Game Overview
Final: FC Cincinnati 0 | Colorado Rapids 2
Quick Read
Diego Rubio and Michael Barrios continued their hot streaks to lead the Colorado Rapids (5-2-1, 16 points) to a 2-0 win over FC Cincinnati (1-5-1, 4 points) on Saturday at TQL Stadium, Colorado’s fifth win in six games. Barrios ran in behind and found Rubio in the 21st minute for the eventual game-winner. Forward Jonathan Lewis scored his first goal of the season in the 72nd minute, smoothly finishing a through ball from captain Jack Price, who earned his team-leading fourth assist of the season on the play. Goalkeeper William Yarbrough put forth one of his best performances of the year, making a season-high seven saves to earn his fourth clean sheet of the season.
Reaction
HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER
On the team’s performance:
“Just really proud of the team. Really, really great and tough environment. We haven’t seen a crowd like this since the first game of 2020. To come in and deal with some conditions, heat and humidity, obviously a team that’s hungry, I thought we did a really good job of negating some of their strengths early on and really creating some decent opportunities. And then second half, once we had a lead, it was about making sure we were being quite resolute in defending it. I was really proud of the effort and certainly to get the second goal was really a boost for us and helped us get over the line."
On playing a three-man back line:
“It’s something we’ve toyed with basically from the beginning of preseason. We’ve used it a couple of times to close out games, we started one game in it. We certainly like the flexibility of being able to play in a couple of different shapes, depending on what the opponent does and what the conditions are. It’s been a work in progress. The guys have done a really good job in adapting to everything that’s been asked of them. I thought they looked pretty comfortable for the most part. The work rate of the group and how they support each other was really, really great to watch tonight.”
FORWARD JONATHAN LEWIS
On William Yarbrough’s performance:
“Seeing something like that, seeing him go down and able to get back up, it honestly raises the spirits of the team. He stood on his head tonight. He made some serious saves, especially that first one in the first half on [Isaac Atanga]. That’s a good save. I think it just lifts us. Every time he makes a save, we realize, alright we’re letting people in, we need to step up our game. And that’s what happened. Especially when Will took that knock and we’re like, ‘Alright, we need to try to put this game away. I think, again, it’s a Man of the Match performance from him. He did really well tonight.”
On his goal:
“I know I made the first run and I ended up being offside so I needed to recycle my run. I knew that once he started driving that it was going to open up the space and for me, those are angles that I’ve always thought I’m pretty good at finishing, whether it’s on my left or right foot. He played it perfectly. It was in stride and I just knew to shoot it. I froze the keeper and it was able to go in. I’m happy that I got my first one of the year.”
GOALKEEPER WILLIAM YARBROUGH
Overall on the team's play:
"The determination and the fight of every guy was incredible tonight. Coming off the break, sometimes it’s hard to get into the rhythm on things, and I think today we proved we’re on the right track mentally. Each game has been a huge lesson for us. I’m so proud of this group and how everyone fought for 90 minutes, left everything out there."
On another clean sheet:
"It’s a team effort, these clean sheets. I don’t think anyone individually can take credit. It’s the result of a lot of handwork through the week, you know, personally with Chris Sharpe, we’ve been working a lot. And thankfully, today we were able to keep the clean sheet. When we are that solid defensively, it helps our guys in front of us create those scoring opportunities and win games."
Next Up
The Rapids have their first quick turnaround matchup of the season this week, when they travel to Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday for a big Western Conference showdown.
