Aside from the final score, there appeared to be several positives to take from Tuesday's Reserve League match played on one of the training fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
Colorado Rapids Reserve team head coach Wilmer Cabrera noted some of them following the team's 1-0 to Chivas USA's Reserves: opportunities created, good minutes for those that needed time, and the return of previously injured players.
However for Cabrera, the quality up front and final result weighed heavy despite the positives.
"We can say that today we were unlucky with the opportunities, but we have to put the ball in the net to make the difference," Cabrera told ColoradoRapids.com afterwards. "They only had one or two (opportunities) and put one in. And then they were defending and we were attacking. The difference is when you put the ball in the net, and we didn't do it today. All the work doesn't look as good because you have to make difference on the net."
Cabrera started a group that included experienced players like Matt Pickens in goal, Edson Buddle, Jaime Castrillon, Jaime Smith and Tony Cascio up top, and Brian Mullan and Diego Calderon in the backline.
For Mullan, who has missed the last six matches while dealing with an injury to his left knee and calf, it was his first competitive match in over month. Calderon saw his first action since undergoing microfracture surgery back in March. And Harris' second-half minutes were his first since injuring his right quad in the match against Salt Lake on August 6.
"In that aspect it was positive," Cabrera said. "Brian has been absent for a long time. It's been five months for Diego and he had the chance to play 45 minutes. Atiba played 25 minutes after his muscle strain. [Head coach] Oscar [Pareja] and I were talking about giving some of these guys a chance to play."
But for Cabrera, who preaches that the Reserves need to mimic the mentality of the first-team, the result stung.
"We played well, kept the ball, created a lot of chances - but you have to win at the end because it's what you play for." Cabrera said. "You try to play to win and we cannot let other teams come here and take the results."
