Two red cards and an own goal isn’t usually a marker of success, but the fact the game was still played on a razor’s edge is telling of a wild outing.
That was the case in Saturday morning’s 3-2 thriller in Canada, where the Colorado Rapids gave up a two-goal lead to lose up north to Toronto FC. The Reds have been a pleasant surprise in the Eastern Conference of MLS and are comfortably in the mix of top east teams, standings wise.
New signing Josh Sargent, a frequent flier on the U.S. Men’s National Team who joined TFC from English Championship side Norwich City, headed in the late winner to open the account with his new team.
By then, the match had devolved into madness. Between the Rapids, league leaders in fouls committed (95), and Toronto, with MLS-leading 85 fouls suffered, the match was designed to give a heavy load to referee Ricardo Montero. The game featured 30 fouls total and garnered three red cards — one per team that seemed fair, plus an extra to the Rapids that felt harsh in the moment and contributed most to the outcome.
“I think our disappointment is the impact (referees) feel that they need to make on the game, and thatap been proven across the league time and time again,” Rapids defender Keegan Rosenberry said. “Not just with us, but in games we’ve seen with other teams and across the league over time. However I think the big takeaway tonight has nothing to do with refereeing decisions with the goals and the big game-changing moments. Itap the way we looked 10 vs. 11 and 10 vs. 10.”
The most controversial call was the game’s final red card, given via second yellow to Rapids left back Miguel Navarro in the 74th minute. At that point, Colorado was leading 2-1, all three goals coming when the match was at 10 vs. 10. Then, Richie Laryea, who scored TFC’s first goal on a botched cross turned near-post top corner nine minutes prior, beat Navarro off the dribble toward the byline.
Navarro reached an arm out and Laryea went down right outside the box. On replay, the contact looked minimal, but the yellow came anyway. Currently, VAR cannot intervene in second-yellow calls, but in February, the International Football Association Board voted to change that, effective this summer.
“My feeling leaving the pitch was frustration with Miguel — he’s on a booking and then to get a second booking in such a key moment when we had the game under control (was frustrating),” Wells said. “And then I watched the incident back, and itap never ever a foul, let alone a booking. So there’s nothing I can teach Miguel about in that scenario.”
Three minutes after Navarro was sent off, Rosenberry lofted a clearance disguised as a back-pass from midfield to Zack Steffen to reset the play. But Steffen lost the ball in the wind, missed the control and it trickled into the net for Toronto’s equalizer. Sargent scored the winner off a corner in the 85th minute.
That final stretch of action felt like a completely different game between two different teams compared to the first 60 minutes on Saturday. Jackson Travis was sent off in the 34th minute for a crunching tackle on Raheem Edwards. Originally a yellow card, VAR upgraded it to red after the replay showed Travis connecting studs to Edwards’s ankle and stepping down — a textbook straight red card.
The Rapids finished the first half impressively down a man, then caught Edwards in a mistake in the 49th minute. Rosenberry lofted a through ball to Wayne Frederick behind the defense, and Edwards pushed him in the back before he could make a play — another textbook red for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO).
Colorado pounced instantly. Paxten Aaronson scored on the ensuing free kick with a precise shot under the wall to the bottom left corner for his third goal in two games. Three minutes later, Rosenberry cleaned up a poor Toronto clearance and smashed in his first goal of the season to double the lead.
More than the officiating, Wells was upset with how the game looked between the two goals and the extra chaos that ensued later.
“(After the second goal) I fully expect from that moment, just to take absolute charge of the game with our identity and our principles,” Wells said. “My feeling in that moment was, ‘Okay, now there’s parity and we’re 2-0 up. Toronto shouldn’t touch this football for the remainder of the game.’ And it swayed completely in the opposite direction because in our buildup, we were so quick to give the ball back to them and we started playing direct when the game didn’t require that.”
With both starting fullbacks suspended and another recovering from an ankle injury, the Rapids will likely have just one regularly-featured fullback in Rosenberry for next weekend’s home match against the Houston Dynamo. That game will feature the return of longtime Rapids Homegrown Sam Vines, a left back who the club waived the day before the season started.
Right back Reggie Cannon is considered week-to-week and hasn’t played in nearly a month. New signing Kosi Thompson can’t officially join the team for training and matches until he receives his P-1 visa, which could be a lengthy process. That means Wells will have to get creative in the meantime, whether itap an attempted appeal for Navarro’s suspension or reaching into the Rapids 2 bag for a capable replacement.
For now, the locker-room sentiment is similar to what it was after a season-opening 2-0 defeat at Seattle: channel the frustration, and make Houston the victims of it.
