Saturday, July 4, 1998
Mile High Stadium, Denver, CO
7:00pm Kickoff - Cloudy, 68deg.
Colorado Rapids vs MetroStars
Excerpted from Live Game Update
With the elimation of the USA World Cup team, 16 MLS players have returned to their teams. Tonight, MetroStars' Tab Ramos and Alexi Lalas will be playing for their MetroStars, and Marcelo Balboa will be playing for the Rapids.
However, Balboa is not in the starting lineup.
Mile High Stadium, because of the July 4th fireworks following the game, has the largest crowd of the 1998 Season to date. At this time, there must be more than 30,000 in the stands, with more people coming in.
Colorado Rapids' Waldir is missing tonight, having to fly back to Peru on a family emergency.
In the 25th minute, Colorado Goalkeeper made his 2nd point blank save on goal attempts by MetroStars. Hahnemann, so far, is HOT tonight. The Rapids have not been as dangerous as the MetroStars.
In the 35th minute, Balboa is in for Taj Jakins.
The MetroStars are in 2nd place of the Eastern Conference, while the Rapids are tied with Kansas City in 4th place of the Western Conference.
Referee, Ricardo Valenzuela, has been struggling in the 2nd half. He is attempting to control the game by issuing yellow cards.
So far, with 63 minutes played the score remains 0 - 0
Colorado Goalkeeper, Hahnemann, continues to make great saves. Neither team seems to be playing as a unit, and both have been ineffective.
Alexi Lalas chest trapped the ball on his 6 yard line. Colorado's Marquis White picked the ball off Lalas and scored in the 73rd minute, unassisted.
Tonight's attendance is 46,722, which is a new record for the Colorado Rapids.
In this writer's opinion, Rapids Goalkeeper, Marcus Hahnemann should be the MVP of the Game because of his tremendous saves that kept Colorado in the game.
It was really exciting to see the largest home crowd in Colorado Rapids' history.
At the end of the game, the Colorado Rapids won 1-0 over the MetroStars. The Rapids improve their position in the Western Conference to 8 wins and 9 losses with 20 points, and sole possession of 3rd place (unless Kansas City comes from behind to win against LA Galaxy).
The attendace of 46,722 is the largest crowd ever to watch a soccer game in Mile High Stadium. The atmosphere with such a crowd was electric.
The Final Statistics for this game were:
Colorado Rapids 24 minutes MetroStars 31 minutes
Colorado Rapids 4 MetroStars 2
Colorado Rapids 3 MetroStars 5
Colorado Rapids 1 MetroStars 0