a late replacement for Dario Sala -- inside the near post for his third goal in four starts.
• Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo made four changes to the team that lost 2-1 to Chivas USA the previous weekend at home. Bouna Coundoul was away on international duty, so Preston Burpo made his Rapids MLS debut in goal. With Kosuke Kimura injured, Rafael Gomes came into the back three. Clavijo also ran out a new strike pair, with Conor Casey and Tom McManus starting in place of Herculez Gomez and Omar Cummings.
• Here's Clavijo's team (3-4-1-2): Preston Burpo - Ugo Ihemelu, Rafael Gomes, Facundo Erpen - Jacob Peterson (Jordan Harvey 78), Nick LaBrocca, Pablo Mastroeni, Colin Clark (Terry Cooke 64) - Christian Gomez - Conor Casey (Omar Cummings 46), Tom McManus. Substitutes Not Used: Mehdi Ballouchy, Herculez Gomez, Stephen Keel, Chris Sharpe
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• It was a pleasing return to the lineup - even if just 45 minutes - for Casey. After starting the season on the disabled list, he made his debut in the loss to Chivas the week before, coming on in the 84th minute, before making his first start against FC Dallas. More importantly, Clavijo said he provided a different dimension to the Rapids attack.
• "Conor brings something that we didn't have before. He's a guy who plays with his back to the wall extremely well. He's very technical for his size. He has a great touch. He's somebody that you need to worry about in the box, and you could see it today," Clavijo said. "This is a guy who hopefully we get fit to play for 90 minutes in coming games, and he's definitely going to be a plus for us."
• Clavijo also pointed to the complementary partnership Casey can provide with McManus. "Tommy works tremendously hard for 90 minutes, chasing people, creating, passing, taking shots. The more we can put them together on the field, hopefully the more they'll understand each other and benefit from it," Clavijo said.
• Clavijo said the change in the strike pair allowed his team to play a different way, as well. "We played maybe longer balls than we ever did before today, but we had somebody to play to, which was Conor Casey," Clavijo said. "He did extremely well when he was on the field. But I think overall, the attitude, the precision of the players to work a couple steps more for somebody else, was key for us."
• Casey said a new approach to attacking allowed the Rapids to achieve something else: maintaining possession and dictating the tempo of the game. "That's definitely something we need to keep working on, to be able to give ourselves a little rest here and there," Casey said. "We haven't done that necessarily as well as we would have liked this season, but we did it today, so that's something to build off of."
• It was also the Colorado league debut for Preston Burpo, who will assume the goalkeeping role with Bouna Coundoul away on World Cup duty. Burpo made his Rapids debut when they defeated the Galaxy 1-0 at The Home Depot Center in their U.S. Open Cup qualifying match.
• "I got in (to Colorado) 10 days ago and played in the reserves game against Chivas. I went down to LA, we got a couple of good bounces in that first half and that helped me settle in," Burpo said. "The first eight or nine days have helped me mix in with the guys and get a sense of what they are doing in front of me. Everybody on the field in front of me today was great. They put a lot of effort into the game, they were organized."
• On Wednesday, the Rapids fell in the final qualifying round for the U.S. Open Cup tournament proper, losing to the Kansas City Wizards on penalties after playing to a 2-2 draw over 120 minutes. Ryan Pore gave the Wizards a 20th-minute lead before goals from Herculez Gomez (36) and Jacob Peterson (57) put the Rapids ahead. But Ivan Trujillo popped up four minutes from the end for a late equalizer. In the penalty shootout, each team hit their first three kicks. After Kansas City made a fourth, Colorado's Facundo Erpen hit the bar, and Kurt Morsink converted to seal the victory and the Wizards into the round-of-16.
• Here's Clavijo's team: Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Facundo Erpen, Stephen Keel, Jordan Harvey, Ciaran O'Brien (Brian Grazier 54), Mehdi Ballouchy, Terry Cooke (Rafael Gomes 78), Jose Luis Burciaga Jr. (Colin Clark 63), Herculez Gomez (Jacob Peterson 46), Omar Cummings. Substitutes not used: Mike Graczyk, Tim Ward, Cesar Zambrano
