Colorado Rapids Defeat Club America in Penalties! Advance to Leagues Cup Semifinals!

CARSON, Calif. – Huge defensive plays. Close calls in transition attack. A must save penalty. Then goalkeeper vs goalkeeper penalties. I’m exhausted. That Colorado Rapids Club America game on Saturday night was just another lore building evening for Chris Armas and the Burgundy Boys.

On Saturday night, the America hosted Colorado at Dignity Health Sports Park in the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals. The winner would play LAFC in the Semifinals. This was probably the biggest game for the club since 2016. It did not disappoint.

Rapids manager Chris Armas made two changes from the team that beat Toluca midweek. Connor Ronan was in for Oliver Larraz in the midfield with Cole Bassett. Omir Fernandez started over Calvin Harris at left wing.

Colorado bent but did not break in the first half. The match started with adrenaline as both teams pressed the other. After the first 10 minutes, America found their footing. They strung good passing sequences together, especially through Cristian Borja. They were wasteful however with nine first half shot attempts, none on goal. Brian Rodríguez and Diego Valdés in particular.

The former LAFC attacker had his best chance in the 30th minute off a Keegan Rosenberry giveaway outside the box. Rodríguez eventually got an open look at goalkeeper Zack Steffen but shot wide. Valdés took a free kick quickly at the top of the box at the end of the half but shot well wide.

Colorado had their moments, mostly off the press. The best chance of the half may have been for Bassett in the 43rd. The press forced a turnover from Jonathan dos Santos. Bassett went alone and shot just a foot wide of the post.

Things changed only a bit in the second half. Djordje Mihalović cleared a ball off the line two minutes in off a corner. Steffen made the save of regular time in the 52nd off a Valdés header. America continued to get looks. They had 22 shots in the 90 minutes but just four on target. Colorado blocked well, especially Rosenberry. The attackers were inaccurate. The Rapids made America uncomfortable and forced them into low quality attacking situations. Rosenberry did well in tough moments especially.

The visitors were not without their own looks. Mihalović and Rafael Navarro had (not great) shouts for penalties in the second half. Both would have been questionable spot kicks given. Bassett had a great chance in transition, where he dribbled the length of the field then shot over the bar. He later set up substitute Larraz in a similar spot. The match ended goalless and headed to penalties.

The first four spot kicks were makes before Luis Malagón got a trailing foot to the shot from Navarro. Every player made theirs until the bottom off the fifth when Steffen needed to deny Igor Lichnovsky to keep the Pids alive. He saved the ball diving to his right and we went to sudden death penalties.

All the kicks were successful and well taken until it got to the tenth round. Only Steffen and center back Lalas Abubakar had not gone for the visitors. The Rapids field players waved on their keeper from midfield. It would be goalkeeper penalties. Steffen smashed his down the middle.

Malagón elected to go in the bottom of the 10th against his opposite number, sending his shot wide left. The shootout ended 9-8 with Colorado making all but the Navarro penalty.

With that, the Pids head to the Leagues Cup semifinals. They will play at LAFC on Wednesday. Either way, Colorado will play a game next weekend, the final or the third place game with a Concacaf Champions Cup birth on the line. They will be on the road the rest of the way as the other three semifinalists are higher seeded MLS teams.

Zack Steffen is back? Zack Steffen is back!

Forget what I have to say. For the takeaways, here’s a bunch of quotes from Armas that sum things up.

“At one point there was a lot of critics out there about Zack Steffen. What I’ve gotten to see on the inside is a top talent. He’s everything we want the Colorado Rapids to be about. Very humble person. On a big stage he gets to show his quality.”

“He scores down the middle (on his penalty). Tremendous.

“We had an order (for penalties), based on what we do in training and comfort level. Who wants the penalty? It was between him and Lalas. I’m not sure out there which guy wanted it. Zack proved another thing he can do. We leave it to the player. Zack wasn’t even sure (if he was next).”

A road game plan against a great team worked! Mostly.

“We knew that we could use the ball ourselves. They are not a high pressing team. We could have done more of that.”

“We knew we had to suffer. We had a gameplan that tried to limit their sixes on the ball. We changed our structure defensively in a 4-1-4-1. We only gave up four shots on goal in 90 minutes. We had to be at our best. If we were a little sharper in transition, we might have nicked one there.

“We knew we couldn’t slip. If we had to play these games in Mexico, it’s a different story. We beat four Mexican teams in a row. It’s tremendous. I have so much respect. Tonight we had a good plan. I’m glad the boys brought it to life.

“It was going to have to be that pressure. We worked on defending in a low block. We want to be a high pressing team. In these games . . . we have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. We have principals of play in the defensive third to create clarity. Everyone was in on it. A team effort and Zack Steffen being the last line of defense.”

Believe. Keep Fighting. I didn’t hear no bell. Up the *redacted* Pids!

“It’s rare that you get to be part of groups that are team first. They are together. You gotta keep fighting for it and live time appreciate it. What you heard was pure joy.”

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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