Galaxy Drop Rapids, Move into Third Place Out West

Colorado's Jeff Larentowicz in dismay after LA's second goal.  (Getty Images)

This has not been a good year for the Colorado Rapids.  Last night was not a good night for the Colorado Rapids.  They came into the Home Depot Center hoping to build off of an impressive home performance against Portland earlier in the week, but could rarely get the right foot forward against the surging LA Galaxy.

According to the Altitude TV commentators, part of Colorado's game plan was to try and withstand the opening 15 minute assault of the Galaxy.  It almost worked.  Mike Magee cranked a shot in the 13th minute that was handled well by Matt Pickens, and things seemed to be going well for the Rapids.  However, in the 15th minute Landon Donovan hit Robbie Keane with a nice through ball and the Irishman easily slotted home the first goal of the match to make it 1-0.

After that opening goal, the defending champs took their foot off the gas some and sat back to see what the Rapids had to offer.  It wasn't much.  In the 18th minute Andre Akpan tried his luck but missed the target.  Then in the 26th Martin Rivero tried to pick out Jaime Castrillon with a ball across the six, but Josh Saunders hit the deck and picked it off.  It was the closest Colorado would get in the first half.

The Galaxy didn't do much to add a spark either.  They just sat back and conserved energy since the Rapids really weren't testing them.  Magee drove another shot at Pickens in the 41st minute, but again the Colorado 'keeper was up to the task and the half ended 1-0 to LA.

The second half didn't feature much excitement either, however the Rapids did try to spark some more shots on goal.  Omar Cummings had entered the game and actually generated some shots.  He forced a save out of Saunders on 49 minutes and had another blocked in the 52nd.  It was honestly as good as he has looked in recent weeks, though many Rapids fans would tell you that that's not saying much.

The Galaxy finally stepped up and iced the match in the 58th minute.  New signing Christian Wilhelmsson worked around a couple of Colorado defenders and sent a rolling strike in at Matt Pickens.  The normally steady Colorado shot stopper hit the ground and got a hand to it, only to have it seemingly roll THROUGH his hand and trickle into the net to make it 2-0 to the Galaxy.

That was pretty much it as far as action goes in a game that wasn't really impressive for either side.  Conor Casey did take an absolute rip at the target from inside the box in the 79th minute, but a sliding LA defender blocked what was the Rapids best look at goal and the match ended 2-0.

The win continued LA's surge up the Western Conference as they move past RSL into 3rd place on 46 points.  RSL also have 46, but the Galaxy have the superior goal difference.  The Rapids hold steady in 7th place on 29 points, one ahead of both Portland and Chivas USA.