Silverbacks Advance After 2-1 Win Over Colorado Rapids

This match report was submitted to us by reader Patrick Shea.

With the game scoreless at 28:28 and visible bolts around the stadium, center ref Juan Guzman finally heard the announcement echoing throughout the 24-field complex and decided to pause the game. After almost an hour delay, players returned for another 20-minute stint without strikes from the sky, Chavez, or anyone else on the field.

After the break, Colorado pressed the game forward and looked likely to equalize. But a Thomas Piermayr foul on the right wing 45 yards from the goal turned an innocuous chance into a two-goal hole.

Substitute Jesus Gonzalez sent the free kick to the far post, and Irwin read it short. Chavez watched the ball fly over Irwin's fingertips and slipped a header past the post. Strike two.

Four minutes later, Guzman once again was slow to witness events in his presence. Guzman's whistle sometimes sounded uncertain. Short, quiet toots sounded like he wanted to take them back, like he didn't mean it. So when Chavez was offside and the linesman raised his flag, Guzman's faint whistle didn't stop Chavez and Moor from their sprint for the ball together. The players went down in a tangle, and Chavez cleaned his boot with Moor's face. Strike three.

Instead of rushing to the scene, Guzman wandered the other way. So of course other players rushed the scene. Eric Wynalda rushed the field too, followed by assistant coach Ricardo Montoya attempting to restrain him. Pablo Mastroeni was vocal during the melee, but he didn't enter the field of play.

In the 75th minute, Dillon Serna ran onto a ball in the box, and Carrillo clipped his foot. Dillon Powers rammed home the penalty kick, and Rapids continued to bear down on the eight-man obstruction. Guzman added seven minutes of extra time, but it was not enough for Colorado to equalize.

"The referee played no part in this result," Mastroeni said after the game. "And credit Atlanta. But it was our inability to defend what for me are two simple plays, two brain-dead plays. And then not to be able to finish the chances we create. It's not about the refs, the ejections, or the chaos. It's all on us."

When asked if his ejection inspired his Silverbacks, Wynalda deadpanned, "They spend a lot of time without me anyway." Wynalda commutes from California for games, but his assistants train the squad.

Pointing to assistant Montoya, Wynalda continued, "Ricardo helps me find the Atlanta talent, and these kids haven't been given a chance. I get guys from L.A. When they mesh together, you have to manage them. Ricardo will say, ‘we have something special with these two guys.'"

Players on the Silverbacks' roster come from Liberia, Ghana, Honduras, Argentina, Belize, Sierra Leone, Colombia, and Togo with the balance from southern California and the Atlanta area.

"We learned this lesson last year," Wynalda said. "We had talent and good players. But their egos got in the way. The guys we have now will sacrifice for each other."