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reprint of COLORADO RAPIDS NEWS RELEASE -- byline Ben Grossman
NEWS RELEASE
FOXBOROUGH (Wednesday, May 17, 2000) - The Colorado Rapids scored three goals in the final eleven minutes to rally and defeat the New England Revolution, 4-3, on Wednesday night at Foxboro Stadium. Henry Zambrano sparked the offense with two goals and two assists for Colorado (5-6-0), who trailed the Revolution (3-3-4), 3-1, with eleven minutes to play before scoring three goals in a six-minute span down the stretch.
The Rapids won their third straight game away from home, improving their road record to 4-3 on the season. Colorado defeated New England for the sixth consecutive game.
Zambrano's points were the first for him since joining Colorado from the MetroStars in an off-season trade.
Junior Agogo added a goal and an assist to push his season total to four goals and four assists for twelve points, all of which lead the team. Jason Bent, who did not score in his first 36 games in Major League Soccer, scored for the second consecutive game.
The Rapids signaled their intentions just 13 minutes in when a great pass from Henry Zambrano unlocked Jason Moore. On the left side, Zambrano played a seeing-eye through ball to a racing Moore, who controlled and fired with the outside of his left foot. The swerving shot from close range beat Revolution goalkeeper Jeff Causey, but slammed off the left post to deny Colorado of the early strike.
Colorado continued to have much of the run of play, but then a simple defensive error gifted New England a corner kick, which would eventually be converted into the game's first goal.
A long ball was looped by the Revolution from the left flank to the right side of Colorado's six-yard box, where no New England attackers loomed. But with no opposition, a lack of communication between rookie goalkeeper Adin Brown and defender David Vaudreuil resulted in Vaudreuil knocking the lofted ball over the end line for a corner kick.
The first corner kick was banged back across the line for another, and this time the home side capitalized in the 25th minute. The ball came from Imad Baba to the right side of the box for Johnny Torres, who flicked the ball in the air before volleying it across the box. It was on the left side that an unmarked Chronopolous would settle the ball before slamming it between Brown's legs from close range for the 1-0 lead.
The lead was nearly doubled one minute later when a New England corner kick was cleared by Rapids defender Scott Vermillion right off of Revolution defender Brian Dunseth in front of the goal. The deflection sailed past Brown, but Joey DiGiamarino was there to clear the ball off of the goal line and keep the visitors within a goal.
Colorado's injury problems amazingly continued to worsen when defender Chris Martinez was taken off with an achilles injury in the 33rd minute. A-League call-up Craig Waibel from the Seattle Sounders came on for Martinez.
But Colorado continued to threaten and finally equalized six minutes before the break. The play began with Moore playing to Junior Agogo, who was standing with his back to the goal in the box. Agogo took the ball with one swift move, swiveling past a defender into the left side of the box, and hitting the ball towards goal. It was there that Zambrano flew past his marker and redirected the ball past Causey to pull the Rapids level at 1-1. Coming in to the game, eight of New England's 13 goals on the season had come off of set pieces, yet the Rapids looked unprepared to defend such a play in the 58th minute, and the Revolution took a 2-1 lead on a basic restart.
Off of a dead ball on the left flank, John Harkes bent a ball into the area, where Imad Baba came free, leaping to head the ball past Brown and reclaim the lead for the home team.
The lead was stretched to 3-1 in the 66th minute when a nifty back-heel by former Rapid Wolde Harris started a move that produced a goal for the forward in his first game against his former team. Dribbling to the top of the box, Harris drew the defense, then back-heeled the ball to a racing Torres. The diminutive forward blew past Waibel, in alone on Brown, and fired. The goalkeeper did very well to make an acrobatic reaction save, but the rebound popped up in the air in front of the unguarded net, where Harris out-jumped Keyeno Thomas to head the ball into the empty net.
The Revolution lead should have been 4-1 in the 75th minute, if not for a great save from Brown. Torres got behind the Rapids defense again, in alone on Brown at point-blank range, and fired for the lower, left corner. But Brown was privy to the idea, making an eye-catching dive down to punch the low shot away and keep the Rapids within two goals.
That save did indeed prove a game-saver given the events that would occur in the final eleven minutes of the match.
The Rapids pulled a goal back with eleven minutes to play when Jason Bent stripped Chronopolous in the Revolution area, played a give-and-go off of Zambrano, then blasted a rising shot past Causey to bring the score to 3-2. Six minutes from the end, Colorado quieted the Foxboro crowd with a brilliant piece of skill resulting in a Zambrano equalizer. DiGiamarino threw the ball in from the sideline to the left of the penalty area, the ball going directly back to Paul Dougherty, who quickly flicked the ball ahead. It was there that Zambrano lined up and blasted the ball out of the air, his full volley exploding past a helpless Causey and tying the game at 3-3.
Just one minute later, the Rapids capped off the remarkable comeback with Zambrano absolutely opening up the Revolution defense with a dribbling display. Taking the ball to the left of the penalty area, Zambrano weaved through defenders in what looked like a school-yard showboat showing off his fancy moves. The Colombian forward cut through two defenders, played the ball through another's legs, blew past yet another, ending up next to the left post with Revolution markers watching helplessly from behind.
