorado Rapids
2) Brad Davis – Houston Dynamo
3) Donovan
If Casey wins the Golden Boot, he’s among the finalists (and Cunningham isn’t). If the Rapids make the playoffs, Casey is among the finalists (and Cunningham isn’t). If he’s the leading scorer AND the Rapids win that last game, Casey has a legitimate shot at the award. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. … I thought Davis, after D-Ro went to Canada, really showed he was capable of leading one of the best teams in the league. Donovan will win.

PUBLIC RELATIONS AWARD
GEORGIE VOTED FOR …
1) Colorado Rapids
2) New England Revolution
Of course I voted for the Rapids! Jason Gilham, Kieran Cain and Co. are helpful, friendly, available, fast and good. That James Bond intro before every game was classic! They are overworked and understaffed, yet they don’t let that show. Best PR combo ever. And Lizz Summers of New England was one of the few visiting media relations workers who went out of her way to update the Denver-area media about the visiting team. Good on ya!

The media also got to vote on the league’s best 11 players, but I’ll withhold my choices until the league makes an announcement. Here’s one hint: I voted for only one player not mentioned in this post. And it wasn’t Guillermo Barros Schelotto (who was listed as a forward, but I wanted to put him on the team as an attacking midfielder).

RSL knocked the Rapids out of the playoffs (and put itself in) in the final minute of the final game of 2008. And the league set up a similar showdown by pairing the two in the 2009 finale.

It makes sense: Nurture this rivalry by making the teams go head to head at the most crucial juncture. More than likely, some important playoff scenario would come down to the last game for at least one of the two. Why not let them bang heads to decide it?

And get their hate on in the process.

After Saturday’s loss 2-1 loss to FC Dallas, the Rapids have played right into the schedule makers’ hands. Saturday’s match in Texas could’ve ended up anywhere from a 2-2 tie (if Kosuke Kimura puts away his golden opportunity in the second half) to a 6-1 win for Dallas (if the Hoops put away any number of golden opportunities in either half of play).

The Rapids had so many breaks in this game that Altitude color commentator Marcelo Balboa predicted Colorado would come back and tie it 2-2. And you can’t blame him.

Jeff Cunningham was called offside on a play in which he wasn’t.

Referee Edvin Jurisevic was too busy passing out yellow cards to notice Pat Noonan play the ball with his arm in the Rapids’ penalty area.

Cunningham missed a sure goal wide right.

Cunningham missed a sure goal wide left.

Dax McCarty drove a hard shot just over the crossbar.

Cunningham served to David Ferreira, who missed a completely empty net wide after Cunningham drew Rapids goalkeeper Preston Burpo out of the penalty area.

And on and on. The Hoops had so many opportunities to put this one out of reach that it got comical. And it seemed as if the stars were aligning to allow the Rapids their fifth consecutive tie.

Nope. The second Rapids goal didn’t come, and Dallas’ two goals held up.

Dallas got on the board first in the fourth minute. Van den Bergh served a wicked free kick in front of the Rapids’ goal, and the towering George John slipped in front of Jordan Harvey and headed it in.

Balboa was right on the money in pointing out that John was aggressive on the play, attacking the ball, and Harvey was passive, waiting for the ball to come to him. That was the difference in the goal, and it was a rare mistake from Harvey this season. He has played consistently at a high level for Colorado all year, and this is a rare blemish on his 2009 record.

The Hoops made it a 2-0 lead when Ugo Ihemelu put the ball in the net in the second half after another Dallas free kick. Ihemelu swiped at the ball with his leg, sending it toward goal. Burpo made the initial save, but the rebound bounced into the net after hitting Burpo’s leg or foot. Whatever body part happened to be the culprit, it was a goal for Dallas.

Pat Noonan gave the Rapids some hope in the 71st minute. For some reason the goal was unassisted, but Nick LaBrocca set it up with some nice footwork along left edge of Dallas’ penalty area. Noonan showed some fancy moves of his own to keep the ball in front of him and away from former Rapids defender Ihemelu, then he fooled Dallas keeper Dario Sala with a shot to the near post. Sala was looking far post, and Noonan almost twisted him into the ground like a tent stake.

But that was it from the Rapids. Colorado beat Toronto 1-0 in Commerce City on Sept. 5 and hasn’t won a game since. The team has logged a 0-2-4 record in that stretch and has scored only six goals, three from the penalty spot.

Six matches. Four points.

