COMMERCE CITY — Rapids midfielder said he’s sore, but he expects his right leg to be OK after taking a shot from Minnesota fullback Justin Davis’ cleats in Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
“It was a freak accident,” Hairston said.
Hairston said he tried to win the ball from Davis after the Loons’ defender had a touch that let the ball get out in front of him. Both Hairston and Davis missed the ball and Davis’ studs came into Hairston’s leg. Davis was shown a straight red card in the 70th minute and Hairston was subbed out of the match.
“Couple days and I’ll be better,” Hairston said. “Right now the game is on my mind. Tough result here.”
Up a man. Colorado played the final 20 minutes Saturday with a man advantage, but couldn’t find a way to score the go-ahead goal.
“I thought it was pretty good, but it should be good, you’re up a man,” Mastroeni said.
The Rapids dominated possession while playing up a man, and Mastroeni said his team played with the same type of belief it had in 2016 when playing at even strength.
“They were going to pack it in,” Rapids striker Dominique Badji said of Minnesota. “We just wanted to get people in the box, get services in the box and just create opportunities. We were going to pin them back and control the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get any goals through it, but we were definitely on top of it and had the game been a little longer I’m sure we would’ve got a goal.”
Badji at the No. 9. The Rapids started the match with a change in their front four attackers. Albanian attacker started on the left wing, striker Kevin Doyle dropped deeper and played as a No. 10, while Badji got the start at center forward.
Badji said the No. 9 was his more natural position and he felt more comfortable there.
“Just playing back to goal, I think I’m strong at that,” Badji said. “Being able to just stretch the defense, just running and they’re looking for me over top, and the distance is a lot shorter when you’re playing the No. 9 to the goal than when you’re playing on the wing sometimes. So that makes scoring goals a lot easier.”
Doyle completed 73 percent of his passes playing underneath and Badji said he felt like their chemistry could grow there.
“The relationship is growing,” Badji said. “Honestly we’ve only practiced it for four or five days and it’s there. At moments in the game you could tell that there’s sparks where you can tell there’s going be something for sure. We keep working on it and we’re definitely going to bring some goals.”
New faces on the back line. got the start on the back line in place of , who is out at least six to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his left hamstring. started in place of who suffered a minor hamstring injury in training this week.
“Overall I think the backline was pretty good, but you only get judged in moments,” Mastroeni said. “And you look at two moments, the penalty kick and the second goal and we could have done so much better with that.”
Trinidad and Tobago reunion. The match was something of a reunion for Trinidad and Tobago internationals Mekeil Williams and Kevin Molino.
“Molino is one of my best friends,” Williams said of the Loons midfielder. “I’ve known him since we were kids. We started off playing together, so we’ve got a really close relationship.”
Molino had the better night, scoring a goal on a penalty kick called on Williams. The Rapids fullback said the two didn’t talk much during the game, but shared a word after.
“Nothing to share,” Williams said. “Just that we’re going to meet up after the game.”
Boateng’s debut. Rapids’ midfielder Nana Boatang made his Rapids debut, replacing in the 82nd minute.
“It felt great because the fans were so nice. Also feel very frustrated because we didn’t win the game,” Boateng said. “Overall, it was great for me to work hard on the field because the fans were great. Even though we tied the game, there were some good points to get out of that and we’ll go back to training and work on it.”
Boateng got 11 touches and completed 88.9 percent of his passes.
