The Big Picture
The Colorado Rapids (5-17-12, 27 pts) were held scoreless for the first time under interim head coach Chris Little as they fell 0-1 against Real Salt Lake (14-12-8, 50 pts) in their final game of the 2023 MLS season.
Notable:
- GK Abraham Rodriguez recorded his first MLS start tonight, marking the homegrown goalkeeper’s first regular-season appearance since June 25, 2022.
- M Oliver Larraz substituted into the match in the 69th minute of the match, marking his first appearance in MLS since July 31, 2021. The homegrown midfielder was recently named a finalist for the 2023 MLS NEXT Pro MVP award.
- Tonight’s match marked the first time in club history that five Rapids Homegrown Players featured in a regular-season match (Abraham Rodriguez, Sebastian Anderson, Oliver Larraz, Cole Bassett and Darren Yapi).
COLORADO RAPIDS INTERIM HEAD COACH CHRIS LITTLE
On the match:
“Yeah, just disappointed. I thought that we started the game really well. I felt that we could have had a couple of goals and been in the lead and had a bit of a lead, but we didn't. And the longer game went on, there were stretches of the game that we kind of lost control of it, but then managed momentum, we're in control of it. Tough goal to concede to lose the game and a couple of big chances at the end, but yeah, just kind of disappointed for the players. I thought that there were periods in that game that they were very good. So yeah, disappointed.”
On his message to the team after a difficult season:
“Just thank you, really. Thank you to them. I think it's a difficult situation. For the most part, these are all young men, mostly young people, young men. When they go through adversity and they go through a challenge and a changing coach and a lot of criticism—I think that we've asked a lot of them in the last month or so in the last eight games and I felt they showed a lot of spirit and fight and it's disappointing to lose. The quality wasn't there at times, but that wasn't, I don't think, from a lack of effort or lack of commitment. And so, it was thanking them for that and what they've done in this last period of time and I think we're all ready for this, now the season's ended, to look forward now and be positive as we're going into next season.”
COLORADO RAPIDS HOMEGROWN MIDFIELDER COLE BASSETT
On the match:
“Yeah, tough way to end the year. Sick of losing to that team. And yeah, you’ve just got to capitalize on the first 30 minutes we had and then we let them kind of get into the game a bit. Didn't play that well the second half. I thought—I don't know if that goal was out or anything, but we’ve got to play better in the second half than that.”
On taking the tough season as motivation for next year:
“I think it's got to drive us as motivation for a lot of us just to not have that type of year again. It's very frustrating when, especially at home, you lose that many games as we did, and for a lot of the year, not playing the way that we wanted to. I think there were too many times this year where we came out slow. We let teams impose themselves on us. And we didn't take advantage. I think tonight's game basically wrapped up the whole season where we had really good moments, moments where we have to finish our opportunities and we could go ahead. We don't. We let the other team into the game. They get a bit of momentum. Maybe the ref makes a bad call, or we let in one sloppy goal, and then we can't find a way back into the game. I think a lot of how the year went. So, I think it has to drive us as motivation for a lot of guys. We have an unusual amount of time off, it's not normal, so I think a lot of guys can put in that extra work to get them ready for next season.”
