The Big Picture
Diego Rubio and Mark-Anthony Kaye scored to lead the Colorado Rapids (11-4-4, 37 points) toa 2-1, come-from-behind victory over Rocky Mountain Cup rival Real Salt Lake (7-7-6, 27 points) on Saturday at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park. Rubio’s goal in the 64th minute was his fourth of the season, while Kaye’s game-winning header in the 71st minute was his first goal since joining the club via trade last month. The win is the Rapids’ third in a row and extends their home unbeaten run to nine games, while also marking the club’s 200th all-time win. The three points jump Colorado into third place in the Western Conference, five points behind first-place Seattle with two games in hand.
Notable Numbers
- Tonight’s win marked the Rapids’ 200th all-time win.
- Diego Rubio scored his fourth goal of the season and came on a header off a Jack Price corner delivery. The goal was Colorado’s ninth off a set piece this season and the seventh off a corner.
- Jack Price earned his seventh assist of the season and his 27th in MLS with the Rapids, tying Omar Cummings for fourth-most in club history.
- Mark-Anthony Kaye scored his first goal with the club and the 10th of his MLS career when he headed home Braian Galván’s centering pass. The 26-year-old Canadian was named HealthONE Man of the Match and now has one goal and one assist in his last three games. Colorado is 3-0-1 (W-L-D) since Kaye joined the team.
- Braian Galván earned his first assist of the season on Mark-Anthony Kaye’s goal. The 20-year-old Argentine made his 10th consecutive appearance and now has a goal and an assist in his last three games.
- Keegan Rosenberry made his 150th career MLS appearance. Rosenberry was also credited with an assist on Kaye’s game-winning goal, his second of the season.
- This was Colorado’s second win of the season after going behind. RSL Albert Rusnak opened the scoring in the 51st minute before Rubio scored in the 64th minute and Kaye scored in the 71st minute. The Rapids erased a two-goal deficit in a 3-2 win over Minnesota on May 8.
- The Rocky Mountain Cup champion will be determined on Oct. 16, at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah. The teams enter the rubber match with three points each, though RSL has a two-goal lead on aggregate.
- The Rapids build their second three-game winning streak of the season. Colorado is undefeated in its last five games, winning four.
Quotes: Robin Fraser
On winning three in a row, including two on the road prior to tonight’s match…
“I probably would have thought, ‘I would never count against our team.’ But to think that we would have won all three games I think is a hard thing to say that's definitely going to happen. But as I said, I would never bet against our team just because the character. The character of the team, the character of the players. They find ways to win. On some occasions we play really well and we find ways to win that way, but on the nights when we play poorly we still are able to find ways to win from time to time and certainly tonight was one of those. Emotionally I'm really, really proud. I'm excited. I'm drained. It was one of these where I didn't run a minute, but I was completely exhausted at the end of it, but the overwhelming feeling is that I'm really proud of the team.”
On Braian Galván’s performance…
“This is the way it is when a new player joins a team—a new player, a young player joins the team. It takes time for them to assimilate. It takes time for them to earn a coach's trust and Braian this year has done nothing after his injury except earn trust—earn trust from the coaching staff, earn trust from his teammates—and what he came and did tonight was another example of that. I've played him in a couple of different roles—he doesn't complain, he just gets on with it and wherever he is asked to play, he does everything he can to help the team and tonight was no exception. He went in and gave us some really valuable minutes as a right winger and created the goal, created some other chances, and then ended up playing the left wingback to help close the game out. You ask him to do it and he just does it. That is the thing that has made this team where we are today, put us where we are today. It's an unselfish group and every single thing I've asked them to do, they just try to do it to the best of their ability.”
Quotes: Diego Rubio
On what makes this team great…
“Everybody on this team can go and step up. I mean, you see we changed the three attackers and they played even better than the ones we started. Braian [Galván] stepped up and he was doing whatever he wants in the game. Andre [Shinyashiki] did everything fantastic. Jonathan [Lewis], you know how dangerous he is. Like I said, we scored the goals. I had a couple chances in the first half. I told the team that that's on me. Even if we didn't play that good, if I scored those chances we play different, with more confidence. But still, I scored the goal in an important moment, then these three guys. I think your question was, ‘what makes this team great?’ It’s that everybody is an amazing player and everybody can play. You could see in these three last games we switched the teams and we won every single game.”
On the importance of the win…
“I think we've had words this year about we go to every team and for us every [game] is a final. Of course, we all know this is the Rocky Mountain Cup and this is a special game, the clásico, derby, or whatever you want to call it, and it's special, yeah, of course. But this year for us every game counts, every game is as important as the other one. We just think about the next one and now we win this one, we are so we are so happy, we are so motivated to go and just go for the next one, and our next game is going to be another final. So of course, it is special, like you said, but special is to win and go to every team and fight as a team.”
