LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 05: Goal keeper Joe Nasco #23 of the Colorado Rapids leaves the field after receiving a red card in the first minute of the game with the Los Angeles Galaxy at StubHub Center on September 5, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The Galaxy won 6-0.(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Rapids goalkeeper Joe Nasco is expected to get a shot at redemption this Friday in Utah.
“We’ll more than likely give Nasco another go at it, being that the situation in L.A. was kind of crazy,” Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni said Tuesday.
Nasco, 30, was unavailable Saturday against Portland as he served a one-game ban after into the Sept. 5 match against Los Angeles Galaxy. The Rapids, playing a man down for virtually the entire contest, went on to lose 6-0. It was the worst loss in team history and extended the club’s losing streak to a franchise worst seven games.
Last week, Mastroeni turned to John Berner, who made one save in the , snapping the team’s losing streak, but extending its winless streak to eight games.
At training on Tuesday, Mastroeni cited (not necessarily at the MLS level where he has two career starts), as reasons for his preference for Nasco at this juncture.
“(Nasco) brings in that experience and that vocal piece, (which) in a place like Salt Lake, will be more than necessary. So I think thatap the way we’re leaning,” Mastroeni said. “But again, all the guys do a great job every day and given the circumstances I think experience is going to be critical as we hit this stretch.”
Rapids goalkeeper Clint Irwin, who has started 52 games over the past two seasons, opened the 2014 campaign with seven shutouts in his first 16 starts and was working himself .
However, after a series of injuries to the Rapids’ back line, Irwin has allowed 17 goals in his past four games behind a makeshift defense, .
