Ian Feuer

Los Angeles last used a shutout loss at Colorado to catapult from third to first place in Major League Soccer's Western Conference. What the Galaxy does with Saturday night's 1-0 defeat to the Rapids remains to be seen. Colorado, king of the Western Conference before the All-Star break, maintained its hopes of reclaiming first place before a crowd of 8,952 at Mile High Stadium.

It's that time of year again in the American Professional Soccer League, when goals become as precious to a team as Burt Reynolds is to the National Enquirer. The playoffs are two weeks away and five of the league's seven teams still are in position to claim the four post-season slots. The fourth-place Salsa is one of them and, with a final-week schedule stacked against it, the only thing left for one of the APSL's newest entries is to keep kicking and hope something hits the nets.

After losing four consecutive games, the Salsa returned home Friday night to post a 2-0 victory over Montreal, and everything was all Wright. Paul Wright scored in the game's 16th minute, then drew a foul in the penalty area four minutes later to set up a penalty kick goal by Paulinho to lead the Salsa to an American Professional Soccer League victory over the Impact before 7,202 at Titan Stadium. The victory was the first for the Salsa since a 1-0 victory over the Impact at Montreal Aug. 6.

Well, what's new? For the third time this season, Fort Lauderdale got its fingers caught in the Salsa jar. It was a long, laborious evening, though, before the Salsa finally prevailed in a 1-0 shootout in front of a small gathering of 2,356 in Titan Stadium. It finally came down to a shootout when nobody scored during the 15-minute overtime and, with the score knotted at 0-0, Paul Wright converted the Salsa's first kick in the shootout.

All set to close the gap between themselves and first place on Sunday in a game against last-place Toronto, the Salsa failed to prepare for one small thing: Embarrassment. Toronto, 6-11, buried deep in the APSL standings, kicked the Salsa all over the place in a 2-0 victory before 1,784 at Cal State Fullerton. "It's really disappointing," said Salsa forward Paul Wright. "I hope we didn't take them lightly, but it looks like that might have been the case." Something certainly was up.

Go ahead, mock the NHL for qualifying 16 of its 26 teams for the playoffs. Criticize the NBA for allowing 16 of its 27 teams into its postseason. Here's one for you: The Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League lost eight of its final nine regular-season games, won one playoff game and is now playing host to the league's championship. Even Delta Tau Chi in "Animal House" was more selective.

For the second consecutive game, the Salsa played without its high-scoring forward, Paulinho, and for the second consecutive game, the Salsa needed a shootout to remain unbeaten in the American Professional Soccer League. Friday night in front of approximately 5,000 spectators at Titan Stadium, the Salsa defeated the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers, 3-2, topping the Strikers, 3-1, in a shootout after playing to a 2-2 tie in 90 minutes of regulation and 15 minutes of overtime.

Forget syrupy, oh-so-close sentiments. After the expansion Salsa blew a one-goal lead and lost the American Professional Soccer League final to defending champion Colorado, 3-1, in overtime Saturday night, Salsa owner Dr. William De La Pena blasted Coach Rildo Menezes and said there will be a coaching shake-up before next season. Menezes yanked Paulinho, the APSL's most valuable player, with four minutes left in regulation as the Salsa led, 1-0, in front of 10,743 in Titan Stadium.

Coach Glenn Myernick doesn't think his team is snakebit. So what else do you call a club that has played 589 minutes of soccer without scoring a single goal? Unlucky? Hapless? One game away from elimination in Major League Soccer's Western Conference playoffs? Because that's where Myernick's Colorado Rapids find themselves today after being comprehensively beaten, 3-0, by the Galaxy in front of 16,307 at the Rose Bowl on Sunday. Summing up the Rapids' frustrations was one play late in the game.