MLS: Landon Donovan Powers LA Galaxy to 1-0 Victory over Colorado Rapids

It has come to my attention that there are some increasingly visible tears in the Colorado Rapids MLS Cup title defense.

While there are still five games to go for Gary Smith's Rapids, and six for Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy, Colorado may find their defense to be an Achilles heel as they stumble towards the postseason, crashing into the finish line.

On Friday night at the Home Depot Center, Landon Donovan's 36th minute goal powered the Galaxy to a 1-0 victory over the Rapids, in-front of a crowd of more than 20,000 at Victoria Street.

The result was payback for the 3-1 defeat the Galaxy suffered at the hands of the Rapids last year at the Toolbox. In addition, LA became the first team to reach the MLS Cup Playoffs.

"We are in the playoffs and it would be nice to win the Supporters’ Shield, that’s the next objective for us," Arena told reporters after the match. "Win the Supporters’ Shield and advance out of group play in the CONCACAF Champions League, which is going to be another big challenge for us.  We have those objectives in the short term and certainly we want to go after the MLS Cup as well.”

In retrospect, this will go down as a merciful result for Colorado, thanks to the modern-day Abraham Lincoln, better known to all of you as Matt Pickens. Forgive me, it's all about the beard.

Pickens made eight saves on the night, and if it hadn't been for a crisp sequence in the first half from Sean Franklin, Chad Barrett and Donovan, it could have easily been a scoreless draw.

Colorado were their own worst enemy in this game, with two would-be goals correctly adjudged to be offside. Caleb Folan was really the only player that looked sharp, as well as Sanna Nyassi who came off the bench.

Omar Cummings, returning from a grueling set of international friendlies, didn't look like himself, and was lucky to get an attempt on goal.

Then again, neither was Robbie Keane, who was returning from scoreless draws against the Slovaks and the Russians in Euro 2012 qualifying for the Republic of Ireland. Keane only played 30 minutes, and it's safe to say he is still integrating himself into the jist of the jazz.

"We didn’t want to put him in a position where he would get hurt and 30 minutes is difficult, maybe 45 minutes is a little bit better so he gets a chance to warm-up a little bit better and have a little more time to get into the game," Arena explained. "But Robbie is going to be a real plus for us this year and we’re looking to get him in on a consistent basis since he’s only practiced with us a couple of times. We will have him for the next four weeks or so before he goes.”

More time to shake off the jet lag could mean a better outing and a start against Monarcas Morelia (more on that in the preview for the match).

I want to go back to Barrett for a little bit, as he is a player that has been on and off all season. Sure, Barrett will be credited with an assist, but that's all he contributed to the contest. One assist. As a forward, you'd expect him to test Matt Pickens. He never got the chance on Friday.

That honor belongs to Paolo Cardozo, who can safely declare this to be his breakout game up top. Cardozo had some shots, tried his luck on follow-up from a Barrett miss and settled into his role quite nicely. Cardozo still has some issues with receiving the extra pass, and his finishing is still a work in progress but this was his best performance so far this season.

“We know Paolo can do that and, given the chance, he does do that, so it was a good performance for him," said midfielder David Beckham. "Good performance from BJ [Bryan Jordan] as well. We had a few players who came in tonight that hadn’t played for a while who performed and played well for us.”

For Donovan, it took him two games to get over the slump from the Costa Rica debacle as a member of the USA national team, but he needs to play on the left side of the midfield more often. Donovan flourished in the left midfield, making some excellent deliveries along with some Donovanesque passing...and his 12th goal of the season on top of all that.

Beckham has been having some back issues, and they kept his set piece accuracy at bay on Friday, but he put on a decent performance in his role.

What I was actually surprised with was the play of Jordan. I thought Jordan was just somebody who could only run and was a liability on defense.

In the end, Jordan did very well in the backline alongside Todd Dunivant, A.J. DeLaGarza and the always-reliable Omar Gonzalez—he played smart football and contributed to the offensive sequences...this is the anti-Hejduk. I prefer Anti-Hejduks on the backline compared to Hejduks, because Frankie Hejduk is, flat-out, a liability on defense.

Donovan Ricketts made his return as a starting goalkeeper and, thankfully, Brian Mullan did not try to do a little Khari Stephense impersonation and break his recently-healed elbow.

“It was a nice game to be back," Ricketts said to reporters. "Not too much. So, I can get back into the grove so hopefully I can build on this.”

Ricketts only had to make two saves the entire match, and he looked great coming off his line. The Big Cat from Montego Bay is officially back into form, and you will see him in the starting lineup for the rest of the season, God willing.

One thing that I do want to point out is that in the second half, Juninho was feeling his hamstring. From up in the press box, it looked like a pulled hamstring, but there's also a chance that it's just a cramp. The good thing for Juninho is that he has a week to get that sorted out, since he is suspended for the Morelia contest. Silver lining.

Let me go back to Donovan one more time—there is a reason why he is the team captain. Midfielder Michael Stephens, coming off the bench in the second half, could not get a clean tackle on Sanna Nyassi (who was also coming off the bench after national team duty for Gambia), forcing Donovan to make the defensive play.

Afterwards Donovan give Stephens a talking to. That's what I love out of a captain—leadership, experience and lesson well-learned. Don't take it personal, kid, the captain's only doing his job.

All on-field disciplining aside, the captain was pleased that one big objective this season is out of the way for LA.

“It’s good to have that out of the way," Donovan said on clinching a playoffs spot. "Every year the first goal at top of the list is to make the playoffs, and we can cross that one off. We’ve also put ourselves in a better position now to win the Supporters’ Shield.

"The beauty of playing on Friday night is now you get to sit back all weekend and watch the other teams beat each other up. We’ll be hoping for some favorable results and maybe we’re a little closer to the Supporters’ Shield by Sunday.”

One of those big matches is between Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders (kickoff: 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET). Take a guess at who the club will be rooting for in that one.

In the meantime, the Galaxy have a couple of matches on tap next week. The first of those two: a road contest against Monarcas Morelia at the Estadio Morelos in Morelia, Mexico. Kickoff is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 13 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET and will be televised by Fox Soccer Channel.

A preview of the contest will be posted on Bleacher Report and the View from Victoria Street.