Rapid turnaround continues for Colorado

Aug 27, 2007, 16:50 GMT

Commerce City, CO - Conor Casey, Colin Clark and Mike Petke each scored their first goals of the season Sunday as Colorado rolled to a 3-0 victory over Los Angeles, which was without David Beckham and Landon Donovan.

Colorado, which scored three goals for the second straight game, extended its winning streak to three games to move into a tie with Columbus for the eighth and final playoff spot.

It has been a rapid turnaround for Colorado, which was winless in 10 straight from the beginning of June to early August. But starting with a 1-0 win over Houston on Aug. 11 - which snapped the streak - Colorado has been a different team.

The back-to-back three-goal games - the only times this season Colorado has three goals in a game - combined to equal the amount of goals it had in its previous 11.

The winning streak has launched Colorado (7-9-6) into the thick of the playoff race. Colorado and Columbus both have 27 points - just one ahead of Chicago - and have both played 22 games.

Colorado visits Columbus on Saturday in a game with huge playoff implications. The teams tied 0-0 in their only other meeting this season.

The Rapids scored all their goals on Sunday in a 17-minute span in the first half.

Casey notched his first goal of the year in the 26th minute on a nice finish in the box. The play started when Mehdi Ballouchy passed to Jovan Kirovski on the right side and he played a one-touch pass to Casey.

Casey took the ball into the box, got L.A. goalie Joe Cannon to drop to his knees, cut to the left and blasted a shot into the right side of the net past Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein.

Kirovski and Ballouchy got their first assists of the season on the goal.

Just eight minutes later, Clark gave Colorado a two-goal cushion. Casey and Terry Cooke helped set up the goal but didn't get assists because a Galaxy defender got a little touch on the ball before Clark found the lower left corner.

The Rapids added to the Galaxy's misery in the 43rd minute when Petke scored unassisted. Off a corner kick, Cannon came off his line to try and punch the ball away, but only got a little piece of it. The ball rolled right to Petke and he settled and fired inside the right post.

The pace of the game slowed considerably in the second half and neither team had a strong scoring chance until the 78th minute. The Galaxy's Alan Gordon unleashed a rocket from 15 yards out - which was the only shot on goal for L.A. - but Rapids goalie Bouna Coundoul made the stop to preserve his third straight shutout.

Los Angeles remained winless since Beckham joined the club. Starting with his MLS debut on Aug. 9 at D.C., the Galaxy have lost five straight and have scored just four goals - all in a 5-4 loss to Red Bull New York - while allowing an astonishing 13.

Beckham and Donovan didn't even make the trip to Colorado. Both played for their respective national teams - England and the United States - Wednesday in Europe and returned to L.A. for Thursday's game against CD Chivas USA.

Beckham played a full 90 minutes in both games in the middle of the week and didn't play Sunday to rest his troublesome ankle. Donovan didn't play Thursday but he also got a day off Sunday.

L.A. (3-10-5) plays Mexican club Pachuca in the SuperLiga final on Wednesday for a $1 million prize.

© 2007 The Sports Network