By Will Martin
If you dared to turn your television or computer off during a ten to fifteen minute of play during Saturday night’s rematch from Opening Night you may have missed all the scoring and hijinx out Commerce City way. And this on the heels of continuing their winning ways after winning a 2-0 Gold Cup Qualifier 96 hours prior over the Florida Strikers of the NASL.
One might give the team of Schellas Hyndman a pass if their A Game was a little less than in Colorado.
In both cases that was not to be!
Blas Perez and Matt Hedges helped keep FCD Gold Cup dreams alive with that 2-0 win in Florida on May 28th.
Oddly enough the scores came quickly, about 12 minutes apart. There was a sense of ‘Deja Vu all over again’ Saturday night in Colorado.
It was a Marvel Wynne and Atiba Harris header inside the box that gave the Rapids a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute. Five minutes later Atiba Harris played a part in helping FCDallas tie things 1-all when deflecting a pass straight into the path of Blas Perez. His kick would find net beyond the reach of Rapid netminder Clint Irwin.
But little did either side know that the scoring bonanza had only just begun. A looping cross into the box from Rapids left back Chris Klute was met by a wide open Harris, who had a simple finish for his second goal of the game and his fourth goal of the season overall.
Not to be outdone, a long Dallas cross onto the edge of the box floated for Perez, who clinically finished with a scorching low drive from 20 yards out to even the game back up at two.
The final minutes of the draw were filled with chances from both sides, but to no avail.
The Rapids will enjoy a two-week break before hosting San Jose Earthquakes on June 15th at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, while Dallas will host the Houston Dynamo for U.S. Open Cup play on June 12 before visiting Portland for a date with the Portland Timbers on June 15.
