Rapid Counterattack
Denver's sports scene is weird. The Broncos are somehow 5-1 with Jake Plummer and his beard quarterbacking their offense. The backup point guard for the Nuggets stands about as tall as my mother. And the Colorado Rapids, despite having strong players in the middle of the park, insist on relying on the counterattack and playing direct.
With Kyle Beckerman and Pablo Mastroeni manning Colorado's central midfield, you would think the Rapids would want to keep the ball and allow these two to disect opposing defenses. But that's not how they played on Saturday night in the playoff opener against FC Dallas, and it's not how they have played all year. Instead, Colorado scurried around the pitch to keep good pressure on the ball and, once they won it, tried to immediately find Thiago Martins or Niko downfield. Mastroeni, only a starter for the U.S. in the 2006 World Cup, was rarely involved.
Leaving Mastroeni out of the offensive fold prior to his play in Germany would have been more justifiable. Bruce Arena did not inject Mastroeni, a defensive midfielder by trade, into his lineup with the thought that he would liight up the joint, but Mastroeni showed more offensive flare than ever before. In one instance, he stepped up and smacked a strike from distance that beat the opposing keeper but narrowly missed the frame. To not exploit Mastroeni against MLS competition seems nuts - not what you would expect from a sharp guy like Fernando Clavijo.
Then again, Clavijo may be on to something. Without Mastroeni piloting the attack, the Rapids nearly upset top seeded Dallas in what turned out to be a 2-1 defeat. Thiago Martins had multiple scoring chances on the counterattack, as did Niko. Terry Cooke pocketed the lone Rapid goal off a rebound from a Martins blast off the post. Martins turn and shot was the product of, you guessed it, a quick counterattack.
If Colorado can avoid Mastroeni and still nearly beat the top seeded team in the Western Conference, you have to wonder how good they could be if they included Mastroeni in their game plan.
With Kyle Beckerman and Pablo Mastroeni manning Colorado's central midfield, you would think the Rapids would want to keep the ball and allow these two to disect opposing defenses. But that's not how they played on Saturday night in the playoff opener against FC Dallas, and it's not how they have played all year. Instead, Colorado scurried around the pitch to keep good pressure on the ball and, once they won it, tried to immediately find Thiago Martins or Niko downfield. Mastroeni, only a starter for the U.S. in the 2006 World Cup, was rarely involved.
Leaving Mastroeni out of the offensive fold prior to his play in Germany would have been more justifiable. Bruce Arena did not inject Mastroeni, a defensive midfielder by trade, into his lineup with the thought that he would liight up the joint, but Mastroeni showed more offensive flare than ever before. In one instance, he stepped up and smacked a strike from distance that beat the opposing keeper but narrowly missed the frame. To not exploit Mastroeni against MLS competition seems nuts - not what you would expect from a sharp guy like Fernando Clavijo.
Then again, Clavijo may be on to something. Without Mastroeni piloting the attack, the Rapids nearly upset top seeded Dallas in what turned out to be a 2-1 defeat. Thiago Martins had multiple scoring chances on the counterattack, as did Niko. Terry Cooke pocketed the lone Rapid goal off a rebound from a Martins blast off the post. Martins turn and shot was the product of, you guessed it, a quick counterattack.
If Colorado can avoid Mastroeni and still nearly beat the top seeded team in the Western Conference, you have to wonder how good they could be if they included Mastroeni in their game plan.
posted by jcanzo at 11:27 PM
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