Rapids Draw Querétaro in Second Preseason Friendly

SANTIAGO DE QUERÉTARO – The Colorado Rapids played their second friendly of the preseason down in Mexico on Sunday morning. It was against the only Liga MX opponent they will play south of the border, locals Querétaro F.C. The Pids lost this fixture 3-1 despite a goal from Darren Yapi in 2023. This time last year, they won a squad rotated match 5-1.

Like other preseason games, there’s limited information on this game. To the club’s credit, we’ve gotten 4-5 minute highlights of both games so far, something I do not recall from previous preseasons. This game was two 60 minutes halves. Here’s how Colorado lined up:

First Half: Zack Steffen, Anderson Rosa, Ian Murphy, Andreas Maxsø, Reggie Cannon, Cole Bassett (Sam Bassett 45’), Wayne Frederick, Noah Strellnauer, Djordje Mihailović (Alex Harris 30’), Calvin Harris, Rafael Navarro

Second Half: Adam Beaudry, Jackson Travis, Chidozie Awaziem, Daniel Chacón, Keegan Rosenberry, Oliver Larraz, Connor Ronan, Kimani Stewart-Baynes, Sam Bassett, Daouda Amadou, Alex Harris (Sydney Wathuta 90’)

Just like the Celaya match, we see hybrid lineups. There was a mix of center back partnerships. It looks like Colorado were clearly in the 4-2-3-1 at least to start both halves. Mihailović made his preseason debut coming back from that ankle injury at the end of last year. Steffen started having rejoined the club from national team camp. Yay.

The game was a 1-1 draw. From the film the club released, Colorado had numerous chances. The pressing looked really good. Chris Sharpe’s big book of set pieces might be in mid-season form already.

Navarro had a great individual effort to rob a defender and score on his goal. They had several looks on set pieces. Sam Bassett could have had a brace. Calvin Harris hit the crossbar.

The team looked like their 2024 selves attacking wise.

Defensively, their biggest issues were passing mistakes when playing out of the back and not recovering quickly. They almost got burned when Keegan Rosenberry turned the ball over. Every center back had a good play to prevent a scoring chance.

Querétaro’s goal came in the 110th minute off a defensive break down on a long ball. Some kids at the back made a series of errors. It happens. The match ended 1-1.

Colorado’s final friendly in Mexico takes place Friday, January 31 at 10 a.m. MT against La Paz. Hopefully we’ll see closer to a proper starting lineup and maybe that 3-4-3.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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