COMMERCE CITY — As a work in progress, the result of the Rapids’ season opener Saturday was much like the template they laid down last season: A solid defense and opportunistic offense made for a 1-0 win over New England.
But there were glimmers of what coach Pablo Mastroeni is trying to achieve to score more goals. They got “numbers in the box” with more frequency and got some dynamic play from attackers Kevin Doyle, Marlon Hairston and Dominique Badji.
Mastroeni thought the attack was a bit too “measured” in the first half, but it picked up after intermission, and Badji scored in the 52nd minute off a free kick taken by . Doyle headed Powers’ offering into the left post, kept the play alive and Badji finished it.
“It was just one of those plays,” Badji said. “It was bouncing around in the box. I know Jared Watts got a touch onto it, somehow it ended up in the air and I was just at the right place at the right time and just put it in the back of the net.”
Mastroeni had predicted it would take time for the new offensive scheme to pay dividends, but he saw progress.
“One of the things we’ll continue to work on is delivery (of the ball), the timing of the movements. but itap a long process,” Mastroeni said. “For starters, we had some really good looks at goal, really dangerous. Doyle had his head on two or three of them that either hit the post or (barely) missed the posts. Those are great incremental improvements from last year. But I think the front three guys were very dynamic, and it will get better as we go.”
Colorado’s back line, the best in MLS last season, was solid and goalkeeper did his job on the one play they missed. New England’s dangerous striker, Kei Kamara, was left alone in the 16th minute but MacMath got a hand on his shot while falling backward to make the save.
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Kamara and Juan Agudelo are dangerous attackers but Rapids center backs Axel Sjoberg and Jared Watts were up to the challenge.
“Axel and Watts did a really good job of minimizing Kamara’s chances facing goal,” Mastroeni said. “A lot of his play was back to goal, which is where we want him. Agudelo can be very dynamic, and the two in tandem are dangerous.”
Powers was encouraged while seeing big room for improvement.
“To start off with a win, three points, is fantastic,” Powers said. “We were able to incorporate some of the concepts we’ve been working on, so that was a plus. I think we’re still a long way from where we want to be, but to get a result and not necessarily play our best stuff was a very positive thing.”
