Winning streak propels Rapids
Three straight victories put Colorado in playoff hunt
"It's all about coaching," Clavijo joked after shutting out the LA Galaxy and moving into a tie for eighth place in the overall standings. "It's the right moment to do it. We're excited. We're finding different people to come in and help us win games. We're putting the ball in the back of the net. We're not allowing people to have many chances. We're playing good soccer, and I'm very pleased."
LA came into Colorado reeling from injuries that saw eight of their starters out and a schedule that has worn them down. But Clavijo saw the by-necessity new-look Galaxy offered as potentially even more troublesome than facing the team at full strength, with an offensive one-two punch of Landon Donovan and David Beckham all too familiar to Clavijo.
"Having LA come in with a depleted team was probably one of the most challenging matches for us as a staff and as players," Clavijo said. "To set yourself up, you don't know what to look at."
The lack of familiar faces on the opposing side might sound like a minor obstacle, but Clavijo was also concerned that his team not get overly complacent as a result of the Galaxy no-shows Sunday.
"Sometimes you play to the same level as the team you're playing," Clavijo said. "When they don't have their superstars, you think you can let your guard down, and you pay the price for that. But that was not the case today. We played well. We connected again, and I was very pleased with the team."
On the field, the Rapids showed no signs of complacency, although with a 3-0 lead entering the second half, they were willing to slow the game down and let an uncharacteristically conservative LA squad dictate the pace. But they refused to get in the mindset of playing against a team battling to stay out of the cellar, choosing instead to approach the game as though it had championship implications.
"I could care less who was out there," said veteran defender Mike Petke, who scored his first goal of the season from a Terry Cooke corner kick in the 43rd minute. "For us it was a third straight opportunity to get a win and to get into playoff contention. Right now I think we're tied for the last spot. That was the only thing on my mind. From the result and the way we played it looked like that was on everybody's mind. They could have put out David Beckham, Zidane -- they could have put anybody out. Our mentality would have been the same."
Despite laughing off any credit he deserves for stepping up his coaching game, Clavijo clearly has found a way to motivate his team, rebounding from a 10-game winless streak to a three-game stretch in which they're playing the best soccer of their season.
Clavijo admitted to challenging his players, including Conor Casey, an early-season acquisition from Toronto, and Casey has met the challenge in recent matches, revitalizing the offense through his aggressive play. The Denver native scored his first MLS goal in front of his hometown crowd to put the Rapids on the board in the 26th minute, energizing his teammates, who continued on to match their season high with three goals.
"Conor Casey has been superb the last two games," Clavijo said. "The last game he was not able to see his name in the scoring sheet, but today he did. He does a lot of stuff: he creates, he holds the ball up front, and that's what why we brought him in. We haven't been able to see him that way.
"I was very upfront with him, I said in the beginning he wasn't showing up very well. 'We didn't bring you here to be on the bench. You have to show me you can do better than what you're showing right now,' and I think the last two games he has done it. He's been around for a long time, but he's a young guy who has a lot of things that we can use and give us to make a good run now for the playoffs."
Casey credits a teamwide "back-to-basics" approach for his own increased productivity on the field.
"The way we've been scoring the last two or three games has been a lot better," Casey said, noting the team's two three-goal performances coming in their last two games. "We've been playing a lot more direct and simpler. It's been fun to play, and that's really the main thing."
He stayed busy throughout the game, sharing chances with fellow Coloradoan Colin Clark, who scored the Rapids second goal, Petke, Cooke, 80th-minute substitute Herculez Gomez, and fellow striker Jovan Kirovski, who fed Casey on his goal.
Owen Perkins is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
