Round 5 of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup got underway for the Colorado Rapids Tuesday night. Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni was taking this tournament seriously; putting out another near starting lineup against the Atlanta Silverbacks.  The Silverbacks have been struggling in NASL competition this year, posting a 3-1-5 record. They were able to take down a depleted Real Salt Lake in 4th round play last week however. By the time the game ended however, people would be talking about things that happened on the pitch other than the actually play of the teams. 

The first half of the game, outside of the weather delay, was relatively normal when it comes to soccer matches. There were some questionable calls, or non calls in this case, but the second half of this match is were the true story comes into play. 

In the first half the head referee set the tone for the game. His inconsistant calls lead to a very physical style of play. On multiple occasions blatant fouls were let pass while ticky-tacky fouls would be called. Shortly after the Silverbacks tallied their second goal of the night in 57th minute the game made a big swing! Atlanta put a deep ball up to stirker Jaime Chavez who was being covered by Colorado's Drew Moor. 

The two players were running stride for stride when Chavez appears to pull Moor's jersey and takes him down to the ground. As Moor goes down Chavez continues to move foward and looks to purposely step on Moor's face. As Moor was on the ground his teammates came to his aid and confront Chavez. From that point things get some what muddled. After an eight minute delay to deal with the fracas, three Silverbacks players, one Rapids player, both head coaches, and Atlanta's assistant were all ejected from the game. Poku, Carr, and Chavez along with Wynalda and Montoya for Atlanta were all ejected; as well as Marc Burch and Pablo Mastroeni for Colorado. 

Once play was resumed the Rapids were playing two men up 8v10. Even with the two man advantage the Rapids struggled to get good opportunities on net. In the 75th minute the Colorado was able to pull one goal back when Atlanta's Keeper took Dillon Serna down in the box leading to a penalty kick. Colorado continued to pressure Atlanta with crosses from the wing. The problem was that Atlanta parked the bus infront of their goal and the Rapids were unable to create the space necessary to get quality chances on goal. 

In what is undoubtably one of the strangest games that Colorado has seen there are some positives that can be taken. While Marc Burch was red carded because he allegedly took a swing, a charge that he denies, the team was able to keep its cool. Even with the intensity of the situation, Rapids fans saw a level headedness that that type of situation usually throws out the window. While the team was visibly upset, the situation could have ended up in a Hockey or Baseball style brawl. 

Seeing the team band together like that shows just how close they are. That closeness will be relied on as the MLS season goes forward. Colorado will have trials the rest of the way, but knowing that they can rely on each other will be key to making a playoff run. With the MLS regular season starting back up this weekend Colorado will have learned a lot from Open Cup play. Can it translate into the regular season is the big question that must be answered!