Colorado Rapids Blow Three Goal Lead in Draw With New England Revolution.

Foxborough, MA – You are allowed to be disappointed. But still. Are you not entertained? Saturday night saw Colorado Rapids build a three goal lead. What happened after the 55th minute was anything but boring.

It was a simple lineup decision for Chris Armas. Djordje Mihailović sustained an ankle injury in training so he was unavailable. Cole Bassett was still out so the only change from Wednesday was Darren Yapi starting up top with Rafael Navarro. With Djordje out, center back Andreas Maxsø was captain.

Carles Gil started for the Revs. Leo Campana and Tomas Chancalay started up top.

The Revs had a good start coming off back-to-back home losses. They had plenty of space out wide as Colorado played narrow defensively. They won eight corners in the half. Colorado’s defense did well absorbing pressure and clearing conferences. Gil did his thing.

It was Colorado however who opened the scoring in the 29th. They went direct. Yapi held the ball up well and eventually found Navarro at the top of the box. The Brazilian broke some ankles before finding Josh Atencio who crossed the ball to Ted Ku-DiPietro. KDP’s shot was saved but Harris was there to score, sending the ball upper 90.

Navarro made it 0-2 in the 40th minute. Yapi got the ball with time and space at midfield. He sent a through ball to Navarro. The DP striker cut inside to beat two defenders. He shot for the bottom right corner, the ball split the back four.

New England had several chances before halftime. Goalkeeper Nico Hansen made several big saves. Chido Awaziem among others did well to clear loose balls. The half ended 0-2.

The second half was the messiest four-goal combo I’ve ever seen. Some good rondo passing in the 55th minute saw Yapi find KDP with space in front of him. The U22 winger galloped forward and slotted the ball low past Aljaz Ivacic to make it 0-3. With that, Ted had his first goal for the Rapids and did the baby celebration to announce he and his wife are expecting.

Then things went south. New England stuck with their patters of play, getting the ball forward and wide, then delivering volume crosses with traffic in front.

In the 58th, Gil crossed the ball to the back post with Brandon Bye in the area. Sam Vines was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He tried to clear it rather than leave it for a tap in, but he went for the ball with his weaker foot. It was an own goal.

Then in the 85th, substitute Sam Bassett pulled Gil down in the box for a penalty. Gil sent Hansen the wrong way to make it 2-3.

Colorado were in a siege mentality after that. Gilette Stadium had come to life. The Revs were swarming. There was a cross per minute if not more. There were 8 minutes of stoppage time with all the time wasting and goals. Of course in the third minute, sub Maxi Urruti beat Ian Murphy to a ball and headed it to make the final score 3-3.

The Rapids officially have goal-dangerous wingers:

I’ll start with the positives. Three goals on the road without Mihailović or Bassett is fantastic. Calvin Harris, two goals in two straight starts. He’s the best Rapids player in the Man City Zone. KDP, finally got his first goal. He’s brought a directness and a tenacity that’s been needed. Harris and KDP are the starting wingers until further notice. Yapi, playing as a CAM at times, looked great. Two assists.

Keegan Rosenberry had nothing but praise for them postgame:

“Super gratifying. Really excited for those guys. Calvin especially, you’re not always playing to show up on the score sheet, but for the attacking guys, it really does mean the world. Ted, one of his best matches Wednesday and carrying that into tonight. Looked really active and up for it. That first 60, that mentality, that approach, is what we’ve been lacking.

“Yapi, some link up play was really nice to watch. Becoming more consistent from him. the performances look so much more mature and well-rounded. It’s not just energy. There’s so much more thought behind his moment. It’s fun to watch that progression develop.”

Officiating and Time Wasting Rules:

We’ve seen the new time wasting rules affect games before. But this one was on another level.

Vines had to sit out two minutes due to the on-field injury rule in the first half. In the 89th, Harris took too long leaving the field as he was being subbed, so Murphy had to wait a minute before coming on. Colorado had to defend a corner down a man.

“We’re on the wrong end of things tonight. Maybe on another night we can benefit,” Armas told Burgundy Wave.

“There’s the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. For me, it’s the first time I’ve seen a player that we have to sit out a minute for jogging off the pitch. It’s not the first time we have to play down a man two minutes in one moment. I’ve seen our guys get on the wrong end on a lot of these things.”

Both teams lost their heads and sportsmanship. Brayan Ceballos takes a knock in the first half on a corner. Replay shows he got run into by a teammate, goes down, bumps his head against someone’s knee. The Rapids complain. Then anytime someone goes down the rest of the game, the other side is up in arms. Awaziem comes back into play in the 78th, goes down, and there’s a shoving match and yellow cards.

“Looks like a really soft penalty. You can almost say it’s a yellow card on Gil for diving,” Armas said of the PK.

“I saw the penalty replay once. I saw Carlos Gil. Sam Bassett has contact but the player takes two or three steps after that. At what stage doesn’t it become a penalty anymore, right? I do know what dive looks like. That for me is clear and obvious that a really intelligent, savvy player takes advantage of that play and goes down really easy.”

I thought it was a penalty on Bassett in the 85th, but it was close. You can’t pull on someone’s shoulder like that in the box and expect it to not get called. Rookie mistake by Bassett who hasn’t been effective in either box yet.

Part of the game is knowing what the refs are going to do and doing what you can to take advantage of that.

How they blew a three-goal lead and what it means:

New England might feel great about the three-goal comeback. But this was self-inflicted by the Rapids. It was a bad night to be named Sam.

An own goal in a tough situation for Vines. An unnecessary foul by Bassett on the PK. That makes it 2-3 in the 86th. Avoid one of those, it’s still not comfortable. But Colorado probably wins.

“It’s an own goal that all of us a sudden, with momentum, they score,” Armas said.

“Goals change games. And then we’re taking a lot of pressure. Lots of crosses. Lots to deal with. This is one of those draws that feels like a loss but it’s a point on the road. We take it.”

Throughout the match, Colorado played narrow. The coaching staff chose to concede space out wide and win the battles in the box. It worked, until the 93rd minute with a back five.

“We gave up some field position in the first half, then some crosses, six or seven corner kicks. The second half, it was much of the same. You have to be better at denying crosses and defending the crosses in the box. It’s a penalty, an own goal, then a five at the back. We tried a few different things tactically. In those moments it’s about making plays.

“This ball club is pissed off with a draw on the road. We are a young team. We’re going to learn from lots of these mistakes, defending in the box, denying cross, having moments where we can recharge with the ball. This one hurts.”

Colorado moves on to their annual 4th of July match against Sporting KC. Win that game, it’s seven points from three games. That’s a good run of form. This team still isn’t firing on all cylinders but is creating good moments. They’ve been inconsistent. It’s nights like this that make it hard to finish top four in your conference and get home field in the playoffs.

Photo Credit: Mark Shaiken

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