There's the result, and I wish there was more to tell, but due to technical difficulties the video feed was cut out early on in the game after Jaime Castrillon opened his account with a great interplay from trialist Jefferson Angulo. Which was a pleasure to see, but things didn't start well for the Rapids as San Jose enjoyed a majority of early possession, though the better chances were falling to the Burgundy and Blue.

San Jose's goals were from Khari Stephenson and Chris Wondolowski, respectively. Though not respectfully. NEVER respectfully.

Some notes on the game:

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The Colorado Rapids earned their first win in preseason as they topped Chivas USA 1-0 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Quincy Amarikwa scored the lone goal in the 85th minute as the Rocky Mountain club held on for the victory. Denver native Steven Emory assisted on the goal.

Quincy Amarikwa has been known to score goals against Chivas USA in the past and the forward continued to haunt the goats of Chivas with his strike. Both clubs started the match with several regulars but made way for reserves in the second half.

The Rapids welcomed draft pick Kohei Yamada today to camp as the Japanese winger arrived from Osaka this morning. Yamada joins fellow countryman Kosuke Kimura and the second Japanese player on the roster.

The win was the first for Colorado in 2012 as the team played to a 0-0 draw with Ventura County Fusion on Sunday. The Rapids will play the San Jose Earthquakes on Friday in San Luis Obispo.

On a cold, wet, and waterlogged pitch at Livestrong Sporting Park, the Colorado Rapids succumbed to their wounds and were beaten 2-0 to Sporting Kansas City. The aggregate score was 4-0 in favor of the Kansas-based club. Aurelian Collin and C.J. Sapong tallied for Sporting on either side of halftime, while Graham Zusi assisted on both goals. With the loss, Colorado was eliminated from the postseason, while Sporting Kansas City will look forward to either Philadelphia Union or Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference final. 

Rapids head coach Gary Smith was forced to field a lineup that had many reserves and also had them play in a 4-3-3 formation. Colorado faced an injury crisis as Kosuke Kimura and Drew Moor were injured during the previous game. Colorado had seven regulars on the injured reserve. Wells Thompson played at right back, as opposed to his familiar midfield role. Scott Palguta started in central defense alongside Marvell Wynne. Ross Labauex started in central midfield with Joseph Nane while Brian Mullan and Sanna Nyassi supported Omar Cummings from the attacking wings. Even with the attacking lineup, Colorado found it difficult to hold possession or seriously threaten Jimmy Nielen's goal for the majority of the evening.

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I've never been the type to complain when a team I support is defeated by a superior team. On that note, had you told me that the Colorado Rapids would lose to Sporting Kansas City by the scoreline of 2-0 because of a Teal Bunbury brace, I probably wouldn't have been all that upset. However, losing in the manner that the Rapids did is just disgusting for what was supposed to be a somewhat highly regarded Major League Soccer match.

Already battling injuries to Pablo Mastroeni and Jamie Smith near the start of the playoffs, Colorado went into this game already with huge gaps in their talent on the pitch. Kansas seemed to be playing with the idea of destroying Colorado's few remaining players and with the oft-maligned Baldomero Toledo manning the referee spot on the day you had to know that there would be no-calls and calls on non-plays all over the place; it's kind of the mark of Toledo, after all. Some fairly dirty play from KC - rarely if ever called foul by Toledo of course - mixed with some simple bad luck for Colorado left Caleb Folan and Kosuke Kimura out for the count in the first half.

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It's almost impeccable how much this game matched up with the match against the Columbus Crew at home last season to start of the 2010 MLS Playoffs. The scoreline, the method of play from both teams, even down to the crowd and temperature were so close to the 2010 match that I'm pretty sure I could have just posted last season's game recap and not many people would have noticed. Either way, the Colorado Rapids have once again started a playoff run with a win, 1-0 over the Crew at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.

A freezing day in Colorado and up to a foot of snow the day before kept the crowds away from DSGP, but with the supporters terraces hopping and full the Rapids had an energy in the cold that the Crew just couldn't seem to match.

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On the final matchday of the regular season, the Colorado Rapids clinched a home Wild Card match to start the 2011 MLS Cup playoffs. Jeff Larentowicz and Wells Thompson were the heroes as the Rapids overcame a 1-0 deficit in the 2nd half. A sold-out crowd of 21,000 at the BC Place witnessed the defending MLS Cup Champions claim the spoils in Vancouver's final home game of the 2011 season. 

The Rapids came off a disappointing 2-0 midweek loss against Santos Laguna to conclude the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. However, the club bounced back in British Columbia and became the second team this season to win in the newly renovated BC Place, Canada's latest crown jewell for soccer stadiums. Portland Timbers defeated their Cascadia rivals when the BC Place debuted on October 2nd. 

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The Colorado Rapids came into tonight looking for a win to clinch themselves a playoff spot and ideally take back the Rocky Mountain Cup for the first time in what's now going on five years. They didn't accomplish either goal as the game against Real Salt Lake ended 0-0, but at the very least escaped with a point and didn't allow Salt Lake to score in stoppage time for the first time in three games against them.

Small victories for sure, but it's all that Colorado have to work with after looking listless once again against their arch-rivals.

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The Colorado Rapids can rest easy after tonight. With 45 points after defeating FC Dallas at home, they have almost certainly guaranteed themselves a playoff spot, especially if they can snag at least one more point out of their last two matches against Vancouver Whitecaps and Real Salt Lake. In what was probably the biggest result of the season for Colorado, they also picked up their first result against a Top 4 team, losing all their other matches against Dallas, Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles Galaxy until tonight.

In what was a chippy match - aren't all Dallas vs. Colorado games slaughterhouses by the time they're over? - the Rapids managed to pull out a close 1-0 match even after getting knocked down to ten men after Miguel Comminges got red carded later in the second half.

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