Another instant classic of a Rocky Mountain Cup match at America First Field in Salt Lake City. Another time the Colorado Rapids were on the wrong end against Real Salt Lake.
After Cole Bassett, Rafael Navarro and Djordje Mihailovic contributed to a 3-2 lead which was alive until the 85th minute, the Rapids gave up three more goals before the final whistle despite bringing on multiple defensive subs and even going for a five-man defensive unit, resulting in a forgettable scoreline of 5-3.
For now, coach Chris Armas and the Rapids will take their three goals scored as a positive, especially given it was against the best team in the Western Conference away from home. But a late-game collapse like this in a match where they could have lifted a trophy definitely raises some concern.
Here are three takeaways from one of the MLS’s most entertaining matches of the season so far:
Running out of water for the fires
RSL’s tying goal in the 85th minute came off of a corner, which the Rapids initially cleared, but only as far as Chukwuemeka Eneli, who rifled a shot off the bar. Then RSL goal poacher Chicho Arango somehow rose above Moïse Bombito and Sam Vines and scored his second of the night with a header near the goal line.
Arango put on his playmaker hat for the winning goal, where he froze Bombito with a one-two with Andrés Gómez, who buried it under Zack Steffen with the outside of his right foot at an angle. The cherry on top was an unlucky giveaway which sparked a two on two where Anderson Julio called his own number from the top of the box and put it past Steffen’s outstretched hands, off the post and in.
“We just have to put out those fires, … give Salt Lake credit,” Armas said. “They pushed the game, I give them a lot of credit, they had a lot of fighting spirit. It was never going to be easy but we got close.”
Navarro scores in fourth straight match
Rafael Navarro willed his way to his fourth goal in as many matches and his eighth on the year and did so with the type of flare only Brazilians can conjure up. Dribbling slowly towards RSL’s box, his pass to Mihailovic was deflected back to Navarro, only to squeeze between two defenders, set himself up in a flash and scoop the ball over former Rapids goalkeeper Zac MacMath for a beauty of a chip.
As the end of Navarro’s loan at the end of June is fast approaching, he keeps getting better and better on both ends of the ball. He’s always been a top-class defending forward, but the more he finds the back of the net, the more his value and the Rapids’ desire to keep him inflates.
“We promised early on in the year that we’re going to be a team that attacks in all ways,” Armas said. “And our team has scored goals and all of a sudden you see guys producing. Rafa, you can see his confidence is high. He can get in certain goal-scoring spots and he can deliver, which was a big positive on the night.”
No time to keep heads down
In some ways, the loss was one to forget. In others, as a coach, it’s one you’d like your players to keep in the memory. Armas didn’t go into detail as to which way he wanted his players to sway.
“The gist, without getting into it too much, is that (I told the team), ‘I’m staring at a bunch of winners,’ and they have to let that go,” Armas said. “But they certainly didn’t hide tonight and they showed up in a big way.”
The month of May has been way less than forgiving so far, with a narrow win over a good Vancouver team along with two ugly losses in which the Rapids led 2-0 at one point against San Jose and RSL. And it’s just getting started.
Next Saturday, the Rapids play the west’s second-place team in Minnesota, which has outperformed all expectations so far this season without one of the league’s best No. 10s in Emanuel Reynoso. After that, they’ll go on a two-game road trip within a week which includes a decent Houston Dynamo team and a rematch at Vancouver.
Because of that, there really is no time to keep any heads down. To combat any negative feelings, the focus in preparation this week will be to “be more ruthless” and to just keep scoring goals, according to Armas.
Kickoff against Minnesota at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park next Saturday will be at 7:30 p.m.