Echoing the home opener at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Friday night, the Colorado Rapids earned a 4-0 shutout against the New York Red Bulls, and four players scored. A DSGP sell-out crowd of 18,776 watched the Rapids dominate from the kickoff to the final whistle, raising Colorado’s winning percentage to a formidable 11-1-1 at home on Independence Day.

“We kind of felt pressure today,” noted Colorado captain Pablo Mastroeni. “We haven’t had a win in a while. We wanted to come out strong and be aggressive and pressure them quickly.”

Playing three in the back with Mastroeni, Ugo Ihemelu, and Facundo Erpen, head coach Fernando Clavijo put Moroccan midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy with Nick LaBrocca behind Christian Gomez in the center of the formation. Ballouchy had his most complete match in a Colorado uniform, scoring the second goal, developing the fourth goal, retaining the ball, and creating relentless attacks all night.

“Christian [Gomez] is still nursing an injury,” Clavijo said. “So it was good to have Mehdi, who can also penetrate, connect, and score.”

“We have guys on this team who are very talented,” Mastroeni observed. “We see it all week in practice. When you’ve got guys like Mehdi in the midfield you can pop it into, it relieves a lot of pressure from the back. And it drops the other team on their heels because they don’t want to get caught on the wrong side of the ball.”

The first scoring opportunity of the night came from Ballouchy’s foot in the seventh minute when he held the ball amid a couple defenders before launching a cross from the right wing to the far post. Gomez got his head on the ball, but it went over the crossbar.

Ballouchy kept the pressure on, and Colin Clark earned corner kicks and challenged Hunter Freeman on the flank.

Behind Clark, Erpen battled with Dane Richards. In fact, when Richards shifted to the opposite wing for a few plays, Erpen stayed with him. In the 24th minute Erpen lost possession to Richards, but the Argentinian defender tackled the ball into the air before Richards could race down the right wing. Clark collected it, touched it back to Erpen, and raced up the left wing to receive a return pass.

Clark worked free from Freeman and dribbled into the left side of the penalty box. Conor Casey made a near-post run to Clark, who chipped the ball over to a wide-open Tom McManus to touch into the net from a few feet away. McManus raced to the corner and did a brief tight-rope walk with the flag on the endline to celebrate the goal.

Red Bull defender Jeff Parke responded immediately after the goal with a solo run up the spine of the field, firing a shot from outside the penalty box. But Bouna Coundoul came up with his first save of the game.

In the 36th minute, Gomez worked through a crowd and slipped the ball to McManus on the left side of the box. McManus played it to Casey, who laid it out wide to a rushing Terry Cooke. Cooke looked to be lined up for a goal like his blast in the season opener. But he played it hard on the ground to a rushing Ballouchy to first-time into the net from close range.

Before the halftime break, Ballouchy raced into the box and cut back artfully before sending a cross to Clark.

In the 41st minute, Richards finally got by Erpen and sent a ball into the middle that eventually reached New York’s Dave van den Bergh, who blasted a low shot on goal. But Coundoul made his second and final save of the night. However, Coundoul had plenty of crosses and through-balls to tend to before the night was over.

Seeking more offense, New York head coach Juan Carlos Osorio put Juan Pablo Angel in for midfield captain Seth Stammler, and Mike Magee came on for Freeman. Angel managed one shot in the 60th minute, a free kick over the bar. But that was all that the Colombian could manage on Friday night. Recovering from injury, Angel couldn’t create much from the cobwebs and air his teammates provided for scoring chances.

Clavijo replaced Conor Casey with Omar Cummings at halftime, and Cummings eventually scored against the fraying Red Bull defense. But it was Clark who tugged on the first loose thread on the left wing in the 49th minute to accelerate the unraveling.

Much like the dismantling of Abel Xavier on the flank for the fourth goal in the home-opening 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Galaxy, Clark had a similar play on the left wing. He collected a long ball off his chest from a difficult angle, brought it down with his foot, and headed to the green pastures of the left wing. Clark cut inside to get around a retreating Richards, and then he pushed the ball fast into the box and outran Carlos Mendes. With Mendes closing down, Clark ripped a left-footed shot past Jon Conway into the far side of the net.

