COMMERCE CITY — A controversial call denied Rafael Navarro and the Colorado Rapids a late winner Saturday night against Seattle Sounders at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The Rapids also gave up another late in the half goal, their ninth of the season conceded close to half or full time. It’s another game where the Rapids may feel like they should have pulled out all three points, but come up short.
The Rapids (4-2-4, 16 points, 4th in the Western Conference) made two changes from the team that got a 2-2 draw in Houston, one expected, the other not so much. Third-string keeper Nico Hansen made his MLS debut as Zack Steffen was suspended and Adam Beaudry was still hurt with an ankle injury. Sam Vines picked up a knock at training midweek, and Jackson Travis stepped in for him at left-back. Chris Armas kept with the 4-2-2-2 formation for this game.
Seattle (3-3-4, 13 points, 8th in the West) remained unchanged from their 3-0 win against Nashville, including newly signed Jesus Ferreira out wide for the Rave Green, with Pedro de la Vega on the other side, and their attack spearheaded by Danny Musovski.
The first half was a lively one from the Rapids, who started it out early when a Mihailovic corner found the head of Rafa Navarro, who headed back across goal and was cleared off the line by Cristian Roldan. The ensuing corner yielded another good opportunity, but Cole Bassett’s header went over by a small margin.
Some half chances from either side led to a 23rd-minute chance, as Cole Bassett picked the pocket of Yeimar, and found himself one-on-one with Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei, but pushed his shot off the outside of the left post and wide. This was the best opportunity for the Rapids in the first half, and summed up the night that Cole had.
Despite the Rapids having a majority of the good chances throughout the first half, it was Seattle who found the breakthrough. Seconds before the fourth official’s board would come up to signal stoppage time, a Jesus Ferreira through ball found the run of Kalani Rienzi, who played the ball across to Danny Musovski, who would have had a tough time missing that chance. A hint of offside from Rienzi, but there was no VAR intervention. Yet again, the Rapids had a good half squandered through a late goal conceded.
The second half started much better for the Rapids than the first half ended, as Larraz was brought down just outside of the box in the 54th minute. Djordje Mihailovic stepped up, and Seattle made the mistake of not having someone lay down behind the wall. The Seattle wall jumped, and Djordje snuck it under them and into the bottom corner, tying the game at 1-1.
The two teams traded some good chances, but nothing really tested either team’s goalie. This changed in the 86th minute, as Mihailovic played substitute Kevin Cabral out wide, and Cabral’s cross into the box found Navarro, who headed home to put the home team ahead with minutes left. Or so he thought. Head referee Alexis Da Silva called a foul on Navarro on the header attempt and blew his whistle before the ball had found the back of the net. This meant VAR couldn’t intervene, and the Rapids saw their chance to win the game come and go. The call against Navarro was the talking point in postgame interviews.
A 94th-minute header from Cabral forced a great save out of Stefan Frei and was the last chance of the game for either side. The match ended 1-1, and the disapproval from the crowd rang loud as the full-time whistle was sounded.
“Our fans came out tonight, our biggest crowd of the year, the building brought energy, and our fans were amazing tonight. We are grateful that they support us the way they do. They really pushed our guys,” Chris Armas told the media.
A Controversial Call Denies a Rapid Winner:
The biggest storyline that will come out of this game was the disallowed Navarro goal that would have put the Rapids up 2-1 with minutes to go. Mihailovic was frustrated with the call and the way the referee called it.
“He [referee] says that he sees a clear foul, but he calls it in a split second,” Mihailovic said. “Then, the ball goes in the back of the net, but he called a foul before, it’s impossible. Why have VAR? There’s no chance to review this play.”
Similar sentiments throughout the rest of the team as Josh Atencio.
“From my perspective, it looked like it wasn’t a foul. The referee made his decision, and ultimately, there is only so much we can do,” Atencio said.
Meanwhile, the man in the middle of the plot, Navarro thought it was a natural reaction.
“I just saw the ball coming and jumped to head it, and touched the ball and headed it in,” Navarro said. “For me, it was a natural motion, and I don’t understand why the foul was called.”
Chris Armas did not mince his words when asked about the call.
“Quite honestly, we probably did enough to get the win tonight, since we score a goal, the whistle is blown, I’m not sure that’s a foul, I don’t think it is. It looked like Rafa did enough, in a clean way, to earn that goal. Typically, plays like that, goals, around the world, those plays are let out to play on, that you don’t blow the whistle typically, and that VAR [can intervene]. But once you blow the whistle, it can’t even be looked at.”
The call will be one for Andrew Wiebe at Instant Replay will have to look at, and questions will be asked whether the referee should have blown the whistle when he did. There is a feeling around the team that the goal should have stood, and they could have been done dirty in this instance.
Conceding At The Wrong Times Again
The Rapids conceded another goal just minutes before half-time, making it 11 out of their 16 goals conceded on the year, being five minutes before and after halftime, as well as the last five minutes of regulation. The Rapids’ inability to open and close out halves or games has started to become a trend, and a worrying one at that.
When asked about the team’s trend to concede goals around half-time and full-time, Mihailovic said, “I don’t want to look too far into it, I also don’t want to say it’s a coincidence either. You look around winning teams all over the world, they know how to manage certain moments in a game. We are going to learn from these experiences and know that the most important games that we know how to manage those moments.”
Another Free Kick Goal for Djordje:
On a lighter note, Djordje scored another free kick goal, his first one as a Rapid to go under the wall, as he saw an error in Seattle’s defensive setup.
“They didn’t put someone behind the wall, and I was close to the box and took a chance that they don’t jump, and I look really bad passing right to them. A decision in the moment.”
Set pieces have become a huge deal in Colorado over the last few years, and it continues under Chris Armas.
“There is a big buy-in with the set-pieces,” Armas said. “When Mihailovic is on the ball, he makes things happen. Djordje puts a lot into the free kicks, even knowing the wall is gonna jump tonight, they’re on it.”
Mihailovic’s goal was his fifth of the season, and third in his last three games.
Nico Hansen’s Steady Start to Life in MLS:
Nico Hansen was thrust into the starting eleven after Steffen and Beaudry were unavailable to suit up. He didn’t look fazed, however, as he had a professional performance against Seattle and had his teammates raving about him postgame. Mihailovic said, “You rarely see the third or fourth string goalkeeper coming into action, but you see that he was ready… It doesn’t seem like that was his debut.”
When asked about Hansen’s performance, Atencio said, “I thought he was steady. We knew what he was capable of. He has had a great week of training and preparing, and mentally, he was in a good spot. I thought he was great, made really good decisions on the ball. Really good performance from him.”
Chris Armas joined in giving Hansen his flowers.
“I think Nico Hansen played great,” Armas said. “Tonight, he is not getting shelled with so many shots, which is sometimes tricky because you gotta be really good in moments. Even with his distribution, his goal kicks, his distribution were accurate, and he was really comfortable in decisive moments. He came up big for us.”
Hansen was named the starter as early as last week. Still, he attributed his success to the people around him, with Hansen saying, “All week, Zack, (Chris) Sharpe, they have been crucial for me to have the success that I had today. I couldn’t do it without Zack’s help, Zack’s insight throughout the week, him walking me through his gameday routine, his thoughts, and how he prepares for the game, that helped me out a lot.”
The Rapids will play D.C. United next Saturday, May 3rd, at 5:30 p.m. MT.
Matt Pollard 