The Big Picture
Connor Ronan delivered a trio of assists as the Colorado Rapids (2-3-6, 12 pts) extended their unbeaten run in league play to seven matches with a 3-1 win on the road against the LA Galaxy (1-6-3, 6 pts) on Saturday night. Lalas Abubakar opened his 2023 account off a first-half corner kick, Kévin Cabral scored against his former club in his first visit to LA since joining the Rapids and Jonathan Lewis capped off the Rapids’ second road win of the year.
Notable:
- Tonight’s result extended the Rapids’ current unbeaten run to eight matches across all competitions (3-0-5).
- F Diego Rubio delivered his 25th career regular-season assist on Colorado’s second goal, which surpassed Adrian Paz for seventh-most assists in club history. Rubio now has 61 goal contributions (34 goals, 27 assists) all-time across all competitions with Colorado, tying Paul Bravo for the fourth most in club history. The Chilean also joins Omar Cummings (39 goals, 27 assists) as the only players in club history with at least 35 goals and 25 assists.
- D Lalas Abubakar netted his 10th MLS goal when he opened the scoring in the 14th minute. The goal marked his first of the 2023 season and his first ever goal against the Galaxy.
- In his 50th MLS start, F Kévin Cabral scored the Rapids’ game-winning goal against his former club.
- F Jonathan Lewis scored in the 81st minute, which marked his third goal in his last two appearances across all competitions.
- The Rapids remain unbeaten in their last 18 MLS matches when leading at half-time (17-0-1) dating back to April 2021.
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER
On the match:
“Really, really proud of the group tonight and how we handled it. This is always a tough place to play. They're an extremely talented team, and early on, they certainly were being very mobile in the middle of the field and created some potential issues for us. I was really proud of the way the group, while we were figuring out how to deal with them, it was just work—work and commitment—and I'm so proud of the team for that because whatever the circumstances are, this is what we get from this team. We always get work and commitment. As the game went on, we were able to work our way into the game a bit, and it kind of became more back and forth. Obviously, the timing of the first goal for us was excellent. I think it really provided some confidence for us. And as the game went on, and really, we had moments where we had to battle, and guys really, really fought. And then in the moments in transition, we had to execute and execute well, and did really, really well. So, from a commitment standpoint, couldn't be more proud. From an efficiency and execution standpoint, I thought we were quite good on the night, as well, and really earned a hard-fought victory tonight.”
On Rapids forward Kévin Cabral facing his former team:
“Yeah, I think Kévinhas handled it extremely well. This is a place where I felt like he had a tough time and it seems like he had a tough time with the fans, so I was really, really pleased for him to have a good, very workman-like performance, and then cap it off with a goal. I thought it was—for him, I was really excited just given the way things went for him here. I was so happy for him to score tonight.”
\On the confidence the seven-game unbeaten streak is giving the team: \
“Yeah, I think our confidence is pretty good right now, and we know that even of the—you know, you talk about seven games unbeaten. Obviously, so many of them were ties, but we felt like we could have won so many of those games. We were close. We had opportunities. Things just didn't quite bounce our way, but there was a sense of belief growing within the team. And we have felt like we're playing well. We felt like we've defended well. We felt like over the seven-game stretch we've played offensively well, certainly more times than not. And there was definitely a feeling that at some point, this has to break. We have to score some goals based on some good build-up plays, some good approach play, and the fact that we had defended as hard as we have over the stretch, we feel like we always have a chance in games. We felt like we've always had a chance in games, and tonight was another example of that. Defended really well, grew into the game, and then, ultimately scored some goals. And this feels like the type of performance that we have been very, very close to having for quite a while now.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER CONOR RONAN
On the match:
“Yeah, I thought it was a deserved win. I feel like we've been kind of chasing this first one now, obviously—well, second one since the start the season. I feel like we've put in performances where we've had like lots of chances and just not really had that game where we've scored enough goals, and I think tonight was the night where kind of that barrier opened up, and I think getting the goal in the first half helps a lot and gives us a bit of confidence. And then, I always felt like even though we were under quite a bit of pressure there, once we won the ball back, we had a chance on the break, and I think the goals kind of showed that.”
On the team’s seven-game unbeaten streak in league play:
“Yeah, I think this tonight will do us a lot of good. I know we've been speaking about the unbeaten run probably since the past few weeks, but we needed to get some wins in there. It's okay being unbeaten for five, six games, but you'd rather be picking up three points every now and again as well. So, I think like I said earlier tonight, hopefully going to be a bit of a starting point for us and just picking up that confidence, and I think the three goals tonight is probably the biggest thing. I think even the past game that we won, we'll want to put the ball in the net, and yeah, hopefully we can just keep coming, keep scoring and keep winning.”
