The Big PictureÂ
The Colorado Rapids (5-16-11, 26 pts) fell 5-1 to Houston Dynamo FC (13-11-9, 48 pts) at Shell Energy Stadium, ending the club’s two-game unbeaten run. Cole Bassett scored a consolation goal for his side, which marked his single-season, career-high sixth goal of the year. Connor Ronan provided the assist on Bassett’s goal, bringing his season tally to 11 assists. The Rapids will be back in Texas next weekend for the club’s rescheduled road match against FC Dallas, which was postponed on Wednesday night due to severe weather.
Notable:
- M Cole Bassett scored his team-leading sixth goal of the season tonight in the 53rd minute, marking his fifth goal contribution in the last six matches (four goals, one assist) and setting a new individual-season career high,
- M Connor Ronan delivered his team-leading 11th assist of the season, his third in as many games. He is one assist away from tying Jack Price’s 12 assists during the Rapids’ Western Conference-topping 2021 season.
- D Keegan Rosenberry recorded his 138th start tonight for the Colorado, surpassing Marvell Wynne for fifth-most in club history. Rosenberry also recorded his 141st appearance as a member of the Rapids, surpassing Wynne for seventh-most in club history.Â
COLORADO RAPIDS INTERIM HEAD COACH CHRIS LITTLE
On the match:
“Yeah, badly disappointed. I think we've let ourselves down, and just very, very disappointed with it. It's not the performance that we expect from each other and everyone has to be accountable, from the players, the staff—everybody. That's just not the performance we want to see from our club.”
On the team’s first-half performances:
“How we start games, our approach to it is something we've addressed. We've tried to take ownership of it. We've tried to discuss it with the players. It's not acceptable. All I can talk about is tonight's game, and in that vein, I think the goals we conceded, you're beating yourself. The lack of ability to defend the goal, second-phase set piece, not clearing the ball properly, it leads to a second-phase goal. Those are just things that you can't do in any game, let alone an away game against a good Houston team. So, it's really, really disappointing. It's not like these haven't been things that we've talked about and addressed, which is the most disappointing thing.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER COLE BASSETT
On the team’s slow starts to games:
“Yeah, I wish I had an answer for these bad starts because then it'd be nice to be able to figure it out on the field. Look, Houston's a good side… They were a good team, I mean their midfielders control the game so well, allow their team to get up the field. They don't lose the ball. In the first half, we—us as midfielders—we couldn't get anywhere near them. We couldn't figure out their rotations and just how to get a tackle on them and kind of say, 'Hey, we're here to play.' I mean, the first 10 minutes, I don't think anybody touched them, and if we did touch them, it was like we touched them too late and they were still going on the attack. We weren't stopping the play dead. So, I mean that just kills you when you don't show up in the first 10 minutes and you give up two goals, and then it's like, you’ve got to battle your way back into the rest of the game. When you start like that and you don't come prepared to play the game, which we should have because we got an extra couple of days of rest, but yeah, you just can't show up like that.”
On his goal and setting a new single-season career high for goals scored:
“I remembered where I was within the frame of the goal, and when the ball kind of fell to me, I kind of knew what was behind me in that split second and then I just tried to flick it and put it on net. And luckily, it kind of caught [Dynamo FC goalkeeper Steve] Clark off guard and then went in. Yeah, I mean it's tough. I'd rather score less goals and we be in the playoffs, but it is nice to come back and continue to score goals as a midfielder. And yeah, for myself, I'm trying to push into whatever U.S. camps it is throughout the end of the year. For me, I want to get back in the senior team and the Olympics are coming up as well next year. So, to try to get into the Summer Olympics, I mean, you watch it as a kid every single year even though soccer wasn't the main thing that you're watching here in America, but if you had a chance to represent your country at the Olympics, that would be something special and that's my age group. I think I could help lead this team, so if I have a chance to get in the camps, that's what I'm playing for at the end of this year, even though we don't have playoffs.”
