Eight Days Later: Colorado Rapids Draw Timbers in Second Half Resumption

COMMERCE CITY – Aaaaaaand we’re back! Eight days after Colorado Rapids and Portland Timbers played a first half on 4th of July, the two teams played their second half resumption on Wednesday night.

There were limits to lineup changes the two sides could make from the initial start. Abraham Rodriguez was on the bench instead of Marko Ilić, who’s loan had expired since the first half. Dairon Asprilla was on the bench for Portland.

For a recap of the first half and the weather delay shenanigans, click here.

The intensity to the start was good given the circumstances. Colorado came out asking questions. Darren Yapi had a chance on a redirected corner in the opening minutes. He lost his balance as he was trying to shoot and the ball was cleared.

Portland responded with a dangerous corner. Then, Franck Boli hit the crossbar in the 61st from midfield with Yarbrough coming off his line. Boli later attempted a volley in transition.

The two sides traded chances as Colorado committed numbers forward. Portland continued to play in transition, turning the game into a track meet every time they won the ball in their own half.

Cole Bassett had the best chance of the final minutes. Keegan Rosenberry found him with a great cross in stoppage time. The close-range header was over the bar, fittingly. The match ended 0-0.

“What a waste of time.”

At the fulltime whistle, the head coaches Robin Fraser and Giovanni Savarese met for a handshake. The broadcast picked up one of them saying “what a waste of time” with the other responding with exhaling profanity. Fraser later

“The game was a reflection of the oddity of the event. It was just a weird feeling. This game is over and onto the next one,” Fraser said to open his postgame press conference.

“It’s such an outlier. The amount of times we’ll come across that again? I felt like it was more of a training exercise,” Keegan Rosenberry added.

“Yeah, I’ve played a lot of MLS games. I’ve never had one where the second half started a week later. So that was a first,” former Rapids and current Portland Timbers center back Eric Miller told Burgundy Wave.

Still concerns about counter attacks and finishing:

“The general sentiment in the locker room is disappointment. When the game started, a week ago, we look at a matchup against Portland at home as a game that we need to have control of from the beginning. We did put two good halves together where we created chances. The nature of tonight was odd,” said Rosenberry.

“What we’ve continued to push to the group is that we’re getting in the right spots. We’re continuing to generate good chances. We’re continuing to make strikes and limit teams in their chances.”

“Positioning and awareness. A lot of their counter attack opportunities came off of our set pieces, which shouldn’t be the case. When we get a corner kick, they’re pretty excited. They do a good job of it,” said Fraser of again of a game where the team being poor on the ball almost cost them.

Photo Credit: John Babiak.

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