On a night where other MLS results put pressure on the Colorado Rapids to win, their hottest players came up big to do it.
After being outscored 8-1 in two matches against the Portland Timbers this season, the Rapids got their get-back at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday with a 2-1 win in front of 16,038 fans.
And with conference rivals Real Salt Lake suffering a 4-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo, the Rapids moved into third in the Western Conference with 47 points in their collection.
At this point in the season, revenge was not on the minds of the Rapids, who had two weeks to think about how they’d approach this game. The stakes are becoming much bigger, meaning the mentality has to follow suit.
“The mood in the locker room, it almost feels like another day at the office. There’s no big celebration going on,” Armas said. “But the guys understand that this was a big step for us, three points in a decisive game.
“We win that game and put a little separation (in the table) and we’re starting to have an eye on the prize, which is the playoffs. … This team doesn’t give in.”
Jonathan Lewis got the Rapids on the scoreboard in the 14th minute after a string of short passes around Portland’s box got deflected and fell right to Lewis around the penalty spot. He took a touch and buried it past Timbers goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau for his third goal in MLS this season (fourth in all competitions).
With the goal, he tied Mark Chung for 10th in club career goals with 26 in MLS play since joining the Rapids in 2019.
“I couldn’t believe the ball dropped to my feet. Djordje (Mihailovic) yelled at me to shoot it so I did. I feel like I’ve been playing pretty decently, so I’m happy that I’ve gotten a run of games to show what I can do,” Lewis said. “(The accolade) is an honor. At the end of the day, I just want to win with the team. Hopefully, I can keep scoring, assisting, playing and just helping the team win as best as I can.”
David Ayala responded for Portland just 10 minutes later with a tap-in at the back post on a free header after the initial corner kick was flicked onto Ayala, who was wide open.
Though the game was played open for most of the way, neither team could break through in the final third until winger Calvin Harris was maliciously tackled in the 70th minute on the right wing 40 yards out from goal. Midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, who was credited with the assist on Lewis’ goal, floated a perfect ball to forward Rafael Navarro, who headed home his 14th goal of the year.
Mihailovic now has 12 assists on the year and Navarro is just two goals away from tying the Rapids’ club record for goals in a season.
For the Brazilian forward, individual records have taken a backseat to wins and contributing to team success. But that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about etching his name in the club’s history books.
“When I got here, I had some personal goals to obviously break some records but most of all, I’m happy to help the team,” Navarro said through his translator, Andre Hilf. “Thatap the important thing to have a deep playoff run. But to (potentially) break records, I’m very happy.”
Aside from the Rapids’ two goals, the loudest the nearly sold-out DSGP got was in protest of referee Filipe Dujic’s decision to give forward Darren Yapi marching orders in the 90+7th minute.
Yapi, who subbed on moments after Navarro scored, appeared to have given a slight push to Dario Zuparic away from the play after the two went shoulder to shoulder for a ball. Zuparic went down and Yapi was shown a straight red card. VAR intervened, but Dujic was firm in his decision and sent Yapi off for clear violent conduct.
The Denver Post was not able to obtain an explanation of the decision from the referee crew, but Armas told the Post that he trusts the system and the process of the officiating crew and VAR. However, he called for more consistency by bringing up another case of potential violent conduct involving Yapi late in the Rapids’ last match against FC Dallas.
“They get to see the replay and probably some different footage, but I bet they got it right and thatap what I’m assuming,” Armas said. “I’m not sure what exactly happened (two weeks ago) in Dallas, but I think it was Yapi who got slapped in the head five feet from the bench. Essentially, he’s on the ground and a player from that team (defender Ruan, who was given a yellow in the altercation) just swung and slapped him in the head. I don’t know if he got fined or suspended, but I would hope for consistency in moments like that.
“We will learn from tonight. We can’t retaliate in any way. We’ve got to learn from that quickly and going into the playoffs and these types of games, we can’t retaliate.”
Should the Rapids try to appeal the decision with the league, the process would have to be completed before Wednesday’s match at Sporting Kansas City, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.
