Three Rapids make MLS, club debuts in season-opening loss against Seattle

The Big Picture

The Rapids fell on the road to reigning Concacaf Champions League winners Seattle Sounders FC in their first match of the 2023 season. Three Rapids players made their MLS and club debuts, as defenders Andreas Maxsø and Alex Gersbach, along with midfielder Connor Ronan, all played their first minutes in Burgundy since joining Colorado this past offseason; Kevin Cabral also made his club debut when he entered the match in the second half. The Rapids will look to bounce back as they host Sporting Kansas City on Saturday, March 4, in their first home game of the 2023 season. 

View highlights & match summary >>

Notable

• F Diego Rubio missed the trip to Seattle through injury. Rubio led the Rapids with 16 goals in 2022, tying a club record, while also setting a new mark for most goal contributions in Rapids history (16 goals, seven assists).
• 18-year-old forward Darren Yapi made his second-ever start for the Rapids tonight. The Rapids Homegrown Player hit the crossbar in the first minute of the match.

Quotes

COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER

On the match:

“We actually started off okay. I remember looking at the clock at 15-something and thinking this is a really long 15 minutes because the game was pretty intensely contested from the beginning—both teams not really taking too many chances, not wanting to expose themselves, so for about 15 minutes it was a pretty even contest. We had a couple of good moments. To give up the goal the way we did was disappointing, and then certainly, to give up a goal seconds before halftime was really disappointing. That's something we've talked about quite a bit, the critical moments of the game, so that was really disappointing. I do think that I have to take some of the blame because Seattle on the road, perhaps we may have been a bit too aggressive. But we've certainly been working at being able to play in a number of different manners, meaning, at times being aggressive, at times being more conservative. And as they started to get behind us, or every time they got behind us, it felt really dangerous. And I thought we just didn't handle those situations well enough. So I definitely have to look at myself and think that perhaps our setup was a bit too aggressive given where we were first game of the year, that sort of thing. So I certainly have to take some of that as well.”

On his message to the team after the game:

“It was that in certain situations we have to be better. There's just no two ways about it. And we have to be able to manage certain situations better than we did. We did talk about the fact that this game is behind us. You can't change this now, but we have to learn from it and we need to come out guns blazing next week. Kansas City is a very good team and to have them at home we know it's going to be a big challenge, but we need to deal with this. As I said to them, I want this one to hurt because it should hurt, but we have to also take it and learn from it and come out better next week.”

COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER CONNOR RONAN 

On the match:

“I think it's obviously not the best way to start the season. I thought the first 10, 15 minutes were kind of predictable of any first game of the season: a little bit hectic, quite often back and forth. It was a game of  second balls and then the first goal kind of deflates us a little bit. And then I thought we had a period after that where we looked quite comfortable. We had spells on the ball, we got in behind them a few times and then the second goal just before halftime kills us a little bit and just deflections. It's bad timing to concede a goal and then from the second half, I just thought they created too many chances. We need to be better. It’s not the worst possible time to have a result like this, I suppose. First game of the season, we can look to learn from that, have a look back at obviously the mistakes that we made in the week and look to rectify that next weekend.”

On his first few minutes with the club:

“So I think like you said, I want to have the ball and I want to get on it as much as possible, but again, this is a new club and I have to almost earn the respect and the trust of my teammates a little bit. Obviously, I’ve only had two or three preseason games where I played 45, 60 minutes and then tonight was my first 90 minutes, and you know, I think it just takes time with new signings for maybe players to learn what each other's strengths are and then I think you'll see throughout the season, as we've kind of showed glimpses of in preseason, maybe not so much tonight, that once we start to gel and get to know each other's best way of playing and each other's strengths that the positives will start to come. But yeah, like I said, I just like to like to get on the ball and hopefully I can just earn that trust of my teammates as the games go by."