Darren Yapi Hour: Yapi Answers the Call for Colorado Rapids

This article was written by friend of Burgundy Wave Zach Lowy of The RG Media.

Guest Post – It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t always pretty or convincing, but the Colorado Rapids picked up their first away victory in five months after defeating Minnesota United 2-1 on Sunday night.

The win couldn’t have come at a better time for the Rapids, who had just been eliminated from the Leagues Cup Phase One ahead of their final match against Cruz Azul, which they eventually lost on penalties. To add insult to injury, they announced the departure of their star attacking midfielder Djordje Mihailović on Thursday, who joined Toronto FC for $8 million in a cash-for-player trade, the largest outgoing deal in club history. With rumors swirling about a potential sale of Rafael Navarro to Brazilian side Fluminense, many Rapids supporters started to wonder if the club ownership was throwing in the towel on the 2025 campaign.

Having scored seven goals in his previous nine matches for Colorado, Navarro was unable to extend his goal-scoring run, but he nevertheless played a key role in Colorado’s first league win since July 12. However, the star of the show at Allianz Field was none other than Darren Yapi.

Born and raised in Denver, Yapi joined Colorado Rapids’ U-12s in 2016/17, rising through the ranks with remarkable proficiency. Despite often playing above his age group, Yapi would score 64 goals in 95 appearances as well as receive the honors of being named Academy Player of the Year in 2020. That same year, Yapi made his professional debut with Colorado Springs in the USL Championship, before eventually returning to his parent club and becoming the youngest player to sign with the Rapids at 16 years, 104 days old, as well as the 14th Rapids Academy product to sign a Homegrown contract with Colorado on March 3, 2021.

After failing to score in his first 52 MLS matches, Yapi finally opened his account on July 7, 2024 in a 4-1 win vs. St. Louis before following that up with a goal vs. Dallas and a brace of assists vs. Toronto – this season, he’s managed to take a step further and accelerate into a vital cog in attack for Colorado.

After missing the first month of the season due to a shoulder injury, Yapi started off on the bench before making his first start on April 12 against San Diego, wreaking havoc on the right side of attack with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 win. He added to that tally with goals vs. D.C. United and St. Louis and a brace of assists vs. New England, an assist vs. Kansas City, and a goal vs. Seattle.

Standing just over six feet, Yapi boasts the physical prowess, elusive dribbling and multi-footedness to make a difference against just about any defense in North America. Similarly to a young Les Reed, Yapi excels at holding up the ball with his back to goal and linking up quickly with a teammate, as well as sauntering his way past multiple defenders with his superb stepovers as well as his blistering change of pace. What’s more, he isn’t one to slouch on his defensive duties, constantly harassing the opposing build-up as well as tracking back to win back possession. 

At 20 years of age, Darren Yapi has made his mark both for Colorado Rapids as well as the youth national team, playing for the USMNT U17s in 2020 and U20s in 2023, and if he can continue building on his momentum, Mauricio Pochettino could very well give him a maiden call-up to the senior team and prevent him from switching over to the Ivory Coast. What’s more, there’s reason to believe that Yapi could be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Mihailović’s exit. 

After coming off the bench in their previous five MLS fixtures, Yapi returned to the starting lineup on Sunday. Rather than his tried-and-trusted 4-2-3-1 formation, Rapids manager Chris Armas went with a 3-4-3 formation, with Yapi starting on the left side of attack alongside Navarro and Calvin Harris. The visitors would open the scoring at the hour-mark as Sam Vines lined up Yapi with an inch-perfect long ball, who latched onto it before slowing it down and envisaging his next move against two Minnesota United defenders, working it towards his right foot and driving it into the right corner of the net.

He was back at it again 10 minutes later, chasing down a through ball from Navarro and executing a firecracker from just inside the box to double the visitors’ lead. Whilst Tani Oluwaseyi cut the advantage in half shortly after, it was too little, too late. And as a result, Colorado have advanced to eighth place in the Western Conference and leapfrogged Real Salt Lake, who dropped from eighth to 10th after losing 2-1 to New York Red Bulls.

Colorado will be counting on Yapi to continue his red-hot form on Saturday and keep them finely situated in the playoff spots as they take on Atlanta United at home.

Photo Credit: Spencer Baldwin

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