Drawing the goalkeeper to him, Zambrano then played a ball across the box to a driving Agogo, who banged the ball past Causey and sent the Rapids into celebration and the Revolution and the Foxboro fans into a state of disbelief at a two-goal lead which had evaporated in six minutes.
UP NEXT: Colorado plays again on Saturday at Lockhart Stadium against the Miami Fusion in a game that is being carried nationally on Telemundo and locally on Fox Sports Net. Kickoff is set for 2:30 pm (MT).
LINESCORE: 1 2 F Colorado 1 3 4 New England 1 2 3 SCORING: N.E. - Chronopolous (Torres, Baba) 25; Baba (Harkes) 58; Harris (Torres) 66 COL - Zambrano (Agogo, Moore) 39; Bent (Zambrano) 79; Zambrano (Dougherty, DiGiamarino) 84; Agogo (Zambrano, DiGiamarino) 85.
10th minute: Harris plays through to Torres, who flicks past Brown, but wide of the goal.
13: Zambrano plays a seeing-eye pass through the defense to a racing Moore, who fires with the outside of his left foot, beating Causey, but slamming off the left post.
15: Agogo races through defense, Causey comes out to deflect the shot, the ball comes back off Agogo, but goes wide left of the unguarded net.
25: Baba hits to Torres, who flicks the ball in the air and then volleys it across the box to Chronopolous on the left side, who settles and slams it between Brown's legs from just outside the left corner of the six-yard box. Revolution 1 - Rapids 0.
26: Ramos corner from the right, Vermillion deflects off of Dunseth, the ball beats Brown, but DiGiamarino clears off of the line.
31: DiGiamarino plays through to Zambrano in the left side of the box, Zambrano fires from a bad angle on the left, Causey catches.
33: Craig Waibel replaces Chris Martinez (achilles).
39: Jason Moore plays to Agogo in the box. With his back to goal, Agogo spins past the defender and fires from the left, Zambrano redirects past Causey. Revolution 1 - Rapids 1.
58: Harkes bends in a free kick from the left flank, Baba leaps and heads past Brown. Revolution 2 - Rapids 1.
66: Harris backheels to racing Torres, who fires, drawing a nice save from Brown. The rebound pops up in the air in front of the empty goal, where Harris out-jumps Thomas and heads in to the open net. Revolution 3 - Rapids 1.
74: Torres gets in on a break-away and fires to the lower, left corner, but Brown dives down to make an eye-catching save. The rebound eventually ends up back with Torres at the top of the box, but his shot is again well-saved by the goalkeeper.
79: Bent strips Chronopolous in the attacking zone, plays a one-two off of Zambrano and blasts the ball past Causey. Revolution 3 - Rapids 2.
84: DiGiamarino thrown in to Dougherty, who flicks ahead to Zambrano, who blasts a volley past Causey. Revolution 3 - Rapids 3.
85: Zambrano dribbles around and through the entire left side of the New England defense to the left post, draws out Causey, and plays square across the goal to Agogo, who fires into the net. Rapids 4 - Revolution 3.
Lineups (Players are listed right-to-left in starting formation by position): COL (4-4-2) -- GK - Adin Brown; D - Scott Vermillion, Keyeno Thomas (Matthew Okoh 76), Chris Martinez (Craig Waibel 33), David Vaudreuil; M - Junior Agogo, Jason Bent, Paul Bravo (Paul Dougherty 70), Joey DiGiamarino; F - Adin Brown, Henry Zambrano. N.E. (4-4-2) -- GK - Jeff Causey; D - Brian Dunseth (Paul Keegan 90), Rusty Pierce, Ivan McKinley, Ted Chronopolous; M- Imad Baba, Leonel Alvarez (Mike Burns 71), John Harkes, Mauricio Ramos (William Sunsing 57); F- Wolde Harris, Johnny Torres. STATS N.E. COL Total shots 13 9 Shots on goal 9 6 Saves 2 4 Fouls 19 23 Offside 4 2 Corner kicks 7 2 Cautions: N.E.: Chronopolous (aggressive attitude) 81 COL: DiGiamarino (dangerous play) 51; Vermillion (aggressive attitude) 56 Ejections: N.E.: None COL: None Referee: Alex Prus Asst: Richard Eddy Asst: Peter Kokolski 4th Official: Gus St. Silva Attendance: 9,306
"What a huge win for us. What heart this team showed tonight, they just never quit fighting. This game was a lesson in never giving up, and I am very proud of my team tonight."
"No one has been more disappointed in how we've been at home lately, but this team knows how to play on the road. If we can keep this level up on the road and get ourselves sorted out at home, we'll be an awfully good team this year."
"Zambrano's play tonight was as good an individual display as I've seen in this league this season. He made so many big plays tonight, with his speed and his dribbling, he was pretty unstoppable at times tonight."
"I knew if I didn't get too worried, eventually my offense would come. Tonight, not only did it come back, but I was able to score a couple and set a couple up, and do it to help the team get a big win."
"I just kept seeing openings tonight and I was able to do what I wanted to out there. Whether it was shooting, dribbling or passing, everything was working tonight, it felt really good to play that well."
"Having a good individual game was great, but this was a win the team needed. Yes, I felt strong tonight, but to help the team get a big win was the most important part."
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