Colorado Rapids Miss Playoffs With Draw vs LAFC

Commerce City, CO – Heung-Min Son can do it on a cold night in Commerce City. And the Colorado Rapids despite all the Decision Day chaos, will miss out on the MLS Cup playoffs.

On Saturday night, the Pids hosted LAFC for the final regular season match of 2026. Colorado needed a result and some help from other teams. It was a dramatic finish, but they came up short. Let’s break down what happens and what this means big picture with head Coach Chris Armas out of contract.

Armas made three changes from the side that lost at Real Salt Lake. Sam Vines was in for Rafael Santos, which surprised but worked. Darren Yapi and Ted Ku-DiPietro started out wide. That meant Cole Bassett finally moved back to a deeper role.

For LAFC, Deni Bouangao and Heung-Min Son started despite being off on international duty previously.

The first half was all too similar for a Colorado LAFC game. Bouanga had a shot off the opening kickoff. Shots in the first half were 13-1. LAFC played in transition. They passed to create space. Son got on the ball to the cheer of the South Koreans in attendance. Zack Steffen made a fantastic save going to ground on Bouanga in the 34th off a sloppy play.

Son put LAFC deservedly up 0-1 in the 42nd. He found space with the Rapids defense spread out. Bounga made the pass and Son went 1-v-1 with captain Andreas Maxsø, going upper 90 in Steffen.

Colorado got into some good areas but did not threaten Hugo Lloris. They huffed and puffed. Vines did well on some crosses. Yapi brought the sauce. The shot on goal was a direct free kick by Connor Ronan that Lloris punched out.

The second half was more open. Reggie Cannon set up Cole Bassett for a chance in the middle of the box in the opening minutes but Bassett fell on the shot and the ball went wide.

Against the run of play, Colorado found a way to go up 2-1, scoring in the 62nd and the 87th. Paxten Aaronson pressed Lloris. The midfielder blocked the keeper’s pass into the net. It was peak MLS ‘when playing it out of the back goes wrong.’ It was Aaronson’s first goal contribution for the club.

Then in the 87th, Oli Larraz crossed the ball into the box. Yapi made a diagonal run into space and headed the ball across goal to beat Lloris. Suddenly the Rapids had a lead and needed one of FC Dallas, Real Salt Lake, or San Jose Earthquakes to collapse.

Unfortunately, three minutes later, they conceded. Jeremy Ebobisse hit the post with a shot and an open Andrew Moran passed the ball into the net.

The match ended 2-2 with Colorado getting a number of corners they could not convert on. Zack Steffen cheated up a but the Rapids coaches prevented him from going all the way forward, worried about the counter. With that, the Rapids missed the playoffs by the slimmest of margins.

How the out-of-town scoreboard went:

For most of the game, it was bad. RSL got out to an early lead in St. Louis but eventually drew. FC Dallas drew a DOGSO red card early in Vancouver and went on to win. San Jose came back to beat Austin.

By the full-time whistle, San Jose had already won, meaning Colorado finishes in 11th. They tied RSL and San Jose on 41 points, losing the wins tie breaker to RSL and goal difference to San Jose. Had they held on to win, they would have finished 9th.

“I’m speechless. Pretty much the highest highs and the lowest lows. Scoring that goal, I thought that we were through. I can’t even process that right now,” Yapi told Burgundy Wave.

The wild card game will be Portland Timbers hosting RSL. Colorado would not be favorited in at Portland wild card game on Wednesday. In reality, these teams were competing for a midweek rock fight, then losing to the Western Conference top seed.

Similar script for the season and the fixture:

This game so a microcosm of the 2025 Rapids team and of how their games against LAFC have gone. Get into good areas, but unable to finish. Aaronson faded in and out and didn’t help those around him as much. The team was bent but did not break on counters. LAFC had more chances and better chances.

“It summed up our whole season. It’s all on us. You have six minutes to go and you give up a dumb goal. St. Louis scored pretty soon afterward. We gave up too many cheap, late goals throughout the whole season,” Bassett lamented.

Colorado got a gift on the first goal. Gut-checked their way to a lead, something Armas’ side do when they appear down in the dumps. They had some hope. Then switched off mentally and gave up a soft goal. They dug a hole over their previous weeks and that was that. Lucked into a result against a more talented and better coached team.

Too little too late:

It’s not worth dissecting this game too much. The Rapids set themselves up to miss the playoffs before tonight. Those back-to-back losses at bottom feeders LA Galaxy and Sporting KC were the worst of it. A 3-0 and 4-2 loss. If those are draws, the Rapids are in the playoffs.

“We changes a bit throughout the summer. We had it in our hands going into LA Galaxy, Kansas City away. Losing four of seven is not the best,” Bassett said with a sigh.

They middled through the season till the transfer window. The center back (Rob Holding) and winger (Alexis Manyoma) signings took awhile. After the Djordje Mihailović mess, they beat Minnesota and Atlanta. They had an easier schedule the rest of the way. They finished that schedule with one win, two draws, and four losses. Take away the own goal winner against Houston, that’s three points from their final seven games.

“It’s the combination of a little bit of everything. New guys trying to gel. The position I was playing…a position I’m not normally used to playing. I played deeper all last season and that’s where I created my goals. Here, I was playing as a second striker, almost. That took some time to get used to,” Aaronson said when asked about the offense trying to click.

The defense hasn’t returned to the heights they reached with Moïse Bombito. The offense throughout this season was passive. They get into a good area, play safe, protect the ball, then pass to someone else, hoping they make the play. Who on this team wants to be the man?

Armas never found a formation or personnel grouping that truly clicked. He took awhile to move off the 4-4-2. He playing Basset at left wing down the stretch, basically against his will. Bassett is at his best when he’s “better not bitter.” He’s been bitter most of the year.

“I only got to play as a central midfield pivot in 8 of the 34 games. Playing 75% of the year not in my position, changing tactics, we’d love consistency. It was tough,” added Bassett.

Manyoma was brilliant in this game. Maybe in another world he gets more minutes. The visa took awhile. Armas has said it took him a bit getting up to speed tactically.

Armas fits the game model and the club approach to young development. Bassett said the players have loved him. He’s really positive. But his two seasons have ended in disappointment. And you could see that coming.

I’ve been saying for weeks I think he’ll be retained. I am less confident in that.

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