Colorado Rapids at L.A. Galaxy Round Two: Keys To Win Analysis

The Colorado Rapids defense wasn’t great. 

It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either.  There were two goals that were given up.  Two goals that counted anyway.  The L.A. Galaxy had two more that were waved off for offsides.  The Galaxy were shooting away and the Colorado Rapids were probably lucky to only give up two goals.

The biggest task at hand in this game for the Rapids was to keep the ball out of the goal.  This was done all but two times, but that doesn’t mean the Rapids were playing great defense.  The Galaxy took 13 shots this game compared to 8 total shots in their first meeting.  The Galaxy only had 5 of those shots on target which is probably what saved the Rapids from a blowout.

The other concerning and somewhat telling stats when it comes to the Colorado Rapids failure on defense is the fact that the Rapids had possession 60.4% of the match.  This is a telling stat because had the Rapids Defense been playing at their best then we wouldn’t see the L.A. Galaxy getting away with 13 shots when they only had the ball less than 40% of the match. Had the Rapids defenders been getting in the way of good shots then the Galaxy shouldn’t be taking as many shots.

Argument can be made in that there were only 5 shots on target taken by the Galaxy offense.  I think this is something that needs to be said because the defense still did a decent job.  This means that the Galaxy had 8 of their shots taken that weren’t even close to touching net.  

The Colorado Rapids defense is what both saved this game and gave it away.  The defense is what I hold responsible for the final result of a draw.  The defense is what I credit for saving the game and not letting the Galaxy run away with the match.  The defense is what I credit for not getting the win.