San Diego FC on a roll with 2-0 victory over Colorado Rapids
San Diego FC star forward Anders Dreyer celebrates his goal to make it 2-0 against the Colorado Rapids. (Emmanuel Alonso/ SanDiego.futbol)
San Diego FC triumphed over the Colorado Rapids in a dominating 2-0 result at Snapdragon stadium on Wednesday, May 14 putting them second in the standings in the western conference of MLS.
San Diego FC lost their last match against Colorado 3-2, but since then San Diego FC has played much better sticking to their offensive-minded identity and proving to be among the top teams in the West.
“It’s a massive performance for the boys,” SDFC head coach Mikey Varas said. “I hope everybody is as inspired as I am by them, because they’re so brave to play. It’s so easy winning a game 1-0 to start to tighten up, kick the ball long, start going backward.
“These guys did the opposite. They go forward, they went and pressed, played even more brave with the ball trying to draw the opponent out.”
Christopher McVey scored the first goal of the night, and his second of the season with a header off a corner kick in the 33rd minute. Anders Dreyer took the set piece and sent it to the near post for SDFC captain Jeppe Tverskov, who flicked it backwards with his head.
The initial service drew defenders to Tverskov on the near post leaving McVey wide open behind him to head it in making it 1-0.
“I like to join in when I can,” said McVey. “The set pieces, I’ve been working on a lot in training and now I’ve had a couple of times where I’ve got my head on it, but luckily I got one that I could score as well.”
Neither team scored to end the first half, but SDFC dominated all statistics possession 67% to Colorado’s 32% and outshot them 15-3.
One of the best chances all game came around the 43rd minute while all of SDFC was pressing high including goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos. Colorado nearly took advantage of this during a counter attack when Djordje Mihailovic from the midfield sent a long shot toward the goal. Dos Santos had to rush back to his line and just managed to punch it out.
SDFC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos just manages to punch a shot away in the first half. (Ryan Young/SanDiego.futbol)
Anders Dreyer gave the home side some insurance with a goal of his on in the 58th minute with a stereotypical SDFC goal counter-attacking goal. It started with Jeppe Tverskov in the midfield sending a long ball to a high-pressing San Diego forward.
Dreyer ran the ball into the box before taking a shot between two defenders that went off the far post. The goalkeeper dove to his right and was on the floor while the ball deflected right back to Dreyer. With the second chance he buried it into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Colorado tried to get on the board, and nearly did when Willy Kumado gave up a penalty while defending inside the box. A St. Louis forward attempted to cross the ball in, but hit Kumado in the arm which the referee immediately called a penalty.
Djordje Mihailovic took the penalty and shot it low to his right with limited force. SDFC goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos guessed correctly and dove to his left easily to maintain the 2-0 lead.
San Diego will have a quick turnaround as they play their third match in seven days when they take on Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, May 16, at Snapdragon Stadium.
