Slowness in the wrong moments and a touch of misfortune doomed the Colorado Rapids against Minnesota United on Saturday night.
It’s no surprise that the Rapids are better at home than they are on the road, but a somewhat troubling trend is emerging. In two straight games on the road against bottom-half Western Conference teams, the Rapids looked flat when it counted, only to pick it up too late. Most recently, the Rapids lost to Minnesota, 3-0.
“Tonight is another reminder for us as players and as coaches that it’s not easy to win on the road, so to meet the demands (of these games) is the goal each time,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “We’ll learn from this experience, all of us. The good thing is we’ve put ourselves in a good spot. We’re in the playoffs, but we certainly want to be better than that.”
Minnesota struck first in the 16th minute when midfielder Robin Lod pinged a ball out of the air on goal, but forward Kelvin Yeboah got his head on it to redirect it to the near post. Though it almost looked like Yeboah was trying to get out of the way of the blast, Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen had already dove towards the far post. Wrongfooted, he had to watch as the redirection trickled across the goal line at the near post.
Yeboah, who joined Minnesota in August and already had five goals in as many games before kickoff Saturday, tallied his second brace with his new club and brought his total to seven goals in six games.
His first on the night took a bit of fortune, but his second was almost entirely on the Rapids’ defense, which watched as Minnesota carved it up with neat passing until Joaquín Pereyra found Yeboah on a diagonal run. Yeboah, with defender Keegan Rosenberry all over him, tucked it away in the 47th minute.
“It’s difficult to pinpoint, but even the way they scored the first goal is frustrating. One deflection and all of a sudden we feel like we’re under it a bit,” Rosenberry said. “They have quality. You give them half-chances like we did, especially the second and third goals, they’re going to take them. And that’s across the league. There’s too much quality to not get things right in and around the box.
Minnesota midfielder Hassani Dotson joined the fun and sealed the deal in the 82nd minute with a long-distance strike to the bottom right corner through Andreas Maxsø’s legs.
Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic had his team’s two best chances, one in each half. In the first period, forward Rafael Navarro laid a delicious ball back for Mihailovic to take on the first touch, which forced Dayne St. Clair diving for his only save of the night.
For Armas, much of the Rapids’ offensive struggles came from Minnesota dropping into a flat defensive five out of possession. With limited space and almost no gaps to play through, the Rapids could never find a solid option through which to attack in the final third.
In the second half, down 2-0, Mihailovic received a ball after the Rapids finally seemed to have found a way through but took one touch too many and allowed St. Clair to close out and make himself big. Mihailovic tried to chip the Canadian keeper but missed just wide to the right.
The Rapids’ next game will be at home against Western Conference leaders LA Galaxy on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m
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