The Big Picture
The Colorado Rapids fell short at home against San Jose on Saturday night, playing to a 2-3 result at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park. Rafael Navarro opened the scoring for the second consecutive game, getting the outside of his foot on a corner taken by Djordje Mihailovic in the 33rd minute. Omir Fernández struck again for the home side, sending in a 42nd-minute low shot from outside the box that was deflected past former Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough for the midfielder’s first goal since arriving to Colorado. San Jose responded twice before the end of the first half, as Amahl Pellegrino and Earthquakes newcomer Hernán López each scored once to tie the game up heading into halftime.
Cristian Espinoza made it three for San Jose in the 66th minute with a low, far-post drive to close out the scoring at DSGP.
The Rapids will play two games in the next six days; first taking on Vancouver Whitecaps in a midweek clash at home on Wednesday before heading to Sandy, Utah, to face Real Salt Lake for a potential Rocky Mountain Cup-deciding matchup on Saturday.
Notable:
- D Michael Edwards made his MLS debut in tonight’s match against San Jose, subbing on for Keegan Rosenberry in the 81st minute.
- M Omir Fernandez scored his first goal for the Rapids in tonight’s match against San Jose Earthquakes.
- D Andreas Maxsø recorded his first assist of the season on Fernandez’s goal in the 42nd minute.
- F Rafael Navarro scored his fifth goal of the season, his first at home, tying him for the fifth most goals in the league.
- M Djordje Mihailovic recorded his fifth assist of the season, tying him for the fifth-most assists in the league.
- M Connor Ronan made his first appearance since March 16, returning from an injury to his knee.
- D Keegan Rosenberry surpassed Marcelo Balboa for the fourth-most regular season appearances (152) in tonight’s match against San Jose.
- M Oliver Larraz surpassed 1,000 regular-season minutes in MLS, becoming the seventh Homegrown Player in club history to reach this milestone.
- The Colorado Rapids rank number one in the league for goals scored off of set pieces (8 goals) this season.
- The Colorado Rapids scored goals in the 33rd and 42nd minute of tonight’s match, which marks the first time this season the team has scored multiple goals in the first half.
- The Colorado Rapids have scored in 11 of their 12 games in the MLS this season
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH CHRIS ARMAS
On the match:
First I’d like to acknowledge our fans once again, they came out in good numbers to support the team, gave us good energy on a rainy night. They still came out and supported us. We don't take that lightly. We would have loved to send them home with all the points or some points so we're disappointed for that. In reference to the game, it's really just a strange one. I'm not sure we'll play a lot of ones like that, where in the first half we put things on our terms in many ways and almost score two or three more, but I think most importantly, that we played some of our best football in the first half. I think we also have to give San Jose credit, they hung in there, they had a plan that they executed, they forced some set pieces in direct play to get themselves back in it and they go into the locker room with some momentum. Emotionally, do we ever recover from it? Not sure, but we tried to get a rhythm in that second half. We tried to push and be aggressive with some substitutions in our play, but we really didn't bring our best stuff in that second half. We'll probably all be disappointed with the third goal that we gave up. We were loose and that was very unlike us. Again, I'll credit San Jose for it. They are a good team, better than their record shows in my opinion, and they made it hard for us in that second half and they hung in there after taking some blows in the first half. It's a strange one, and that's the story. We have to do better and we will get back, dust ourselves off. Wednesday becomes really important again, so we'll ramp it up.
On addressing the loss in preparation of a busy week with games against Vancouver and Salt Lake coming up:
The way we address the loss is the way we address the wins. We get better, we take from it, we always learn. If we give up a goal in certain ways we have to keep getting better at who we are, whether it's a set piece from the transition or a structural defensive organization. There's not a whole lot to say in that locker room. We talked about the two halves, the reality of that, and what's ahead. Got to get ready for Wednesday. That's 12 for 12 now, meaning 12 really tough games so far, with the majority being on the road. For us, I think we're still in sixth place. Disappointing. Maybe we could have jumped to second on the night, but we'll be back. We quickly get back to work and get ready for another tough one, but especially a good one at home for us to rebound and go after it.
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER KEEGAN ROSENBERRY
On the match:
Disappointing. We had one of our best halves of football in the first half, some really good attacking stuff and quite a few goals, a couple called back. Unfortunately on the night and at the start of the second half, emotionally I don't think we recovered from the goals that had been called back. Having the game tied, they'd been in the game, it was a 0-0 game at the start of the second half, and our message was to come out and start with the same energy we had, and we failed to do that. And we couldn't really recover in the second half because of it.
We couldn't get our rhythm and create enough, didn't look like the same team to be honest. So things to learn from for sure, and a quick turnaround for Wednesday.
Using the loss to motivate:
Even in New York City after a loss in Cincinnati, it's a young team that wants to prove to everyone, prove to ourselves how good we are. Especially at home, I think we've all been disappointed in our home form. Somehow we're doing a little bit better away from home. And it's just another chance to prove how hungry we are, and the people that come to these games week in week out deserve that. So I think that's what we're most eager for is to get these people what they deserve. And like you said, the quick turnaround, it's less time to think about it and we need to move on. We can think about this one for today, and then tomorrow we get right into preparation for Wednesday,