Three minutes after the goal, Clavijo replaced Gomez with John DiRaimondo.

“When I came on, we had just scored our third goal,” DiRaimondo recounted. “So, at that point, we’re trying to preserve the lead and not give up any goals. That’s basically what I was told: To make sure to keep everything in front of us, cut off spaces, cut off passes, and go forward when possible.”

DiRaimondo immediately hooked up with LaBrocca to control the offense and defense in the center of the field. On the left flank for one play, DiRaimondo won two tackles and calmly started an attack.

Meanwhile, Cummings scared Rapids fans and Red Bull defenders equally with his imitation of a snake-bit serpent prepared to continually strike himself and others. In the 58th minute, Mastroeni cleared the ball out of the penalty box on the ground, and it turned into a footrace breakaway. Cummings flew by the Red Bull defenders, but his shot flew by the left post.

Four minutes later, Cummings spun through three defenders in the box and sent a cross into Clark, who headed wide left of the goal.

Then Cummings beat Conway in the box, but he couldn’t finish the play.

Two minutes later in the 64th minute, Ballouchy set the ball to Cooke, who served the ball into Cummings right in front of the net. But the Jamaican forward’s shot went high.

Cummings didn’t quit. In the 68th minute, he scored the fourth goal of the game, his fourth of the season. He played the ball to Ballouchy in the attacking third, and Ballouchy served a pass to McManus at the top right corner of the penalty box. The Scotsman settled the ball and laid it square to Cummings heading toward the box. Cummings touched it by Andrew Boyens, continued to the penalty spot, and slipped the goal by Conway.

Herculez Gomez came on for McManus with about 20 minutes to play. Ballouchy and Clark combined passes and Clark sent the ball toward Gomez, but Conway smothered the cross.

Up next!
The Rapids will face Tigres from the Mexican first division for an exhibition match on Wednesday at 8:00 at DSGP, followed by a road trip to San Jose for a Sunday afternoon chance to avenge the 2-0 home loss in April.

In other news
Denver Nuggets Mascot Rocky scored two goals to lead his band of mascots to a 2-1 victory in the annual halftime spectacle. Then the mascots swiped all the towels from the Red Bulls bench and threw them to the crowd.

Former Rapids and U.S. National Team attacker Chris Henderson was scouting the Red Bulls for his Seattle Sounders on Friday night.

Match Facts

New York Red Bulls at Colorado Rapids
July 4, 2008 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.

Scoring Summary:
COL- McManus (Clark, Erpen) 24
COL- Ballouchy (Cooke, Casey) 36
COL- Clark (unassisted) 49
COL- Cummings (McManus, Ballouchy) 68

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids – Bouna Coundoul, Ugo Ihemelu, Pablo Mastroeni, Facundo Erpen, Christian Gomez (John DiRaimondo52), Mehdi Ballouchy, Terry Cooke, Nick LaBrocca, Colin Clark, Conor Casey (Omar Cummings 45), Tom McManus (Herculez Gomez 72)

Substitutes not used: Preston Burpo, Jordan Harvey, Kosuke Kimura, Jacob Peterson

New York Red Bulls – Jon Conway, Hunter Freeman (Mike Magee 45), Andy Boyens, Jeff Parke, Dane Richards (Luke Sassano 66), Carlos Mendes, Seth Stammler (Juan Pablo Angel 45), Dave van den Bergh, Kevin Goldthwaite, Oscar Echeverry, Sinisa Ubiparipovic

Substitutes Not Used: Zach Thornton, Danleigh Borman, Chris Leitch, John Wolyniec

Misconduct Summary:
NY – Stammler (Caution) 21
COL – Mastroeni (Caution) 82
NY – Boyens (Caution) 88

Referee: Tim Weyland
Referees Assts.: Bill Dittmar; Cyril Madukanya
Fourth Official: Shane Moody
Attendance: 18,776