Wooden Spoon Derby Disappointment: Rapids Draw Galaxy 0-0 at Home

COMMERCE CITY – This writer is running out of things to say about the 2023 Colorado Rapids season. On Saturday night, they hosted LA Galaxy, who had two days rest. It was game 19 of 34 in the regular season. It was home game nine of 17. With a chance to move out of last place in the Western Conference, it was another dud for the Burgundy Boys.

Rapids Head Coach Robin Fraser made just one change from the lineup that would have played for Wednesday’s game which was postponed due to lightning. Steven Beitashour was in for Moïse Bombito, who was off on international duty. This was the healthiest Colorado had been in months with Diego Rubio on the bench, having not played since May 13.

Colorado had a good start. Sam Nicholson had a good look on a header off a set piece just four minutes in. Cole Bassett and Jonathan Lewis both had multiple opportunities. Beitashour combined well with Lewis on the left flank.

Galaxy took some time getting settled. They got into good transition situations more than once. Colorado’s emergency defending was up to the task in their box. Dejan Joveljić was denied by William Yarbrough from point blank range in the 37th minute, with Colorado down a man. Ralph Priso was down for an injury, but he was able to stay till halftime, when he replaced Danny Leyva.

The Rapids should have opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. On another dangerous corner, Andreas Maxsø headed a ball back to the oppositive post. Kévin Cabral nearly got to it with his head and it was there for Nicholson to tap on off the ground. The ball sadly went out for a goal kick.

Colorado had more close calls in the final 30 minutes. Long balls to Cabral and substitute Michael Barrios were swept up by Jonathan Bond. Bassett had a dangerous cross that got through traffic that Bond almost bobbled. The Galaxy had a handful of looks on counter attacks. The best came to Gastón Brugman.

William Yarbrough made the save of the night in the 85th off a shot from Riqui Puig on a loose ball in the box. The Galaxy were the better team in the final 15 minutes. The match frustratingly ended 0-0.

“Good defensive performance. Attacking wise, all of us know we know within ourselves we didn’t have a good game. We need to be more creative. We had a couple chances. We needed to be better there”, Bassett lamented after the match.

No goals, no Rubio:

Another decent start at home. Another game with good chances for each attacking player. A good number of set piece chances. This team cannot finish. They cannot capitalize on good periods of play against weak teams. Fraser made all five substitutions with Rubio not seeing the field. He appears to sit down on the bench frustrated midway through the second half, appearing to tweak something and visiting with the training staff afterwards.

“He’s worked so hard to come back from his injuries. A couple of things keep popping up. He’s just not quite right”, Fraser said of Rubio when asked postgame.

Wooden Spoon disappointment:

Nineteen games played. Two wins. No home wins. Bottom of the table. A performance against the other terrible team in the conference and it’s a 0-0 draw where the visitors finished the game better.

“We did enough to win the game early on. In the transition moments, we weren’t quite as good”, said Fraser, adding “Decision making with the ball, because that led to turnovers, which led to counter attacks.” 

“We have to start being more clinical. We have to reward ourselves. We’ve got to start taking three points, especially at home”, added Beitashour.

It’s hard to see where the Rapids get a home win this year if they couldn’t beat this Galaxy team. This was a matchup between the two worst teams in the Supporters’ Shield standings. If you cannot win a game like this, you should be considered the Wooden Spoon favorite.

Pride Week though:

Pride Night did not get to have its spotlight on Wednesday due to the weather. Still, Centennial 38 came out in their pride paraphernalia and supported the Colorado Name Project. Win or lose, the community culture is here.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken.

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