Karl Gehring, The Denver PostRapids goalkeeper Matt Pickens, right, traded words with Vancouver's Joe Cannon before Wednesday's game.
This latest batch of Rapids player ratings comes from guest contributor Chris “UZ” White, a Colorado native who runs the Burgundy Wave blog and is a member of the Bulldog Supporters Group. Find Chris on Twitter @BurgundyWave and @uzworm
The 2012 edition of the Colorado Rapids seems to have an unfortunate Jekyll and Hyde complex when it comes to finishing.
Had the Rapids converted the chances they created against Vancouver as well as they did against Portland last week, then Wednesday’s game would have been lauded as another fine success by Oscar Pareja’s powerful offense.
Unfortunately, the finishing was hit again by the bad luck bug and the Rapids got nicked by Vancouver 1-0 on the Caps’ only shot on goal of the game.
Similar to the first Vancouver game — a match strikingly similar to Wednesday’s when you look at it — there’s going to be mostly good scores given here to the Rapids players after a great overall performance ruined because of bad luck.
Matt Pickens – 5
He only had the one shot to deal with all game, and he didn’t deal with it. Of course, the goal was nowhere near his fault, but it’s hard to give a better score to Matt when he scarcely had anything else to do.
Karl Gehring, The Denver PostRapids' defender Luis Zapata -- Colorado's co-man of the match -- takes the ball from Vancouver's Barry Robson.
Luis Zapata – 7
A signature performance from Zapata. You never saw anything go down on the left side of the pitch for Vancouver for a reason, Zapata had it locked down. He came forward on offense nicely as well, though obviously nothing ever came from his chances.
Drew Moor – 5.5
Both Moor and Wynne whiffed on the ball that ended up in the back of the net off of Darren Mattocks, though the game really shouldn’t have come down to that one play. Past that, Moor was efficient all game.
Marvell Wynne – 5.5
Wynne continues to look just a slight step behind his old pace as he recovers from injury. His speed is just about back, but some of his more physical defending is still lacking. He played well all evening, minus of course the whiff on Mattock’s goal.
Hunter Freeman – 5.5
Not nearly as dominant as he was against Portland, but he had a lot more to do defensively so it was understandable. Held his ground well and created a few attacking chances but didn’t do anything particularly noteworthy.
Brian Mullan – 6
Mullan continues to be solid if not spectacular for the Rapids, a gritty worker on the wings. He created offense just about as well as anyone else did against the Whitecaps, but none of his crosses were of the quality that we saw against Portland.
Jeff Larentowicz – 5
Larentowicz got more involved with the offense than usual on Wednesday, but not in a particularly effective way. At the very least, his distribution and defensive work in the midfield were still solid — we just don’t need to see him taking terrible headers in the box any more, thank you.
Martin Rivero – 5
Not Rivero’s best game. His set pieces seemed off the mark and he never found an opportunity to unleash a shot on net. Despite that, he did provide solid passing work and made some good plays happen with his control on the ball in the final third.
Jaime Castrillon – 5.5
The offense couldn’t finish, but most of the chances that came close seemed to involve Castrillon somehow. Was more involved in the passing play in midfield than usual, and his drifting play into the box resulted in quite a few of the near misses we saw all night.
Karl Gehring, The Denver PostOmar Cummings tries to get around Vancouver defender Lee Young-Pyo.
Omar Cummings – 4
Another frustrating game from Omar, but those are becoming par for the course. It’s unacceptable as a striker to have no shots through 60 minutes of play when so many opportunities were presented. He seems to be stuck in 2011 form, and that’s a really bad thing.
Conor Casey – 7
The Portland game was a monstrous return of form for Casey and he continued tearing it up against the Whitecaps. He was strong, held off three defenders regularly and was unafraid to shoot the ball, which would have turned into several goals if not for Joe Cannon.
SUBS
Tony Cascio – 5
Cascio misfired quite a few times in relief of Cummings, but at least he was shooting the ball.
Jamie Smith – 5.5
Smith was brought on right after Cascio, possibly in an attempt to recreate the magic we saw out of the pairing late against Portland. Nothing really ended up coming of it. Smith did take over set pieces for Rivero late in the match and provided some solid service, but nothing that turned into a goal.
Edu – INC
Other than one chance in the box which Edu just barely missed with his head, I don’t think I saw him do much of anything in his 18 minutes of play.