Cole Bassett Penalty Wins Rocky Mountain Cup for Colorado Rapids

COMMERCE CITY – The Rocky Mountain Cup is officially competitive again. For the first time since 2020 and just the sixth time in 20 years, the Colorado Rapids have won the RMC. Things seemed doubtful amid a bad start and a halftime lightning delay. The MLS Script Writers brought things full circle with a Cole Bassett penalty to complete another wild night in the 2024 MLS season.

Chris Armas made some necessary changes for the derby. Captain Keegan Rosenberry returned to starting at right back. Oliver Larraz was in the double pivot with Connor Ronan. Jonathan Lewis made a second straight start at winger with Omir Fernandez returning to the other flank. Former Salt Lake No. 6 Jasper Löffelsend was on the bench.

Pablo Mastroeni had some decision to make as well with injuries and Chicho Arango suspended. Anderson Julio started up top with Diego Luna to his left. Captain Justin Glad returned to starting at center back. Teenager Gavin Beavers was in goal with former Rapid Zac MacMath on the bench.

The first half was a tale of two quarters. The first 30 minutes was all Salt Lake. The won loose balls. Their passing was crisper and more accurate. Numbers got involved in transition. Anderson Julio nearly scored in a short breakaway in the 6th minute. Diego Luna had chances including a curler to the back post in the 28th that was just wide.

Andrés Gómez opened the scoring in the 9th minute. Omir Fernandez turned the ball over at midfield. The defense dropped back to try and mark Julio, who appeared to be in an offside position. Gómez shot from 30 yards out, beating Steffen to the near bottom corner.

The game turned on the 35th minute. Rafeal Navarro squared the ball to Cole Bassett in Zone 14. Bassett dinked it to Jonathan Lewis who half volleyed it past Beavers.

Colorado woke up after that. They raised their intensity and the crowd responded to it. They were direct and aggressive. Sam Vines scored his first goal of the year on 39 minutes. He crashed the box and Jonathan Lewis found him inside the six. The half ended 2-1.

Minutes into halftime, lightning was seen to the north of the stadium. The delay was announced at 8:38 p.m. local time. More lightning, rain, scattered hail, and gusts as high as 60 miles per hour followed. The rail diminished right around 10 pm with the lightning moving to the east. The match restarted at 10:21 p.m., making the delay 1 hour and 43 minutes.

The rain delay benefited the visitors. Gómez made it a brace in the 49th minute. He pounced on a loose ball just inside the box as the defense was scrambling. Vines kept the winger on side. Gómez hit the top left corner to tie game.

Pablo Ball ensued. RSL went into a more defensive posture and time wasted. The Rapids had urgency but not enough quality in the final third. Play started to mimic the first 30 minutes of the match. The home side had just three second half shot attempts, none of them threatening, come the 80th minute. Colorado needed something to go their way.

Substitute Kimani Stewart-Baynes thought he had drawn a penalty as he went down in the box in the 85th but the play was ruled a corner. On Connor Ronan’s corner, Justin Glad was called for a handball on the ball into the mixer. RSL were flabbergasted as the call. Pablo Mastroeni went off from the bench, earning a yellow card for dissent. VAR confirmed the penalty.

Cole Bassett stepped up to take his second ever first team penalty for the club. He went down the middle instead of his usual spot. Beavers guessed wrong. The Rapids had the lead with two minutes plus stoppage time. RSL were unable to find an equalizer. Colorado clinched the cup outright with two wins in three games.

Rain delay AGAIN:

Anyone else have PTSD from 2023? Of all the home games to have a rain delay, why did it have to be the derby when Colorado were up at halftime? RSL took advantage and started the second half well. There’s a worrying trend of Colorado starting halves slow, especially at home. They were able to overcome it again. Hopefully Mother Nature is kind to the club in the final four league home games.

“Even if you have been through it before, it’s not natural. It’s a challenge. Equally mental and physical. The body tightens up. You’re guessing in how to eat/hydrate because you don’t know when the restart comes. Once you look back on it, are excuses. During you’re just trying to get it as right as you can. The other team’s going through it as well. We weren’t happy with the way we started,” Rosenberry told Burgundy Wave.

