Commerce City, Colo. – It was another frustrating ending for Colorado Rapids after scoring first. On Saturday night, they hosted San Jose Earthquakes. This team continues to befuddle and be mid.
Matt Wells’ lineup was about as expected. The one exception was Hamzat Ojediran being on the bench with Wayne Frederick II and Josh Atencio starting. Rob Holding was captain. Ibrahim Sadiq was on the bench for his first game available.
Timo Werner and Eduard Löwen started for Bruce Arena’s side.
The game played out as we expected. San Jose were compact in a back five. Colorado moved the ball around to find and create space. They upped the tempo once they got in the final third, finding more success than before the international break. The Quakes had their moments on the counter.
Preston Judd thought he scored in a breakaway in the 13th minute. He timed a through ball and burned the backline to score on Nico Hansen. Referee Filip “However” Dujic went to the VAR monitor and called the play offside.
After two good chances from the run of play, Donavan Phillip capitalized in the 27th. He smashed a Paxten Aaronson corner at the backpost to score. He ran to the corner flag and danced. It was his third straight MLS game with a goal, four in five including his recent St. Lucia call-up.
San Jose objected to the goal with Atencio potentially knocking shins with goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. The goal stood.
The half had a chippy ending with yellow cards to Jack Jasinski and Loïc Williams. It was 1-0.
The Pids came out swinging to start the second half. Aaronson had two great chances and Morgan Whittaker had one as well. The three shots were well saved. Colorado would rue those missed chances.
In the 57th, San Jose took a free kick. It was sent far post then redirected by Ronaldo Vieira to an open Dave Romney. The center back volleyed it through traffic to beat Nico Hansen. It appeared to take a deflection. It was 1-1 with 33 minutes to play.
The game was a basketball match after that. Aaronson and Whittaker had more chances. Wayne Frederick, who was excellent between the boxes, had a header off the post on a corner. Both teams had a low cross to a forward who slid for the ball but couldn’t finish. Colorado’s chance came to Sayed Abu Farkhi, for only chance of the match.
Hansen had a great save on Judd. Löwen had the final chance of the game, a free kick that went just wide of the top left corner. The match ended 1-1.
Phillip and Aaronson:
We’ll start with the positives. Phillip is the youngest Rapids player to score three goals in three straight games. Age 21 years, 279 days. The team has been good on set pieces. His header was emphatic. Including the recent national team call-up with St. Lucia, that’s four goals and five games.
Aaronson has come into his since the World Cup break. He’s been smooth in possession. More aggressive and confident when shooting. He’s contributing assists from set pieces and in transition. He’s played a bit more out wide recently. That fluidity has allowed him to find the game and be less predicable to opponents.
Elsewhere, Frederick had a good game between the boxes, including on the ball. Whittaker played more central. Despite being further from goal and having less space, he had two good chances. He still needs to score goals for this team to succeed. Abu Farkhi was more visible off the ball, with his pressing and physicality. He’s still not getting enough service in the box.
Georgi Minoungou subbed on then off…?
The oddity of the night was Georgi Minoungou. He subbed on in the 58th minute. San Jose had a transition around the 80th minute. Minoungou appeared to not do something tracking back. Wells yelled at him from the technical area. Colorado won the ball back. Georig waited at midfield for the ball to get forward. Wells continued for at least 30 seconds.
Minoungou was subbed off in the 83rd, after just 25 minutes of play. Sadiq relieved him to make his debut. The Ghanaian was fine in his seven minutes plus stoppage time.
It’s been a tough few months for Minoungou. He’s yet to score in MLS play this season. The club signed two wingers in the summer transfer window. Sadiq and Whittaker have come for his minutes. He’s felt that pressure. It hasn’t helped him finish.
Better performance, disappointing result:
It’s hard to pick how to feel about this result. A 1-1 draw was probably fair. After four total shots in the first half, the shots ended 13-9 Colorado, 10-3 on target. But xG was 1.07 to 0.72 in favor of Colorado, per FotMob. From the eye test, it seemed like a more attacking game than that. The two goals came off set pieces that were not well defended.
San Jose are a good team but have been streaky this year. They had a bunch of injuries. Colorado were in cruise control through 50 minutes and could easily have been up 2-0. Scoring first and drawing is disappointing. Another home game where the opponent comes to DSGP and plays defensive. You have to cash in on those games.
It was better than the LA Galaxy game. But two draws and a loss from three straight games in which they score first.
At the same time, Colorado are still 8th in the Western Conference, four points above the playoff line. The out-of-town scoreboard was kind on the night with LAFC and Portland drawing. RSL lost as well. No one outside of Vancouver and St. Louis is playing great right now. Can the Rapids be the least mid of the mid teams?
Colorado host second to last Minnesota United on Wednesday, October 14th. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. MT.
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