The Big Picture
Despite having two goals disallowed early in the match, the Colorado Rapids secured a clean sheet and a point against Sporting Kansas City in their 2023 home opener. The result extends an unbeaten run at home to nine games dating back to July of last year.
Notable
- GK William Yarbrough became the first player in club history to record at least 11 saves in a clean sheet. His 11 stops tonight were the most by a goalkeeper in MLS this season.
- Yarbrough also recorded his 27th clean sheet, giving him sole possession of the second-most clean sheets in club history, surpassing Clint Irwin. This was the first time a goalkeeper has made at least 10 saves in an MLS match since Joe Willis recorded 14 saves for Nashville SC against LAFC on October 9th, 2022.
- With the result, the Rapids are tied for the fewest losses at home in MLS since 2021 (3).
- The Rapids also extended their unbeaten streak at home to nine games.
- Colorado kept a clean sheet during a home opener for the second consecutive year.
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER
On the match:
“I think a draw at home is somewhat disappointing, but there's certainly positives to be taken from it. Good moments, I thought we started the game really well, created a number of good chances, apparently scored a goal. Disappointing when you score a goal and it's not allowed. Again, I wasn't standing on the end line so maybe I shouldn't say that definitively, but it sure looked that way. And then I thought after a couple of the controversial calls, a couple of goals being called back, I thought that we took our foot off the gas a little bit, absorbed some pressure for a while, and then in the second half it was kind of back and forth. We had a couple of chances, but we made mistakes that led to chances for them as well. Overall, quite a few positives to take out of the day, but still a bit of a disappointment to not win at home.”
On Darren Yapi’s performance:
“Yeah, Darren is coming along. I've been saying this everywhere for the last probably two months, that his last year has been really good, but I think even in his last two or three weeks he's continuing to improve and he's more comfortable. Like I said at the beginning of the Seattle game, he looked a little tentative and nervous, and by the end of the game, I thought he looked like he was just enjoying playing. And tonight, I felt like it was more of the same and he was better tonight with his back to goal than he was last week, held balls up well and is showing real confidence in tight spaces, which is probably the hardest thing to do as a young player. So, he's showing real confidence, putting himself in great positions to score goals. Again, kind of unfortunate about the one tonight, but his confidence is growing and as he has grown over this 12-month period I keep talking about physically, his confidence, his understanding, all of that is also growing and I feel like he's doing really, really well.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER COLE BASSETT
On the match:
“Tough one tonight. We feel like we did enough. I still haven't seen a couple of replays. I wonder if a couple of those went across the line, but we do need to do a little bit more, me and Yaps [Darren Yapi] were talking about we got to score. But you know, we feel pretty good, especially compared to last week. It's a lot better performance, but we need to be ruthless. But it does hurt missing Diego [Rubio]. I think he is a big key for us. Initial thought is we have to do better in the attacking third because the defense did their job.”
On the result and the team keeping a clean sheet:
“I'm looking at it—we are in the same situation we were in 2021. I think we were one point after two games. It's a better second game than we had back then, but it is a good feeling to get a clean sheet and I know our defense will be happy about that because all week they weren't happy with their performance last week. And it was just individual mistakes that we know that they never make. It was kind of a one-off. We expect better from them, better from ourselves because we haven't scored a goal yet, as well, up top. When the defense does get the job done like that and they don't allow a goal at home, we should expect to win. I think this is on us for this game. All the attackers, I think we did create the chances, but we got to finish them off.”
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER ANDREAS MAXSØ
On the match:
“I think we started really well. First 30 minutes, scored two goals but it didn't count, unfortunately. I think the last quarter of the of the first half we gave the control to the other team and I think second half was even. I think it's a fair result.”
On his first match at home and his experience with altitude:
“Yeah, it was nice to be at the stadium and hear the fans, of course. I will say I could feel [the altitude] in my lungs like the first sprint that I made. But you know, I have to get used to it like all the other guys. That's just a part of it. And of course, it was a little bit cold but I'm used to it.”
