Rapids Defeat Spanish Club Sestao 2-1, Improve Preseason Record in Spain to 2-1-0
Colorado Rapids Media Relations
March 21, 2006
The Colorado Rapids defeated Spanish club Sestao Sport River 2-1 tonight in a game played at Las Llanas stadium, located in the city of Sestao, 15 minutes north of Bilbao.
The Spanish third division team hosted the exhibition game against the Rapids as part of the city’s 200th anniversary celebrations, drawing almost 2,000 people to the small neighborhood stadium.
The Rapids fielded mostly rookies and second-year players in the lineup for the game, and they were evenly matched by the quality of the host team for the first 45 minutes of the game.
Both sides created only one scoring opportunity on each goal during the first half.
For the Rapids, defender Dan Gargan met a cross from Hunter Freeman inside of Sestao’s penalty area, but his header sailed just inches wide of the home team’s goal.
Sestao had an equally good chance, but Rapids goalkeeper Matt Jordan closed down the scoring opportunity to deny the home side and keep the game scoreless as both teams entered the locker rooms for halftime with the score nil-nil.
The first goal of the night came just after the second half started, as in the 49th minute Gargan found a loose ball inside of Sestao’s penalty area and beat the Spanish goalkeeper with a powerful close-range shot.
The Rapids went up 2-0 in the 75th minute, when Cornell Glen one-timed a cross from Matt Crawford, placing his low shot past the goalkeeper and into the near side of the goal.
The home team was able to pull a consolation goal back in the dying minutes of the game, when an penalty kick was awarded by the referee in the 87th minute. The Sestao striker ruined Jordan’s clean sheet with a well-placed strike, and the match ended 2-1 in favor of the Rapids.
The Rapids will wrap up their preseason trip with a match against Spanish Second Division team Eibar tomorrow at 5:30pm in the city of Vergara, which is located 1 hour away from their spring training base of Bilbao. The team will then travel back to Denver on Friday and report to the club’s training grounds in Westminster on Monday morning.
Scoring:
COL – Gargan 49’
COL – Glen 75’
SES – PK 87’
Rapids Lineup:
Jordan, Freeman, Wojciech, Gargan, Harvey, Crawford (King 80’), Wasson, Gonzalez, Clark, Glen, Pearson (Noel 70’)