The Big Picture
Rafael Navarro scored his first goal in Burgundy as the Colorado Rapids (5-16-12, 27 pts) played to a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas (10-10-13, 43 pts) at Toyota Stadium in their final road game of the year. The Rapids will close out the 2023 season athome next weekend against regional rivals Real Salt Lake.
Notable:
- Forward Rafael Navarro opened the scoring tonight, recording his first goal as a member of the Rapids.
- Winger Jonathan Lewis recorded his 150th MLS regular-season appearance and logged 54 minutes tonight, surpassing 7,000 regular-season minutes in MLS (7,002).
- Colorado has scored in each of their last seven matches, their longest scoring streak of the season.
COLORADO RAPIDS INTERIM HEAD COACH CHRIS LITTLE
On the match:
“I was absolutely delighted with the team tonight. I thought after the result last week a lot of questions got asked of the guys, and I thought their character tonight was fantastic. Playing a team that was desperate to win, to obviously to try and get into the playoffs, and I thought we defended with grit, with determination, and then we had really good periods of the ball after we conceded the goal. I thought the response from the players was very good, and when we could attack and hit people in transition, I thought we were a threat and we created some really good chances in the game to win it, as well. So, for me, that was a fantastic away performance.”
On finishing the season strong:
“Yeah, I mean just that. I think we were asked a question a couple of times, 'Are we here to be spoilers or is there anything to play for?' and I take that as an insult. It's an insult to the players. It's an insult to our club. We have personal pride [at stake] in being where we are. We have a responsibility to our fans and we use that as motivation and we need to finish the season strongly and I'm hoping that the fans and all our supporters have seen that there's a lot of spirit and fight from the group. That's really been improving and what better opportunity to finish the season at home against our rival, against Salt Lake. So, great game, one we're going to really be well prepared for. A tough test, they're a good team, but it's a big game and a big opportunity to finish the season with our fans and hopefully finish on a positive note.”
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD RAFAEL NAVARRO
On the match:
“I think it was a match that we were able to put out our style, what we worked out through the week. We worked throughout the week on counter attacks and we had a lot of opportunities and opportunities to finish the game like that. I’m disappointed with the tie, but happy for my first goal.”
On scoring his first goal_ with the club:_
“I was extremely happy to score. As a forward, it bothers me to have gone this long without scoring, so I was extremely happy to get the goal. I want to thank all my teammates and the coaching staff for believing in me and helping me, even though I was going through this phase without scoring. They were all still believing, so I was very happy t
