Kévin Cabral Revenge Tour: Rapids win at LA Galaxy

The Colorado Rapids sat third to last in the MLS Western Conference going into Saturday. They went on the road to LA Galaxy, who were second to last. Both teams needed a win. At the end of the night, the result checked all the boxes for what one side was looking for. Would it be a Kévin Cabral revenge tour or would the Galaxy finally get things turned around despite the toxic atmosphere around the club?

Robin Fraser made two changes from the team that drew at Vancouver Whitecaps. Kévin Cabral started up top, against his former team, in place of Michael Barrios. Ralph Priso was in midfield with Sam Nicholson returning to left wing back with Steven Beitashour out.

It was a very similar game plan to the Vancouver game. Colorado sat back in a 5-4-1 at times. They kept it simple and used their numbers to frustrate the Galaxy and limit changes. The visitors were at their best in transition, though Cabral’s accuracy was again lacking.

After a nervous few minutes, Colorado won a corner on 14 minutes. Connor Ronan sent the ball to the back post and barely out of reach of goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann. Abubakar was there to head it in.

It was the first first half goal of the MLS season for Colorado. It was Abubakar’s first goal and the first set piece goal of the season.

The Galaxy had their moments with runs from central into gaps. Dejan Joveljic had a great opportunity getting a step on the center backs but Keegan Rosenberry cleaned up. Riqui Puig had a shot barely deflected wide in the 40th minute. It was the home side’s best chance of the half.

LA came out with energy in the second half. Tyler Boyd brought quality on their right flank going up against Nicholson and putting several good crosses into the box. Abubakar and Danny Wilson made plays when needed. William Yarbrough again made big saves on sequences with multiple opportunities.

It seemed destined to go down to the wire with LA pushing for an equalizer. But the MLS Script Writers had something else in mind. In the 65th minute against the run of play, Colorado worked direct through the midfield. A great ball from Ronan saw Rubio and Cabral get in behind. Rubio made a great pass to the former Galaxy forward for a tap in. Cabral celebrated with some arm shivering and heart hands at the crowd in the Victory Block.

Colorado made some subs and saw the game out. A long ball to substitute Jonathan Lewis saw him complete a simple finish to score. Preston Judd added a garbage time goal and the match ended 3-1.

Kévin Cabral Revenge Tour

No one will admit it, especially Cabral, but this game had a different meaning. First game against his former team, in their stadium. A place he was booed last year during the playoffs. He had not gotten off to a great start with his new club. There was incremental progress but the fans and club needed to see results. A goal. Good pressing. Decent chance creation. Finishing still needs work. But it had to feel so good to score the winning goal in front of supporters who turned on you last year.

“He’s handled it extremely well. This is a place where I felt like he had a tough time. Seems like he had a tough time with the fans. Really pleased for him to have a workmanlike performance and then cap it off with a goal. For him I was really excited the way things went for him here, I was so happy for him to score tonight,” Fraser said postgame.

The defensive gameplan is working, for now

Fraser’s game plan the last two games have been especially conservative. Both worked well enough. But they went long stretches where they were reactionary and the opponent was more deserving of a goal/result. The center backs have played well. Yarbrough’s been fantastic. Players further up field have put in work defensively. They’ve made mistakes but overcome them. They’ve had a bit of luck. The Judd goal was sloppy.

This doesn’t feel sustainable over the course of a season. Get healthy. Make adjustments. Ultimately, this team needs to start playing on the front foot more.

A night of firsts: EVERYTHING else came up Rapids

I’m just going to list things that happened in this game that this team was waiting for. First set piece goal of the year. First goal in the first half in league play. First goal of the MLS season for Abubakar and Lewis. Connor Ronan with an assist on all three goals. Cabral’s best performance in a Rapids shirt. A win that turned this seven game unbeaten/winless run into just an unbeaten run. Second road win of the season. They got one all of 2022.

“We felt like it’s just a matter of time before we do get that first big result. It’s fair to say that this is it and it was a real starting point for that season,” said Ronan.

“This feels like the type of performance that we have been very very close to having for quite a while now,” said Fraser.

Photo Credit: John Babiak.