It’s a bad time of the season to be hitting a wall. And the last chance to get over that wall is Saturday.

In Sandy, Utah.

RACE FOR THE GOLDEN BOOT: In a highly anticipated meeting between the top contenders for the MLS Golden Boot, Cunningham and Rapids striker Conor Casey came up empty. Cunningham couldn’t finish any of his numerous chances, and Casey’s teammates couldn’t put him in a position to score. So, instead, we got John’s first goal in MLS, Ihemelu’s first goal of the season and Noonan’s second goal with the Rapids.

ALTITUDE HIGH JINKS 1: The Kroenke entertainment and sports programming network missed the first four minutes of the match, opting to show the Colorado Avalanche on Altitude and Altitude 2 simultaneously. The first we saw was Cory Gibbs objecting to a foul outside of the box (which is what led to van den Bergh’s fateful free kick). I’m not sure everybody had that problem in the metro area, but that’s what we got in Greeley on Comcast.

ALTITUDE HIGH JINKS 2: When will they stop superimposing images of the announcing team in front of the road stadium? It’s bush league. Just show them in the studio. It’s obvious Cory Lopez and Balboa aren’t at the stadium (Balboa even talked about driving to the game on Saturday), and trying to give the impression that they are on location is deceitful. Fox Soccer Channel often has its announcers in the studio (and not at the match site), and it never feels the need to lie to its viewers. They don’t make a point of hiding the fact that they’re not at the stadium; they just don’t try to show viewers that they are.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Dave van den Bergh’s service on the first Dallas goal was sublime, a low, curling rope of a kick. The Dallas offense was firing bullets that the Rapids couldn’t stop, only dodge, and van den Bergh was pulling the trigger. In the first 20 minutes of the second half, Dallas attacked in waves, with van den Bergh leading the charge. I thought Ihemelu matched up well with Omar Cummings and was making a case to be man of the match. And when Ugo scored his goal, the case got stronger. But there was a fire in Dallas’ bellies on Saturday, and van den Bergh threw fuel on the fire with his offense.

MISSING: The Rapids were without defender Julien Baudet and midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy because of disciplinary suspensions.

YOUNG AT THE BACK: When Rapids coach Gary Smith took Cory Gibbs out of the game in the 63rd minute, I thought it was a strong vote of confidence in defender Scott Palguta. Then, when Smith took out Palguta for striker Ross Schunk in the 87th, I thought it was a strong vote of confidence in rookie defender Michael Holody.

MAN WITH TWO FIRST NAMES: George John has a name that’s odd because it’s difficult not to think of either name as a first name. George. John. John. George.Then that got me thinking. George, er, John wasn’t the only player on the pitch with two first names, too. What about Jordan Harvey? And Conor Casey? But is Conor a first name or a last name more often. And, to be fair, if you consider how many folks have named their precious little boy Tanner in the past 20 years, I’m rocking two first names as well.

RAPIDS STARTERS: Preston Burpo, Drew Moor, Cory Gibbs, Scott Palguta, Kosuke Kimura, Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Pat Noonan, Jordan Harvey, Conor Casey, Omar Cummings.

DALLAS STARTERS: Dario Sala, Heath Pearce, Ugo Ihemelu, George John, Jair Benitez, Atiba Harris, Daniel Hernandez, Dax McCarty, Dave van den Bergh, Jeff Cunningham, David 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 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.

On Sept. 18, Rapids striker Conor Casey scored a second-half goal on a penalty kick at San Jose. The Earthquakes were upset at the referee’s decision to award the PK to Colorado. They were angry at the result, a tie.

In the Rapids’ next game, also against San Jose, Casey scored on a second-half penalty kick as the Rapids came away with another tie. The Quakes were frustrated at the outcome, once again not happy with the call.

On Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, it was New England’s turn.

Casey scored on a PK, his third in the past four matches, in the 58th minute as the Rapids tied the Revolution 1-1 in Commerce City. Emmanuel Osei’s foul on Omar Cummings in the penalty area set up Colorado’s tying score.

After the match, New England coach Steve Nicol was still shaking his head about referee Baldomero Toledo’s decision to award the penalty.

“The decision against us with the penalty was just wrong, wrong,” Nicol said. “We’ve come away thinking we should’ve won the game. … Disappointed to only get a point, even more disappointed that it was a bad decision.”

But if the Revs were upset about that call, the Rapids were not thrilled with another decision by Toledo, one that should’ve provided New England with an edge over the last 30 minutes of play.

