Quick Read
A capacity crowd was on hand at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park as the Colorado Rapids (5-3-2, 17 points) rallied to earn a 1-1 draw against Seattle Sounders FC (7-0-5, 26 points). Michael Barrios scored the equalizer in the 57th minute when he rifled home a cross from Sam Vines. The goal was Barrios’ third of the season, tying Diego Rubio for the team lead. After the match, the Rapids retired the No. 25 of club legend Pablo Mastroeni and celebrated the largest fireworks show in the state of Colorado.
Notable
- Michael Barrios scored his third goal of the season to equalize in the 57th minute. The Colombian cut inside and fired to the far post with his left foot after receiving a pass from D Sam Vines, who earned his first assist of the season. Barrios now has three goals and three assists in his last six games.
- The Rapids extended their streak to 29 consecutive MLS matches at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park with a goal, the longest active home scoring streak in MLS.
- Cole Bassett became the fourth Rapids Academy product to reach 50 career MLS appearances. The 19-year-old from Littleton, Colo., has 10 goals and eight assists in his MLS career, both the most by a Rapids Homegrown.
- Colorado is now unbeaten in its last three matches against Sounders FC. The Rapids won the two meetings prior to tonight.
- Colorado moves to 13-6-5 (W-L-D) all-time on Independence Day.
- Former Rapids D Shane O’Neill played 90 minutes for Sounders FC. O’Neill played for the Rapids Academy and signed a Homegrown Player contract in June 2012 and played 52 MLS matches for Colorado.
Reaction
Head Coach Robin Fraser
On the match...
“Obviously a very close, hard-fought contest. The best team in the league. We know that they’re always dangerous, so for us it was a really big challenge and I felt like in the first half we did okay. We had some decent possession. We weren’t quite as threatening as we needed to be. In the second half I thought we did a good job at pushing the tempo a bit and making ourselves a little more dangerous in the attacking third, and as a result we were able to keep them under some decent pressure. Obviously it was great to score the goal but we are disappointed that we didn't get another one.”
On Michael Barrios’ form…
“Well, all season long he’s been creating chances for himself and for others and obviously scoring goals. In terms of goals and assists he’s been so dangerous recently and I just think as he continues to do this, continues to understand the players he will get more and more comfortable with them. He has been one of our most dangerous players and he’ll continue to be one of our most dangerous players.”
Forward Diego Rubio
On the match…
“We played against the best or one of the best teams in the league and they came to our home. We always say we need to show up in these games, and I think we did, we did. We had one mistake in the game, they scored on that mistake, they didn’t have anything else. We had energy, we had everything. We gave everything in the game and it’s a tie. But we need to start from here, we need to play. We need to go to every team with everything. It doesn’t matter which team it is. It doesn’t matter if we play at home or away. We need to go with everything. We showed today that we can do it.”
On the challenges of facing Seattle’s defense…
“We played against the best defensive team in the league and if you see they have six or seven players inside the box when we play. We can finish better, yes, of course, we have to. If you see against other teams they cannot even create chances against Seattle, the best defensive team in the league and we did it, we did it. We created so many chances and we got into the box, the ‘keeper made saves, defenders did everything. I think I saw a penalty or two penalties at least, but it is what it is. Do we need to get better? Yes, but this is the way we need to keep going.”
