The Big Picture
Lalas Abubakar, Michael Barrios and Braian Galvan scored to lead the Colorado Rapids (9-4-4, 31 points) to a 3-1 win over Houston Dynamo FC (3-7-9, 18 points) on Saturday at BBVA Stadium. Abubakar’s goal came in the fifth minute off a Jack Price corner delivery, giving the captain his team-leading sixth assist of the season. Barrios finished off a tap-in to regain the lead in the 60th minute, before Galvan put the match away with a left-footed curler to the far post. The result marked the Rapids’ second consecutive win on the road and their fourth this season.
Notable Numbers:
- The Rapids handed Houston their first home loss of the season. Dynamo FC were the only remaining unbeaten team at home in the Western Conference heading into the match. Colorado is now 2-0-1 (W-L-D) in the state of Texas this year with tonight’s result.
- Lalas Abubakar’s fifth-minute goal was his second against Dynamo FC from his last four games against the Texan side.
- Jack Price earned his team-leading sixth assist of the season. It was his 26th with Colorado, tying him with Dillon Powers for fifth-most in club history.
- Mark-Anthony recorded first assist in Burgundy when he squared a ball across goal to F Michael Barrios to score the Rapids’ second goal of the night.
- Michael Barrios scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Barrios now has six goals and 10 assists in 17 career matches against Houston, his highest goal total against any MLS opponent.
- Cole Bassett made his 15th start of the season for the club, marking a career-high in one season for the Homegrown midfielder. He earned his second assist of the season on F Braian Galvan’s goal.
- Galvan scored his second goal of the season in the 80th minute.
- Dominique Badji made his first appearance for the Rapids since returning to the club on July 29, 2021. It marked his 92nd overall appearance for Colorado.
Quotes: Head Coach Robin Fraser
On the team’s performance:
“It was really difficult conditions—it’s really hot and humid here, as everyone knows. Certainly that presents a challenge in and of itself. Houston is a good team at home and certainly very good on counter attacks as we see. So overall, very proud of the effort we put out tonight. I think it was a really good team win in a place that difficult to play against a good opponent. They obviously haven’t lost here all year so we know that they’re really strong at home and for us to come in and put out a performance like that, I was really really proud of the team.”
On the team’s second goal:
“This is the thing about this is group, that they’re starting to get really confident and have real self-belief and it was a moment where we smelled blood a bit. The precision of the last couple of passes and then the final cross, I thought was excellent. And as I said, I’m distracted worried about the free kick or the potential foul [before the goal] and they remained focused enough to recognize that this was a real opportunity. I thought the intensity with which we moved from the middle of the field to the end of the field was fantastic and really indicative of a team that, as I said, smelled blood and recognized this was a real good opportunity.”
Quotes: Defender Lalas Abubakar
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we played in a very difficult place and we fought hard. We fought for each other. We got the win. It wasn’t easy, especially when you’re up a goal in the first half and then at the end of the first half you give up a goal. We came to the locker room and it was a test for us to go back in the second half and see what we are capable of and I think all the guys came up big and we grinded and got the 3-1 win.”
On his goal and the team’s effectiveness on set pieces:
“Credit to [Chris] Sharpe. He’s doing a great job for us. We practice these set pieces at training… and we just need to do our runs. Try to get away from your marker because they were tight on us and I think our set plays are really good because it’s really difficult for them to mark us. It was something that helps us a lot. We communicate a lot on set pieces, also, and sometimes we block for each other, so it was good.”
