Union Down Rapids 2-1 In Crazy Game Despite Connor Ronan Penalty

Colorado Rapids hosted Philadelphia Union on Saturday night. It was a matchup of blue collar teams coming off midweek Open Cup games on the road. A Connor Ronan penalty got things going as the match got out of control in the second half.

The Rapids were once again dealing with absences. Kévin Cabral, Jonathan Lewis, and Diego Rubio were in the front three with Max Alves unavailable due to the sports betting investigation. Danny Leyva started in midfield, though Bryan Acosta and Braian Galván made the bench. Anthony Markanich and Sam Nicholson started at wingbacks with the others unavailable.

The first half was intense and at times sloppy. Jim Curtin had his side in a 3-5-2 surprisingly, to limit Colorado playing up the middle. It was chippy as well with late tackles by both sides. Head referee Victor Rivas handed out four yellow cards in the half.

Andre Blake denied Cabral seven minutes in point blank off of a deflection. The Union put the ball in the net on back-to-back corners minutes later, with both goals called off. On the first, the ball went out (for a corner) in the build up. There was a foul on the second.

In the 35th minute, Damion Lowe ran into Rubio at the edge of the box. A free kick was originally awarded. VAR had Rivas go to the monitor. It was then determined the foul occurred inside the box. A penalty was awarded with Ronan smashing it in the top right corner despite Blake almost getting to it.

Philly was the better side after that. Kai Wagner got the ball at the top of the box two minutes into stoppage time, who put the ball on a rope and past William Yarbrough. The half ended 1-1.

The Union would take the lead seven minutes into the second half. Olivier Mbaizo made a great run on a long ball from Jack McGlynn. He cut back to find the late arriving Julian Carranza who scored first time to make it 2-1.

Colorado had several looks in transition after that. Just after the hour mark, Blake made back to back saves. Cabral found Rubio in space, who shot for the far corner. Blake made the diving save then collected the rebound shot from Lewis.

Cabral had a great opportunity in the 67th. Ronan took a free kick, finding Danny Wilson in the box. He headed it right on front of goal but Cabral could not get the volley on target.

The Rapids made several attacking subs to push for an equalizer but were unsuccessful. The match ended 2-1 with the game getting out of control in the final minutes. Multiple shoving matches after the whistle. The game got out of hand in stoppage time as the players had a mosh pit and trash ended up on the field. After long delays, Galván and Jesús Bueno were given straight red cards for violent conduct with three other yellows handed out.

Galván took his jersey off before leaving the field and had words for the Union dugout. He needed to be held back as he left for the locker room.

“Losing your cool and getting red cards and yellow cards because of your emotions is not ok. But until you’ve played a game on one of these fields, it’s very hard to comment on what it’s like to deal with some of the things that happen on the field. I’ll leave it at it’s not ok to get cards due to emotions. I suppose to some extent we’re all emotional. You have to be able to control that and you have to be able to deal with the factors. Sometimes the factors are mind boggling calls. You have to be able to deal with that,” Fraser said candidly after the match.

Lack of a response:

The energy just was not there for the Pids compared to past games. After the first 15 minutes, the visitors got settled. Colorado scored first and the Union raised their level. The Union had the better start to the second half. After going down 2-1, the response was not good enough. Other than Galván, none of the substitutes changed the game. The team looked tired coming off a lot of travel and Open Cup games. Maybe this result was coming given Colorado had played on the backfoot the last several games.

“We lost control, which happens after you go a goal up. It would have been nice to see it out till halftime 1-0 up. I still feel like we come out of the half with a lot of energy. Unfortunate they got us on the break with the second goal. Towards the end of the game, it got away from us. It suited them, all the breaks in play,” said Ronan.

Another night of firsts:

Ronan opened his Rapids account on the penalty. Rubio missed the last penalty for the club a few weeks ago at Vancouver. It’s interesting Ronan took it given Fraser praised Rubio after that game against the Whitecaps, despite missing.

“I was confident going into the night. Thankfully, Diego (Rubio) let me take it. I’m always going to pick a spot and go for that before the referee blows the whistle. Thankfully it went in,” said Ronan when asked about his penalty.

Elsewhere, Generation Adidas player Moïse Bombito made his first team debut, subbing in in the 81st minute for Danny Leyva.

Philadelphia’s quality makes the difference:

The Union are a very good team. In the moments that mattered, they executes in ways the Rapids did not. Both finishes were great. The Rapids were a bit out of position on both goals, but those players were more about what Philly did than what the Pids did not do. Colorado just did not have the finishing touch, especially after the third goal. Lewis was poor. Rubio took his chances selfishly and did not execute. The Rapids managed only 1.4 expected goals, with 0.8 of that coming from the Connor Ronan penalty. Less than one expected goal from the run of play at home is not good enough.

“We were poor. Philadelphia made it tough for us to get into any rhythm. We weren’t sharp with the ball. That left us in a lot of defending situations. We didn’t defend particularly well. My message to (the team) is the urgency we saw in the final 30 minutes, we need to see that from the start.

Photo Credit: John Babiak.

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