Michael Barrios Rescues Point in Stoppage Time, Again

Colorado Rapids returned home to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for Earth Day in their first ever match against St. Louis CITY. It was the Kroenke Derby. The teams wore their One Planet jerseys as the Rapids attack sustained long enough to rescue a point. Again, Michael Barrios saved the day.

Head Coach Robin Fraser again had to shuffle the lineup. Sam Nicholson was a late scratch, so Steven Beitashour started at left wing back. Andreas Maxsø was back from his concussion to stabilize the center back position. Max Alves started with Cole Bassett out with a hamstring injury.

The first half was scoreless but frenetic. Kévin Cabral had several chances on goal, though he was called offside on two of them. Keegan Rosenberry it the base of the post 16 minutes in. Max and Bryan Acosta both had chances. The best look came 44 minutes in when Diego Rubio tried to go upper 90. St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki was up to the task every time.

Chances for the visitors were few and far between. Maybe their best chance came 25 minutes in with Rapids goalkeeper William Yarbrough had to come into the midfield to head the ball twice to prevent a counter attach.

The St. Louis attack woke up ten minutes into the second half. First Colorado got caught out of position as Rasmus Alm was denied by Yarbrough point blank. The rebound was passed to Jared Stroud who missed a wide open net. Two minutes later, Stroud and Alm would redeem themselves.

Off a goal kick, they worked quickly to get into the final third. Stroud delivered a perfect ball to an onrushing Alm at the back post. Danny Wilson and Beitashour were behind as Alm tapped it in.

Fraser went for it, making four subs with 20 minutes to go. Anthony Markanich came on for Beitashour, who sustained a knock minutes earlier. The team went 4-3-3 with Darren Yapi, Jonathan Lewis, and Michael Barrios up top.

Chances came as Jonathan Lewis in the 74th and 75th minute. First Acosta did well to win the ball on the touchline. He dribbled forward and found Lewis in space but he shot right at Burki. Acosta injured himself on the play and had to be subbed out. Then Rubio found Lewis on a similar play but he shot it well over the bar.

It looked to be a scripted Rapids loss but in the second minute of stoppage time,

The match ended 0-1 as Colorado could not muster a comeback.

Finishing chances was the difference

Colorado created over two expected goals in this game. They had several open looks in transition. After the goal, they had all the chances. Lewis had three good looks at goal. They had corners. One team had three really good looks and finished one of them. The other team 21 shots, corners, and open looks. They also scored one goal. Stop me if you’ve seen this happen to the Rapids before.

“Tonight was a positive performance. We’ve just got to put the ball in the net. The creativity was well. We were direct at times. It’s as simple as just scoring. We’re doing everything from the build up to their box,” midfielder Connor Ronan said postgame.

The unbeaten run continues, but . . .

Five games unbeaten now is something to build on. So is coming back from a losing position in three of those. That said, four of those games are draws. The Rapids are playing well, but the results are not matching the performances. The finishing is worrying. Defensively, they give up big chances that usually turn into goals. It’s ok to be process oriented at this point in the season, but at some point good performances need to turn into wins.

“It’s not the best unbeaten run ever. It’s a lot of draws. If we can turn some of those draws into wins, we’ll be in a much better position,” Ronan said.

Fraser was more encouraged: “After this performance tonight, I’m more convinced than ever that it’s coming. They’ve been on the front foot. They’ve worked extremely hard. They’ve created a number of chances over the last number of games. The responsibility is on them to finish those opportunities. This group of guys are very close to breaking through.”

Bryan Acosta and Michael Barrios though

Bryan Acosta was Man of the Match. It was his best performance in a Rapids shirt, no question. He was a true box-to-box midfielder. He created chances for himself and others from the run of play. Barrios was again a livewire off the bench. . His goal was class. That’s two goals and two assists in nine games for the Columbian. Not bad for an over-30 sub players.

“Fantastic. It’s not only those two equalizing goal. Michey’s been nothing short of sensational for us this year. He’s come off the bench and changes games. He’s been tremendous for us,” said Fraser of Barrios.

Ronan took a back seat and let his midfield partner be the piano player.

“Bryan’s got that, we’ve seen it recently. We’ve played side by side and we’ve been disciplined. Tonight the manager gave him that license to get forward. Some of the combination play was really good. He’s always got that energy and aggressiveness on and off the ball.”

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken.