Rapids coach Fernando Clavijo had no doubt striker Jean Philippe Peguero was going to convert his penalty kick Saturday night against FC Dallas.
Colorado and FC Dallas were tied 2-2 after 120 minutes of regulation time and had to settle their Major League Soccer playoff matchup on penalty kicks.
Clavijo picked Peguero, who did not start the game, to take the potentially match-clinching fifth penalty shot.
Clavijo said Sunday that Peguero was fifth because he was mad.
Peguero nailed his penalty shot as the Rapids went 5-fot-5 from the spot to advance to the Western Conference final 5-4 on penalty kicks.
Clavijo said the fire Peguero brought off the bench made him the perfect candidate for the fifth spot in the order, which followed converted shots by Pablo Mastroeni, Jovan Kirovski, Jeff Cunningham and Terry Cooke.
“I told (Peguero) to go out there and win it for me,” Clavijo said.
The overtime victory at Pizza Hut Park was perhaps one of the defining wins in the franchise’s 10-year history.
Consider the elements:
* Colorado played more than 67 minutes with only 10 players after Alain Nkong was sent off in the 53rd minute.
* Substitute Ritchie Kotschau, playing in the midfield, scored his first goal since July 12, 2003, when he poked a shot past goalie Scott Garlick in the 106th minute to tie the game 2-2.
* FC Dallas standout Carlos Ruiz had a chance to make it 3-2 eight minutes before the end of overtime, but his penalty kick deflected off the goal post in the 112th minute.
* Rapids goalie Joe Cannon, noticeably limping from a lower abdominal strain, stayed in the game and saved Roberto Mina’s shootout attempt to set up Peguero’s winner.
“We were kind of going blow for blow, and everything was going against us,” Kotschau said Sunday. “Everyone is excited. All the odds were against us going into Dallas.”
The Rapids can advance to their first MLS Cup final since 1997 with a victory Saturday over the Los Angeles Galaxy at Invesco Field at Mile High.
The fourth-seeded Galaxy knocked off top-seeded San Jose 4-2 on aggregate goals in their first-round matchup.
The Rapids have defeated the Landon Donovan-led Galaxy twice this season at Invesco Field by scores of 1-0 and 2-0. The Galaxy, which eliminated Colorado from the playoffs in 2004, last won in Denver on July 13, 2002.
“It’s in our favor, I think, to go ahead and make it to the finals,” Kotschau said.
The Rapids will have to advance without Nkong, who will serve his one-game suspension Saturday. Clavijo said he has already made the necessary phone calls to MLS to appeal the red card shown by referee Terry Vaughn.
Clavijo made just one change to his starting lineup that drew 0-0 with FC Dallas on Oct. 22. Cunningham started in place of Peguero and scored the opening goal.
