The Colorado Rapids conceded in the second half and fell to San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 on Saturday night at PayPal Park to begin a busy month of May. Colorado goalkeeper William Yarbrough recorded three saves in the loss, denying multiple San Jose breakaways and point-blank chances to keep the Bay Area side to just one goal.
"We never really settled down into a good rhythm but despite that the effort was fantastic, it just wasn't that sharp and clean. It's hard enough to go on the road and win games in this league but when you do enough to earn a point only to have it taken away from you, that's a really tough one to swallow," said head coach Robin Fraser postgame.
Despite putting up five shots before halftime, with three on frame, the Rapids couldn’t find the back of the net in the first 45. San Jose was dangerous on their home pitch, forcing the Rapids’ Yarbrough to step off his line and Auston Trusty to clear the ensuing shot at the 31-minute mark, but didn’t manage a concrete shot on goal before intermission.
Fraser shifted his defensive shape around in the 52nd minute, putting in Drew Moor and Gustavo Vallecilla and switching to three in the back to hopefully change the pace of the game. In the remaining minutes of the game, the Rapids recorded seven more shots on goal as wingers Keegan Rosenberry and Lucas Esteves were given more freedom to run up the line and create attacking chances.
San Jose ultimately found the back of the net first in the 64th minute off of a corner kick. The ‘Quakes defender Nathan connected with the cross off the restart for and flicked it past Yarbrough to put the Bay Area side up by one with less than 30 minutes left in the game.
Colorado continued to hold their ground for the remainder of the match but couldn’t find the result in the final third. After subbing on for Max directly after San Jose’s goal, striker Michael Barrios immediately made an impact on the attack, feeding balls into the eighteen consistently, but none stuck. Striker Gyasi Zardes found himself on the end of a Barrios pass directly in front of the goal in the 70th minute, but his touch and shot were collected by Marcinkowski.
The Rapids’ nearly took the opportunity for an equalizer when Nathan stopped a close-range shot from Mark-Anthony Kaye with what appeared to be his left arm. The call was not made on the field and the Video Assistant Referee checked the play but deemed there to be no clear and obvious error. If awarded, the chance from the spot would have been the first one for Colorado since Cole Bassett’s conversion in the Rapids’ come-from-behind win over Minnesota in October 2021.
"This is a game where they know they didn't play well but they also feel really, really hard done by the non-call on the supposed non-handball, so they're not gonna lay around and lick their wounds for too long," Fraser said. "Hopefully this will propel them to come out Wednesday a ton of anger and just get on with the next thing."
The Rapids will continue their busy May schedule on the road against Minnesota United in an Open Cup midweek clash on Wednesday. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+ and available on Altitude 950 AM.
