Austin, Texas – For the first time since May 13, the Colorado Rapids have gotten a result away from home. With injured bodies, two goalkeepers on the bench, and no visas for new signings, they improved on Saturday’s disaster at Columbus. It was a Wednesday night game at Austin FC and it was progress.
The three new signings for Colorado still did not have their visas, so Matt Wells again had to be creative with his lineup. Donavan Phillip got his first MLS start and just his fifth first team appearance. He was in attack with Darren Yapi. Goalkeeper Nico Hansen was over his leg injury and started. Reggie Cannon and Hamzat Ojediran started after not starting at Columbus.
The first half was a back and forth affair. Austin had the better start. Facundo Torres could have scored in the opening minute. Jon Gallagher scored in transition in the 17th but Cannon drew a foul in the buildup. Brandon Vazquez appeared to be offside on the initial ball.
Austin then didn’t do anything until the final minutes of the half. They had back-to-back dangerous corners. Rob Holding did well on the first one.
Colorado grew into the match. Wayne Frederick almost had a backpass that led to a shot. Colorado was otherwise simple and clean playing out of the back.
They appeared to be in a narrow 4-1-4-1 without the ball. It was disciplined with good gap control, an improvement from the previous match. Yapi chested a ball down in the 22nd and had his poor shot blocked. The clearance fell to Paxten Aaronson who volleyed it off the post and in the other side of the net.
Phillip had a few half chances, which was encouraging. He had a chance at a volley that he shanked in the 29th. Youssef Maziz unfortunately was subbed off at the hydration break with an injury. Josh Atencio came on and got his MLS leading ninth yellow card before halftime.
The second half had a similar feel. Colorado were confident with the ball, even when pressed in their own box. Hansen had to play sweeper keeper at times and did well in that role. Austin probed in transition. They tested the Rapids offside trap.
Aaronson could have made it 2-0 on more than on occasion. He had a free kick into the wall in the opening minutes. In the 77th, he had a shot bend towards the far post but Brad Stuver made an excellent save. Miguel Navarro put in an excellent shift on the night, getting up and down the left flank. In the 68th, he had a chance to score, but missed the far post.
Austin could have had several goals on headers to be fair. Vazquez was lively till he subbed out angrily for Christian Ramirez. Ramirez and Mikkel Desler both had chances on corners.
Even with 22 shots combined in the game, the xG was only 1.43. If somebody was getting a decisive goal, it was going to be a brilliant individual effort. On 79 minutes, Žan Kolmanič found Torres open in the box. The Uruguayan delivered a header with power to level the match. It ended, fairly, 1-1.
A result on the road:
Hey, the Rapids had a road game and didn’t lose it. After Saturday, that was progress in of itself. Colorado had lost all three road games since the World Cup and looked bad in all of them. It was an improved performance on many levels. They almost hung on for a win. Austin scored on their best chance.
This is just their second draw all season. The other was 0-0 at LAFC. Matt Wells has pushed back on the good home team, bad road team narrative. He sees it more as an issue of performance to start the game leading to the first goal then dealing with that. For the 13th time, Colorado scored the first goal. This was their first time drawing after scoring first. They are now 10-2-1 when scoring first.
Better, but still incomplete.
“We played with a technical quality that still wasn’t our best. It still was a big set up from Columbus. We didn’t have the quality to go make it a second goal. That’s an area we know we have to improve. The draw was fair. We got a little bit sloppy with the ball. We just dropped into that protection mode. Our run of results away from home hasn’t been good enough. It could be a big difference in terms of the playoff race at the end of the season,” Wells said of the night.
Donavan Phillip debut:
The rookie Phillip deserves credit. Wells game him his first start. He put in a shift for 69 minutes. Had a good defensive work rate, we’ve seen that before. Was 14/21 passing, most of that was progressive. With injuries and visas, the team is short handed up top. Phillip did what was asked of him in a more familiar position. Helped the club get a result. Job done.
“He did a tremendous job. Him playing right winger allowed me to come back in the middle to my more favorable position. He provided us stability. He brought us security in an away game, which you need. He provided us with a lot tonight. Everybody in the locker room gave him high praise. Really happy for him,” Aaronson said of Phillip.
“It was an opportunity that I wanted to give him. He’s had to be patient. It was a really good step for him,” added Wells.
Brotherly Confusion:
Lastly, Sacha Kljestan accidentally called Paxten Aaronson Brendan Aaronson on the Apple store. Paxten’s parents texted him about it. Brendan scored in Leeds United’s EFL Cup match earlier in the day, a 6-3 loss to Chelsea.
It’s not the first time they’ve scored on the same day. Paxten scored for Utrecht when Brendan scored for Leeds. Paxten said he gets a good feeling when he sees Brendan score early in the day. The family’s happy and had a good laugh about the commentator confusion.
Wells and Aaronson met ahead of this game to discuss the Columbus performance. They agreed Paxten needed to play better and that goal contributions were an area for improvement. Good on Paxten to score a few days later. Hopefully this is a sign of more to come.
Better defense, but still:
The team looked more confident and comfortable defensively. Hamzat Ojediran, Cannon, and Hansen raised the level. The rest defense had a better shape. They were more anticipatory. The offside trap worked, but there were close calls.
Still, similar to Columbus, there were gaps at the back. Austin had maybe 10 passes to attackers who were wide open in the final third. Against a better team, that leads to multiple goals. This is still a team that’s not at their best when they’re on the back foot.
We’ll see if that gets better on Saturday when they host CF Montreal. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. MT. Colorado will be without Reggie Cannon who received a yellow card in this game and will be suspended as a result.
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Tyler Atkins 