Kévin Cabral Brace Earns Point Against Loons! MLS After Dark!

COMMERCE CITY – The 2024 Colorado Rapids are imperfect. But they are fun. They bounce back. If nothing else, 3-3 is way more fun than all the 0-0 draws from last year. Colorado Rapids hosted Minnesota United on Saturday night and it was peak MLS After Dark.

There was just one chance from Chris Armas, to the surprise of a few. Kévin Cabral started on the wing for Calvin Harris, who was on the bench. Lamine Diack was again out of the team with Connor Ronan and Jasper Löffelsend on the bench.

For Minnesota, Eric Ramsay tried something off the wall. It was a 5-3-2 with Robin Lod as one of the three. Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi and Sang Bin Jeong were up top.

The first half was all about counter attacks. Colorado started brightly and were on top of Minnesota. There were some good overlapping runs and near misses on crosses into the box. Then the Loons scored after eight minutes.

Sang Bin Jeong scored on visitor’s first attack of the game. Minnesota won the ball in a harmless situation at midfield. One spin and touch later, Lod played Sang Bin in for a breakaway which he scored.

The Pids answered in the 18th minute. Off a Minnesota throw in, Rafael Navarro headed it to Omir Fernandez. Fernandez played a through ball into space. Kévin Cabral won the foot race and chipped Dayne St. Clair for his third goal of the year.

Then Minnesota had two chances and they scored on both of them. Tani Oluwaseyi scored in the 24th minute on a tap in from a rebound on a shot by Joseph Rosales. The flag went up but after a VAR review, referee Filip Dujic called the goal good. Sang Bin made it 3-1 in the 33rd.

Moïse Bombito turned the ball over with both fullbacks up field. Minnesota went direct and Sang Bin had another breakaway for a brace. The half ended 3-1 with Djordje Mihailović sending in a short free kick that was played off the post by Cabral.

The second half was wide open both ways, but it took until the 62nd minute for the next goal to be scored. Rafael Navarro scored his ninth of the season on a header back to goal from the near post. The ball ended up in the far bottom corner.

Fernandez earned a penalty five minutes later, getting taken down from behind by DJ Taylor. Navarro took his fifth penalty of the season to get to 10 goals, but the kick was poorly placed. St. Clair made the kick save, diving to his left.

St. Clair however had a Minnesota sports moment in the 71st minute to make it 3-3. Cabral headed a ball inside the six from Cole Bassett with his back to goal. The shot landed at St. Clair’s feet, but it slipped by him to tie the match.

The game was back and forth after that. Minnesota had a breakaway or two that Steffen came off his line to deal with. Teemu Pukki had an open goal in the 87th but he hit the far post. Calvin Harris had an open header on a free kick to end the game that he put over the bar. The match ended 3-3.

Kévin Cabral brace!

What a night for Cabral and Navarro in the attack. Cabral scored his fifth and sixth goals for the club, these being his first at home. The second one was a bit lucky, but that first goal was everything Rapids fans have been waiting for. Anticipation, speed, and the final product.

“When I miss the big chances, (the team) never get mad at me. They try to give me confidence. I was really happy to score tonight for me but also everyone who believes in me. I hope it leads to more goals,” Cabral said.

You can see what it meant for the team the way everyone celebrated at the bench.

“The first guy I met on the job deliberately was Kevin. I brought him into my office. We talked and connected. I gave him a big hug. I wanted to really see if I can help the player. Kevin gets himself into really good spots. We see him score a lot in training. This is a big night for him. You saw what it meant to the team,” Armas said, emphasizing wanting to give his player confidence.

Also, good on Navarro to score his ninth. That penalty wasn’t a great take, but it happens in soccer. He’ll still probably get the next PK take they get. Nine goals in 15 games. He’s on pace for 20+ goal contributions this year. Have to assume Colorado will do everything they can to make him a permanent Rapids player with his loan expiring end of June.

First half issues:

Colorado wasn’t bad in the first half. There were little habits from last year that surfaced and Minnesota took advantage. That halftime talk must have been something. Armas even joined the team for a minute at midfield before the second half to emphasis the belief and the need to fight. He’s an energetic guy and acted with his gut in the moment.

“The last time I spoke to the team like this was back in Portland. I challenged ourselves. In certain ways, it’s a victory for us,” Armas said.

“The first two were just second ball moments. We get caught sleeping. We work on that all the time. That’s stuff that shouldn’t happen. If you score three goals, you should be winning. We got to tighten that up,” Bassett added.

This was a draw that felt like a win but there’s still frustrations. Mihailović recorded his sixth assist of 2024 on that Navarro goal but there’s improvements to be had in possession.

“Credit again to our resilience. It’s going to take us a long way. We weren’t happy with a draw here,” he told Burgundy Wave. He added “I could get on the ball more but I can’t pass the ball to myself. I’ll take the assists from the set pieces now but it has to happen from the run of the game.”

He’s got to be subtweeting a teammate or two there.

Precursors to success, rolling with the schedule:

The Rapids had a tough first seven games of the year. They emerged from that ok, helped by injuries to opponents. Recent weeks have been no joke either.

RSL, top of the West. Vancouver, a dark horse. Minnesota tonight, second in the West. Four points from those three games is good given how Saturday went. This coming week, they’re at Houston and Vancouver. No easy games but they’re building confidence.

“We’ve used games to prove ourselves. It’s instilled confidence in us. We’ve proved to ourselves that we can compete. We’re good enough to be at the top of this league. No matter the result, we’re tough to play against. We look dangerous going forward. We’re getting in the box so much more than last season,” Connor Ronan said.

Now if they could just play every game like it’s a match after a bad loss and performance.

Photo Credit: John Babiak

Thank you for reading Burgundy Wave. Support us via our Patreon starting at $5/month. We’re always looking for new talent. Let us know if you’re interested in covering Colorado Soccer.