ClapThe Colorado Rapids earned their first win of the season on Sunday, but it was almost not to be and not until the 82nd minute after the match was scoreless that the Andre Shinyashiki gave Colorado the hope they had been waiting for.
A much needed win, Colorado defeated the LA Galaxy 1-0, and for Shinyashiki, it was his second goal of the year and brought an end to losing streak that went eight matches, it was also a win that saw Conor Casey earning his first victory as interim coach.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard stop six shots for Colorado, who now sit at one win, nine losses and two draws. The win gave Howard his first shutout since last season while under the direction of former head coach Anthony Hudson.
Major League Soccer
David Bingham, goalkeeper for the LA Galaxy stop four shots on point. It was the first game without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Galaxy’s star striker who was suspended for two games after a May 11th neck grabbing incident involving Sean Johnson, the goalkeeper for New York FC.
The Colorado Rapids outshot LA, who is sitting with seven wins, five losses and one draw, and failed to create scoring opportunities. They have lost the last four games and with the losses, fall to fourth in the standings. The Rapids amped up their game in the second half, and that saw them creating openings, one of which resulted in Shinyashiki sent the ball to Kei Kamara while on a 3-on-2 breakaway.
However, it was Shinyashiki who came through for the Rapids scoring 82 minutes in to give them the 1-0 win over LA after Kamara’s attempt failed when Bingham came off the line blocking his shot. Shinyashiki was right there to pick up the rebound and sent it just inside the post.
The goal came as the Rapids were having one of their best halves this season. Kamara missed the chance at scoring twice, once in the 58th minute when his shot went over the bar and again in the 76th minute when his header hit the post. Colorado also nearly scored a minute after the Shinyashiki goal when Sam Nicholson fired off a shot that Giancarlo Gonzalez managed to clear at the last minute.
LA had early chances to take the lead but failed in each of their attempts. Rolf Feltscher and Favio Alvarez both fired off shots at Tim Howard, and a deflection by Emmanuel Boateng was cleared by defender Keegan Rosenberry, and that kept Galaxy at bay.
The Colorado Rapids now move on to the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday and FC Cincinnati on Saturday. The La Galaxy will head to Orlando to face the Orlando City SC on Friday and Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday.
