Djordje Mihailović Three Assist Get Rapids Much Needed Win vs Vancouver

Commerce City, CO – It was about time everything clicked for the Colorado Rapids. After two tough losses, they hosted Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night.

Rapids manager Chris Armas shook things up from the LAFC game. Zack Steffen was back from his knee injury and in goal. Connor Ronan made his second start in three games in midfield. Wingers Ted Ku-DiPietro and Calvin Harris returned to the lineup as well. Sam Vines and his groin were good to go with Jackson Travis suspended.

For the Caps, their Gold Cup call-ups were back. Brian White started up top as captain. Sebastian Berhalter was in midfield. Ali Ahmed was injured. Tristan Blackmon led the defense with Ranko Veselinovic on the bench.

Things popped off for the home side starting in the 11th minute with a goal line controversy. Rafael Navarro crossed the ball into the box with KDP crashing the net. Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka made the save. The rebound went off Mathias Laborda and towards goal. Laborda ran back and cleared it as the ball spun on the goal line. No goal was called. The replay angles weren’t great. In my opinion, it wasn’t over the line. It would have been tough for VAR to overturn the call on the field either way.

That didn’t matter a minute later. Colorado worked the ball on the east sideline. Cole Bassett found Djordje Mihailović in space who squared it to Harris who slotted it bottom corner.

Colorado kept the pressure on with Ronan hitting the post in the 24th. Navarro made it 2-0 at the half-hour mark. Working it down the flank, Harris found Mihailović who crossed it to the Brazilian for a first touch volley.

It could have been 3-0 before halftime. In first half stoppage time, KDP was hacked down by Berhalter inside the box. Navarro took the penalty, but Takaoka was onto the timing of the stutter step. Rafa put the ball too centrally and the penalty was saved. The half ended 2-0.

Colorado was calm and controlled with the lead in the second half. There wasn’t enough of a response from the visitors. In the 59th, Colorado got just their second goal from a corner all year. Mihailović found Maxsø at the near post for a knockdown header. Takaoka fumbled the bouncing ball off his arm and in. The match ended 3-0.

Rapids Respond After Wednesday:

Three games without a win and two bad performances. What a way to respond to that. Three goals from different players. Calvin Harris with three goals in five games. Navarro with a goal from the run of play. Just their second goal off of a corner. Maxsø with his first goal since last summer. A clean sheet. Bassett controlled the midfield and was involved in build up of the first two goals.

Sure, Vancouver is in a bit of a rut. They needed a win and a performance to feel good about that. They got that from so many individuals and as a team.

“The last two months, things just haven’t been going our way. You can look at things we can’t control like refereeing. The biggest thing for us was that we don’t lose our heads. We can’t stray away from who we are,” Mihailović told Burgundy Wave.

“We’ve been building this. Scoring three on the road at New England. 26 shots against Kansas City. To see the continuation of some good attacking chances. Conor and Cole, we chose to start our most attack-minded midfielders. It paid dividends,” Armas added.

Navarro did down play changing any approach to penalties given he tried to fake the keeper and it did not work.

Hat Trick of Assists for Djordje Mihailović:

Speaking of individuals, Djordje stirred the Rapids drink on the night. Three assists, first time that’s happened since 2023 (Ronan vs LA Galaxy). One counter attack, one good build up, one set piece. The Mile High Maestro did his thing. The team clicked around him and guys buried their shots. He now has 39 goal contributions in his first two seasons for Colorado, surpassing Mark Chung for the most G+A in the first two years as a Rapids player, with 11 more games to pad that stat. When Djordje is on and the team around him is clicking, they can beat anyone in this league.

“It was the full piece today. Just a good attacking performance. Three different goal scorers but one man that got all the assists. Djordje deserves a lot of credit for his performances in recent games and today,” Harris said of his teammate.

Welcome Back Zack:

Zack Steffen didn’t have much to do on the night. Only two shots on goal from 14 attempts. But he looked himself. There was that Brian White shot in the 64th that was dangerous. There was a shot at the end of the game he had to dive for. His defense looked comfortable in front of him. He helped build out attacks. His presence made a difference.

“Beautiful night. Boys turned up. Body feels great. Knee feels great. It was the mentality really that won us the game. Managed the game and played hard,” Steffen said.

Photo Credit: Spencer Baldwin

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