Cole Bassett added, “We heard there was going to be a delay of an hour, hour and a half. I had an uncrustable. Maybe that was the key to victory tonight. There was some spicy marinara that the boys thought was giving them a kick as well. We chill, eat, and talk as well. We didn’t start the second half very well. Credit to them. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

Jonathan Lewis Hive! Rapids 2021 attack returns!

This game looked like the free flowing attack from the 2021 Rapids. Lewis doing work defensively and getting a goal and assist in transition.

Sam Vines might have come unstuck in this game. Yes, both RSL goals came from the winger on his side, but he did work in the middle third and crashed the box to score the second goal. Rosenberry laughed that he wasn’t sure what Vines was doing there.

Add in Bassett getting a goal on his second ever penalty for the club and an assist. No Djordje Mihailović. Rafael Navarro has gone six games without a goal. Other guys found a way.

“I don’t think since I’ve been here I’ve played good against Salt Lake. My confidence is good. I don’t even really count 2020. This is our first ‘real’ Rocky Mountain Cup. We’re having one of those years,” said Lewis.

“We got punched in the face and we were able to come back. It was a good result. The Rocky Mountain Cup is here. It’s a good night.”

“The goal he scored was tremendous. Equality important on the night was his behaviors against the goal. He understands what we’re doing. He embraces it. It empowers him. He was solid tonight,” Armas said of Lewis.

The manager was complementary of his left back as well: “He admits he’s not at the level that he wants to be. He’s tough on himself. He getting back going. I know what he’s gone through. It’s a tough matchup. It’s a passing grade on the night.”

Gómez makes difference with Mihailović and Arango out:

Goodness, Gómez is an amazing player. Both teams were missing their most important attacking player. He made up for it. Two spectacular goals from distance. They had a combined xG of 0.11 according to FotMob. He was probably the best player on the pitch for either sides.

That Cole Bassett penalty brought everything full circle:

What a turnaround it’s been for Bassett in the derby from 11 months ago. Colorado lost all four games against RSL last year. Last August, they got battered in Sandy. Bassett was nearly in tears, apologizing to the supporters postgame.

He scored in each of the three RMC games. He’s been talking about wanting to take penalties for this team since 2019. He took a PK to win the game and the trophy. In the absence of his teammate, he’s done a great job in the No. 10 role. He carried this team at times when it was needed.

“We played bad for a lot of it but we’ll take it. Great win. Great to bounce back multiple times. Started both halves pretty poor. It feels pretty damn good to bring the Cup home,” Bassett told Burgundy Wave.

“I wrote in my phone today ‘I’m going to get a hat trick today.’ I didn’t get the hat trick. But I did have scoring a pen in the last minute for the 3-2. I did invision that. Sometimes you just gotta put stuff out into the world. Earlier in the game, I walked over and I saw the goalkeeper’s water bottle. He had Connor, me, and Rafa where we go on pens. I’m going down the middle then cause you don’t think I’m going there. The rest is history.”

Centennial 38 Tifo nails it again:

C38 has a nack for coming out with a tifo that resonates with the club. ‘Keep Fighting’ turned into a meme and the club’s unofficial mantra in 2016. ‘Tomorrow Dawn Breaks Bright’ spoke to the turnaround from Anthony Hudson to Robin Fraser. Last year on the night of the walkout: ‘The Badge, The Players, The Fans, Deserve Better.’

Add ‘I didn’t hear no bell’ to the lore C38 has created around this club. A classic line from an episode of South Park in which a punch drunk Randy Marsh fights a dad of a rival school’s baseball team. The Rapids lost the second leg of this competition in a wild 5-3 game. They were down 1-0 minutes in. Three minutes into the second half, they squandered their lead. They needed to win this game. They never heard a bell and never gave up.

Rapids fans chanted, “We can’t hear you” at a stunned RSL away supporters section in stoppage time. Ding ding.

Photo Credit: Colorado Rapids

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