Yapi hour in Commerce City lasts 66 minutes.
A game of a lifetime from 19-year old Darren Yapi was enough for the Rapids to hand San Diego FC its second-ever loss as a franchise, 3-2.
Djordje Mihailovic opened the scoring in the 37th minute from the penalty spot. Yapi earned the call after SDFC goalkeeper CJ dos Santos clipped him in the box. VAR had a lengthy review, but the call was confirmed.
Yapi started in place of winger Kévin Cabral and the Rapids switched up the formation to a fluid-looking 4-4-2. The added attacker in Yapi, next to an already press-heavy forward in Rafael Navarro, wreaked havoc putting pressure on San Diego.
On multiple occasions, the duo pickpocketed dos Santos on back passes and SDFC’s fullbacks. Cole Bassett, who played stretches of the game on the right wing, made a nightmare of SDFC left back Franco Negri’s night with Yapi’s help.
SDFC had a lot of trouble getting the ball out of its own half. When it did, Colorado tracked back well and thwarted attacking moves. SDFC had just one shot in the first half (nine total to the Rapids’ 21), a wasted 2-on-1 which Onni Valakari put high and wide.
But the expansion club found the back of the net early in the second half. Midfielder Luca De La Torre shot a rocket from distance on an otherwise unsuspecting attack and found the top right corner in the 50th minute, continuing a trend of conceding in the five minutes on either side of halftime.
The Rapids struck right back in the 53rd minute, with Yapi scoring his first goal of the season on the Rapids’ first set piece goal in MLS play of the year. After a lofted corner kick, Andreas Maxsø headed the ball back into danger, finding Chidozie Awaziem’s head at the back post. He headed it down into Yapi’s feet, and he poked it into the net.
On a wonderful counter attack in the 60th minute, Bassett found Navarro alone at the penalty spot, and the Brazilian collected the ball well before rifling it off the right post and in.
Tomas Angel got one back for SDFC in the 89th minute via a driven shot past Zack Steffen’s fingertips, but it was too little, too late.
