Rapids Smoke Dallas: Calvin Harris Leads Colorado to 2-1 Win

COMMERCE CITY – Happy 420 Rapids fans. On a foggy and cold Saturday night, Calvin Harris and the Colorado Rapids hosted FC Dallas for MLS Matchday 9.

It was a familiar lineup for Chris Armas. Despite a slight injury, Cole Bassett started in central midfield. Calvin Harris started at right wing. The lineup was otherwise as expected. For Dallas, Jesús Ferreira was out with injury.

Mother Nature was a factor in this one. The playing surface was a little heavy, though it was cleared with snow piled behind the goals. Play was slow at times and all but three starters had long sleeves on.

Kévin Cabral could have had a hat trick in the first half. He had a look in the center of goal in the 26th minute that was blocked after some good work by Keegan Rosenberry and Rafael Navarro. Two minutes later he had a header on a free kick from Djordje Mihailović that was wide. The cross appeared to be on target.

The best look in the first half came from center back Omar Gonzalez. He had a chance on a header that he put right at goalkeeper Zack Steffen.

Colorado was all about goals close to halftime in this game. In the 43rd minute, Cole Bassett made a great individual play at the end line. He fired a cross in that went off an off-balance Sebastien Ibeagha. VAR took its time looking to see if Navarro was offside in the build up and if the ball went out for a goal kick, but the play stood. It was officially ruled an own goal. The half ended 1-0.

Whatever Armas said at halftime, it worked. Four minutes in, Cabral found space out wide in transition. He delivered a great ball to Calvin Harris in the box, who finished and pump-fisted emphatically. Colorado seemed destined to play the game out and win 2-0.

Petar Musa had several looks on goal and finally made one count with three minutes of regular time left. He scored on a pass from Liam Fraser, controlling the ball well off his chest and creating space while marked by Keegan Rosenberry.

The Rapids were able to see the game out, bringing on Jasper Löffelsend and Lamine Diack. The match ended 2-1.

Rapids create, finish just enough:

On another night, Cabral has two or three goals before halftime. Colorado were solid in the build up in the first half. Like other games this year, they got into good positions, but just did not finish. Rafael Navarro was swarmed when he shot the ball. Djordje had another quiet night from the run of play in the attack. They created lots of set pieces, but no shots off of those.

Credit to Bassett, who again can create danger singlehandedly in possession. What a turnaround Harris has had in the last year as well. Credit to Cabral, for all his failings in the box, he works tirelessly in transition and defensively. He did great on the pass to Harris for his second assist in Burgundy.

“He played really good tonight. He runs in behind. I see a confident player in Kévin. I see a guy that meets his demands defensively. He puts himself in good positions. He’s got to keep working on that stuff. The most important for Kévin is that he’s getting himself in really good spots. The goals were come for him,” Armas said of Cabral.

What a turn around Harris has had over the last year. He worked hard in training and had to wait to get playing time last year. He benefited from the Chris Little Effect and ended the year on a high. Now he has two goals and an assist in almost 500 minutes this year. He’s unquestionably the team’s most dangerous winger right now. The talent was always there. He just needed a system that worked and confidence from management.

It’s always good to hear you’re the fastest on the team. I heard I was one of the fastest in the league too. As a center back, you’re really happy to hear that. It’s a proud moment.

A little bit of a surprise. I knew I was fast, but that’s really really fast.

They already know who’s fastest on the team. Maybe Calvin (Harris) and Kevin (Cabral) are in the discussion. We’ll have to settle this (with a midseason rematch).

“With my hard work on the training pitch, I’ve been seen to be a help to the team. My pressing ability, getting in behind. The main thing for me has been the trust shown in me. Connection as well, with the teammates. It’s all been very cohesive and led to me having a bit more success,” Harris told Burgundy Wave.

Five games unbeaten:

Form or fallacy, luck or opportunism, this is way better than last year. The Pids are five games unbeaten with three wins and two draws. They came back on the road against Seattle and Miami. They’ve got their first two wins at home now. The character, togetherness, and effort are clearly there. It’s yielding results at the individual and team level.

Bassett and Larraz again are an engine in midfield. Diack was fantastic coming off the bench. Sam Vines and Cabral combined well in transition on the left flank. Sebastian Anderson was solid coming off the bench when Vines got a possible concussion.

Colorado now has 15 points from nine games. It took the 21 games to reach that point total last year, off a 2-1 home win against FC Dallas that also had an own goal in it. Fitting.

“Compared to last year, it’s a way better feeling. We’re on the right track. When you win games, it’s positive vibes. All credit to the coaching staff. They put us into an environment where we feel confident. We want to play for them. You want to come back day after day and be better,” said Bombito.

Defense still has work to do:

Colorado still has just one clean sheet on the night. Dallas had looks before they halved the deficit. The xG ended 1.60 to 0.98 in favor of Colorado. If they scored earlier, the game could have ended 2-2. Moïse Bombito and Andreas Maxsø had another solid game as a center back pair. Steffen could have saved the goal from Musa.

Just like the San Jose game, Colorado got conservative with a lead in the second half. The invited pressure and that led to better chances. They dealt with them for the most part. But they still need to improve on preventing quality opportunities when they’re protecting a lead.

“After we score, we think we can go into a cautious moment and stop doing what we started doing. Dallas started throwing a lot at us. This put a lot of pressure on our back line. Can we deal with some of the long balls? There’s some structural things. There’s some counter attacking things, being more patient on the ball? We train this. We’re comfortable being uncomfortable. As a coaching staff, we tried to help the boys. We were all a little bit under it. I’m proud of the guys, they closed it out,” Armas told Burgundy Wave.

Photo Credit: John Babiak

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