At the hour mark, Rapids defender Julien Baudet was jostling with New England’s Kheli Dube, and Baudet was incited by some action on Dube’s part. Baudet made a large sweeping motion toward Dube with his arm, an attempt to put some distance between him and the Revolution forward.

Dube, though, fell to the ground. And the swing of the arm and the player on the pitch added up to a red card for Baudet.

“It’s been my experience that if you raise your arm, you might get yourself into trouble,” Baudet said. “But I’m pretty sure he did get a meal out of it.”

New England, though, couldn’t manage to possess the ball for any worthwhile period after the Rapids were forced to play with only 10 men on the field. And, in fact, it was the Rapids who had the best chance of the final half hour.

With about two minutes to play, Colorado defender Kosuke Kimura passed forward to Casey, who slipped around his marker and streaked toward goal. Casey spotted Omar making a run and passed to his forward partner. Omar got in tight enough to shoot with accuracy and power, but his shot smacked off the crossbar.

Nicol praised the Rapids for their work rate after Baudet’s ejection.

“I don’t think you could tell which team played a man down and which team didn’t,” he said.

Nicol’s squad got on the board first. Dube headed in a free kick from Kenny Mansally 30 minutes into the game.

The game was the Rapids’ fourth straight tie, and it extended the team’s scoring frustrations. Although Casey registered his 16th goal of the season, Colorado hasn’t scored a goal during the run of play since Sept. 12.

And the team hasn’t won since Sept. 5. Perhaps there’s some connection.

SEEN AT THE STADIUM: Former U.S. national teamer Mike Burns, who is now the Revolution’s vice president in charge of player personnel.

SCARY MOMENTS: On a corner kick just seconds before the end of first-half stoppage time, Shalrie Joseph came flying in from the left side. He missed the ball, but his momentum carried him down and into the back of Omar Cummings’ legs. Cummings and Joseph both lay on the turf long after all the players returned to the locker room. Omar got up after a few minutes and shook it off, but Joseph didn’t get up until less than 10 minutes before the second half began. Joseph started the second half and appeared fine. Official word was that he suffered a neck sprain.

ATTENDANCE MATTERS: Not a bad crowd on Saturday. It’s NFL season. It’s college football season. It’s still baseball season. High school sports of all kinds are in full swing. But Dick’s Sporting Goods Park was proudly well-attended. The south stands were packed, as was the west side of the stadium. There were so many fans on the east side it was difficult to read the COLORADO spelled out with white seats. Not a bad turnout for October. Official count: 16,535.

WEATHER MATTERS: It was cloudy and 59 degrees when the match began, at 7 p.m.

YELLOW CARD FOR BEING SHALLOW AND PEDANTIC: Toledo could’ve received a yellow card of his own for making such a ticky-tack decision when he showed a yellow to Mehdi Ballouchy in the third minute. Ballouchy was cautioned for delaying a restart. A whistle? Certainly. A yellow card? Petty.

SAME PLAYER, DIFFERENT SHADE OF BLUE: Former Rapids midfielder Nico Colaluca, traded to the Revs in midseason, had played in only three games and started none before Saturday. Ain’t it funny how things have a way of coming full circle? There he was in the Revs’ starting lineup at Dick’s. And Colaluca wanted to prove something. When he made Burpo dive to his right on a long shot in the 44th minute, he slapped his hands together strongly to show his displeasure at not scoring.

OVERHEARD: Rapids defender Rob Valentino, who was acquired in the trade for Colaluca, was getting the business from his former teammates in the hallway between the teams’ locker room: “So that’s what passes for game-day attire now?”

REVS STARTERS: Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, Emmanuel Osei, Sainey Nyassi, Nico Colaluca, Shalrie Joseph, Pat Phelan, Amaechi Igwe, Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally.

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

SHORT SLEEVES: Baudet, Moor, Harvey, Kimura, Noonan, Casey, LaBrocca, Pablo.

LONG SLEEVES: Ballouchy, Cummings. I don’t really have a point here; I just think it’s interesting.

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.

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.

Colorado striker Conor Casey wasn’t supposed to be at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night. He wasn’t supposed to score the winning goal for the Rapids in a crucial 1-0 victory against Toronto FC.

He was supposed to be one state away, playing for the U.S. men’s national team in its World Cup qualifier against El Salvador in Sandy, Utah.

But Casey had surgery to remove his wisdom teeth on Monday. The Rapids said his surgeon advised him not to travel for a few days, and by Wednesday he still hadn’t joined the Nats in Utah.

