Colorado Rapids at L.A. Galaxy Round Two: Keys To Win Analysis
By Ryan Palmer
The Colorado Rapids were tough in some ways.
Tough play was the final of the keys to the win I suggested for the Colorado Rapids to pull out a win over the L.A. Galaxy in Tuesday’s repeat match. Tough play was key to winning this match in order to control the flow of this game. If the Rapids could control the pace and push the tempo they would have given some relief to the defense and also gotten under the Galaxy’s skin. They did play tough in some areas but fell short in others.
The Colorado Rapids did great work controlling the ball. They kept possession of the ball 60.4% of the time. This was huge in controlling the pace of the game. The Galaxy in their 39.6% possession shot 13 times. Had the roles been reversed the Galaxy could have shot even more on the Rapids defense potentially leading to more goals.
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Where the Rapids fell down in the toughness department was in the fouls department. Now, this may not have necessarily been a bad thing as the Rapids as the Colorado Rapids needed to choose their fouls wisely. The Rapids only committed seven fouls and had one yellow card. The Galaxy on the other hand had 12 fouls and two yellow cards. It seems as though the Galaxy were controlling from a hard-hitting stand point.
The toughness factor I don’t think played a huge role in the outcome of this match. Extra tough play with a little extra defense could have made a difference for either side. It was an interesting match where a couple different factors could have made big differences.
Overall the Colorado Rapids executed their game plan how they needed to. The game ended a draw instead of a win but the Rapids can’t win them all and on the road against a good team I will take any points. This draw should be counted as a win in the minds of Rapids fans and the team alike.