San Diego, Calif. – Saturday was a no good very bad night for Colorado Rapids. Some Pids fans were in a glass case of emotion, rightfully so. Matt Wells and company traveled to San Diego FC for the final match of a three-game week. It ended up being one of their most disappointing performances of the season.
After rotating midweek, Wells returned to a more expected line. With injuries at left back, Kosi Thompson started there. Reggie Cannon was on the right. Dante Sealy and Georgi Minoungou were on the wings. Hamzat Ojediran and Josh Atencio were in midfield. Youssef Maziz was on the bench.
Goodness this game was poor. Nico Hanse stopped Anders Dreyer in a breakaway in the opening minutes that was ruled offsides. That was a sign of things to come.
In the 27th minute, Reggie Cannon squared the ball to Rob Holding. A standard, moving it across the backline pass. The ball got through Holding possibly nutmegging him. Onni Valakari ran into the loose ball and slipped it past Hansen.
Then in the 36th minute, there was a loose ball bouncing in the Rapids box. Holding and Ojediran both went for it. They got out of each other’s way, leaving it for Elias Achouri. He scored easily. 2-0.
Wells tried to shake things up with a triple sub at halftime. Ojediran was on yellow card watch, so he understandably was retired. Dante Sealy was poor in the first half and benched as well.
Colorado didn’t have a shot on target till the 57th minute. Paxten Aaronson made the attempt on a fast break. The San Diego attack pulled the Rapids backline out of sorts in the 71st. Gabriel Pirani did all the work in the build up. The ball made its way back to him and he finished.
The match ended 3-0.
“The performance was not too far off the level that we’d been until we conceded the (first) goal… My frustration tonight is the performance from conceding the first goal until half time. I thought we were poor in that phase… You’re playing a style of play with imperfect habits,” Wells told Burgundy Wave.
Wells went on to say the response in the second half was better. He told the team post match that they don’t get too high or too low after results.
“We were just off it in the first half. I’m the first to raise my hand, you know a lot mistakes… It was just mistakes that we normally don’t make. We’re all more concerned with the reactions. We’re going to concede goals playing out of the back. The gaffer told us the first day we adopted this system. We gave them two free goals,” added Cannon.
The result was such a letdown given Colorado were coming off four clean sheets in five games. The other match, they lost 1-0 on the road down a man. The defensive outlier performance was a shock. The three goals were simple mistakes that were preventable. Take those away and San Diego had 0.33 xG from the rest of the game.
If one is looking to blame a single player for the goals conceded, Holding is certainly at fault on the first two.
The attack was also disappointing. Sealy and Minoungou just are not goal dangerous right now. Sealy was played just the first half. Minoungou was subbed at the hour mark for Alex Harris. Not great.
In MLS play for Colorado this season, they have combined for 2,066 minutes, 35 appearances, 25 starts, no goals, and 7 assists. They have one goal contribution since MLS resumed play after the World Cup. Darren Yapi hasn’t been much more threatening off the bench.
Colorado spent $2 million each in assets to acquire Sealy and Minoungou earlier this year. With the transfer window closing a week and a half and all the Lucas Herrington money available, not great. And earlier in the day, Herrington made his Hull City debut in a massive home win against Manchester United.
This result and performance really put a damper on what was a good run of form despite the transfer inaction.
On a lighter note, all three Rapids players who are on yellow card accumulation watch avoided cautions. Rafael Navarro, Ojediran, and Kosi Thompson will be available for next weekend’s Rocky Mountain Cup.
“Massive game Saturday against a rival with a chance to win a trophy. I’m turning up on Monday morning full of energy, ready to go,” Wells said enthusiastically.
Colorado Rapids host Real Salt Lake in the RMC on Saturday August 29. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. MT. The match will be the Walmart Saturday Showdown.
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Tyler Atkins 