Kévin Cabral Rescues Point After Djordje Mihailović Penalty Miss Against 10-Man Sounders

SEATTLE, Wash. – Two penalties, one made, one missed. Two red cards, one of which was rescinded. And a late equalizer from a DP gathering dust on the bench. Colorado Rapids at Seattle Sounders was anything but an afternoon snooze fest.

Connor Ronan sustained a knee injury in Salt Lake, forcing Chris Armas to make changes. Cole Bassett moved back into a double pivot with Oli Larraz. Darren Yapi started at right wing with Djordje Mihailović moving into the No. 10 position in a 4-2-3-1. Omir Fernandez started at right wing. The lineup was otherwise unchanged.

Seattle had some injuries to deal with. Brian Schmetzer had his side in a 4-4-2. Albert Rusnák was on the bench. Pedro de la Vega was unavailable, so Obed Vargas and Joshua Atencio were in central midfield. Andrew Thomas started in goal with Stefan Frei out with a hamstring just like de la Vega.

The first half got off to a bad start. After good pressing in the opening minutes, captain Keegan Rosenberry gave up a penalty in the 10th minute. Raúl Ruidíaz disguised his cross well, sending it off Rosenberry’s hand. The Peruvian executed a great Panenka on Zack Steffen to make it 1-0.

Seattle had a good spell after the goal. Ruidíaz and Alex Roldan had chances. Colorado became the protagonist in the final 15 minutes. Rafael Navarro had a chance off a Jackson Ragen turnover that he sent right to goalkeeper Andrew Thomas. Omir Fernandez hit the post in transition after Ragen denied Mihailović a possible tap in.

The best chance of the half belonged to Darren Yapi. With Colorado applying pressure, Basset threaded a ball through the box. Yapi was at the back post but Nouhou Tolo made a great block to deny the 0.34 xG shot.

Atencio gave Colorado life on the hour mark. He slid late into Larraz. Scab ref Trevor Wiseman gave advantage. When the play was over, he showed Atencio a second yellow card. The midfielder was given a card in the first half for a tactical foul.

Opportunity knocked again minutes later. Ragen was called for a foul on Navarro just inside the box. Despite the Brazilian making his PK last week, Mihailović stepped up to take this spot kick. Thomas made the save however as it was a poor shot to his right.

That took the wind out of Colorado’s proverbial sails. They started attempting low quality shots and forcing it. One of those plays saw Larraz in an advanced position where he won a foul just outside the box in the 86th minute. The Lumen Field crowd was not happy about the call. Mihailović took the direct free kick after a dummy from Sam Vines. The No. 10 hit the ball off the bar. Substitute Kévin Cabral was there for a tap in.

The Pids had a great chance in stoppage time as Larraz sent a corner through the box. Cabral, Navarro, and Moïse Bombito were all in the flight path but no one touched it and the ball went out for a goal kick. The match ended 1-1.

“I knew he could hit the ball good like he did. I just followed the ball and got lucky on the tap in,” Carbal told Burgundy Wave after the match via Zoom.

“His attitude has been tremendous. We’ve tried to get him operating in central areas because he has some goals in him. He’s earned those minutes. It’s good for his confidence,” Armas said of the goal scorer.

Larraz and Bassett were good enough with Ronan out.

Armas had an interesting problem this week with Ronan out. He chose the Juanners solution, pairing Bassett and Larraz in the double pivot. It worked against a defensive central midfield from Seattle. Bassett was able to start attacking sequences well. Both players covered ground.

They didn’t have that much bite though. This works as long as the attack upfield is clicking, which it is not yet. These remain a concern.

Some Rapids fans are worried with Lamine Diack again not getting minutes after being here almost a month. It’s understandable that he was an unused sub in this game after the red card as Armas made attacking subs to get a result.

Dropped points against another weakened team:

This was another weakened team due to injuries that the Rapids did not beat. Portland, Nashville, and now Seattle have played with DPs missing. Ruidíaz made two great plays to win the penalty then score it. Colorado’s big players had more opportunities that they did not capitalize on. These are points that could be invaluable come October.

“You can see that there’s frustration. We believe we can win the game. There’s draws that feels like a loss, like Nashville. There’s draws that feel like a win. Today it’s a draw that just feels a little bit strange. We want that three points. That’s part of growing,” Armas explained.

“We feel like it’s a missed opportunity. We feel like we could have gotten the three points and we get one. We’re going to move on,” Cabral added.

It was a game of moments. Rosenberry should have had his arm tucked in on the penalty, but it was a creative play by Ruidíaz. The Sam Vines own goal and Jonathan Lewis penalty were more egregious errors.

“We talk about the fine details in attack and in our own box. Those things we have to keep trying to eliminate. It seems random. More importantly, we have to look hard at our performance. The nature of some of these mishaps, there’s no trend there. It’s not lazy defending. There’s work to do. We’re a youngish team,” said Armas.

They have to work these out of their games to beat good and healthy teams with better players. Which brings us to . . .

Djordje Mihailović penalty miss and mixed bag:

Colorado’s No. 10 was much better in the press in this game, especially to start matches. There’s been stretches of all four games this year where he’s been invisible. He’s done some good stuff in the attack. Until today, it hasn’t led to anything.

When you’re the most expensive transfer fee in club history and you take the ball away from your center forward who made a penalty last week, you have to convert.

“We have a couple of guys that we designate. One is Djordje, one is Rafa. I wasn’t aware of their conversation on the pitch, but we trust those players in those moments. The guy that doesn’t get us the goal gets us the next goal. You can see the winner that he (Mihailović) is to step up and hit a tremendous free kick that gets us the valuable goal,” said Armas.

It was a great comeback to help create the tying goal after the missed PK. But it’s fair to say Djordje’s start to Colorado has been slow. It needs to get better. Soon.

“When there’s a red card, it might mean you’re looking for better shots, getting in certain areas, some positional discipline. Our guys come out with a point. I bet it’s a valuable one at some point this year,” Armas explained.

He was part of an attack that was disjointed at times, almost feeling pressure up a man. The pressing has done well to stymie the opponent. It’s yet to create significant offense though. Mihailović is a part of that disconnect right now.

Next week hosting Houston Dynamo better be three points.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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