So U.S. coach Bob Bradley and Casey came to an agreement. Call it a bit of wisdom. They reasoned that without the training with the rest of the team, Casey was unlikely to play against El Salvador. So they decided he would stay in Colorado.

Good thing he did.

Casey’s goal in the 52nd minute was the difference, as the Rapids gained the upper hand against Toronto in the fight for a playoff spot. Before the game, the Rapids had only a two-point edge over TFC. Afterward, the Canadian team was still sitting at 31 points in the standings while the Rapids shot up to 36. The teams meet again Saturday afternoon at BMO Field.

The strike came of Casey’s fabulous forehead on a cross from Jacob Peterson. Omar Cummings was making a run up the right wing, but he ran out of room. He tapped back to Peterson, who had plenty of time to pick out Casey in front of the Toronto goal. Peterson’s cross was true, and Casey’s header was unstoppable.

“Omar has been attracting so many defenders, he’s been so dangerous this season every game,” Peterson said. “And when you’ve got a player like that who attracts attention, he attracted two guys down to him, leaving me wide open. It’s my job to put that ball in in a good spot for Conor. And if I don’t then I let the team down. Conor had a great finish.”

The Rapids held the lead for about 25 minutes before Toronto’s Amadou Sanyang earned his second yellow of the night and was ejected, leaving the visitors with 10 players on the field. And less than 10 minutes after that, Adrian Serioux, who entered the game at halftime, left in the 84th for a serious foul on Cummings.

After a long punt by Rapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens, Serioux and Cummings were rushing to get control of the ball. Serioux threw an elbow and followed through with his shoulder, knocking Cummings down about three yards outside the Toronto penalty area.

The Rapids couldn’t convert the ensuing free kick, but they had so much possession in the waning minutes that the crowd at times began to count the number of consecutive passes the team strung together.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Casey was announced as man of the match at the stadium, but this was a close call. Sure he scored the goal, but he also missed a penatly kick in the first half that gave life to Toronto, which came out of the locker room fired up at the intermission. Cummings had another tremendous game, adding his league-leading 11th assist. Julien Baudet showed great skill and heart at center back, playing through injury and using the misdirection of a wily veteran to move a couple balls up the field that a defender with less experience might just boot out of touch. Pickens had another shutout, his seventh, as the Rapids maintained their dominance at home (the team has allowed only eight goals in 13 games at Commerce City, losing only twice). Jordan Harvey, Mehdi Ballouchy, Nick LaBrocca, Peterson, Kosuke Kimura … the list goes on. But I’ll have to agree and take Casey. On target or off, he was the story on Saturday night, scoring his league-leading 12th goal of 2009.

MLS DEBUT: Defender Michael Holody made his Major League Soccer debut, replacing Pat Noonan in the 74th minute. Noonan left the game, Kimura pushed up into the right midfield spot, and Holody stepped in at right back, providing a larger, stay-at-home presence on D. And Holody also got his first yellow card of his MLS career. On a throw-in at the 84-minute mark, Holody kept creeping up the line looking for someone to throw to. Referee Terry Vaughn interpreted his actions as stalling and cautioned the rookie.

THE SEEN: A big thanks to Nick Thomas of WeWantRapidman for pointing out to me that the Toronto FC director of media and public relations is Michelle Lissel, formerly of the “Fox Sports World Report.” Take a look at the pictures, and maybe you’ll see why I didn’t recognize her. On the left is how she appeared on “FSWR,” and the picture on the right is how she looks today.

WAS THAT NEW? A sideline advertising board at the north end of the stadium was promoting gousabid.com.

GONE: Jamie Smith (knee strain), Cory Gibbs (thigh strain) and Scott Palguta (calf strain) were unavailable for the Rapids. Captain Pablo Mastroeni was serving the first game of a three-game suspension for dangerous play in last week’s game against Houston. Toronto was missing Amado Guevara, who scored for Honduras in a 4-1 victory in a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday.

TORONTO STARTERS: Frei, Attakora, Brennan, Garcia, Gomez, Wynne, Sanyang, Vitti, Cronin, Barrett and D-Ro! (Sorry, ColoradoSoccerNow.com loves D-Ro.)

RAPIDS STARTERS: Pickens, Kimura, Baudet, Moor, Harvey, Noonan, Ballouchy, LaBrocca, Peterson, Casey, Cummings.

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.