The Colorado Rapids beat their biggest rivals, Real Salt Lake, 1-0, on Saturday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in the second and final leg of the Rocky Mountain Cup. The result was enough to keep the Rocky Mountain Cup in Colorado for the third year in a row.
The only goal of the match came in the 58th minute. A corner from Rapids midfielder Youssef Maziz found the head of Rapids defender Reggie Cannon, and just like the game against Sporting KC a week ago, it found the back of the net.
“We’ve been working on set pieces from the first day,” Cannon said. “You know, credit to Burchie (Rob Burch) who’s come in and done such a great job. But it also speaks to Maziz’s quality. He’s putting the ball on a dime, and he’s such a good player.”
The Rapids have made a habit of scoring on set pieces, and with the knack for clean sheets at home, itap a winning combination for the Rapids.
“I’m so proud of the players. The work we did in training over the break is really paying off,” Rapids head coach Matt Wells said after the win. “We’re in a great place from a mentality perspective, a really strong position from a physical perspective.”
The Rapids dominated throughout the match, ending with around 64% possession. Real Salt Lake didn’t register a shot on target. Colorado again underperformed its expected goals, but it wasn’t as egregious this match. It easily could have been two or three goals on another night. The Rapids will have to be better in that regard. It hasn’t come back to bite them yet.
Wells was critical of the lack of clinicality from his players.
“It’s not a one-nil game. Maziz had a massive chance at the outset. Georgi Minoungou had a massive chance. Loads of nearly moments,” he said. “I just saw a stat that we had 28 touches in their box, while they had only one touch in our box all night. Pretty special effort from the team defensively: organization, work ethic, intensity. Very strong performance.”
The win pushed the Rapids’ home winning streak to five wins at home — and five straight clean sheets at home in that stretch. It also ties a club record. No one in the league has a better streak other than Nashville SC, which leads the MLS standings. Colorado has made it a habit to be stout defensively after leaking goals early in the season. Newcomer Loïc Williams may have something to do with that.
The Rapids continued the streak despite being down to their third goalkeeper, homegrown Adam Beaudry. Colorado’s starting keeper, Zack Steffen, has been out for months, so backup Nico Hansen has taken over the job. Hansen was a last-minute scratch from this match due to an injury that happened the night before. That was all the media got on that matter. Beaudry stepped in and delivered, although he really didn’t have too much work to do all night.
The result of the game was somewhat overshadowed by Rafael Navarro’s imminent departure. It was reported this week that the Brazilian striker was set to make a $12 million move to Western Conference rivals St. Louis City. There was nothing in the celebrations of the win that would signify anything other. The striker had tears in his eyes and was pushed to celebrate more with the fans, as Lucas Herrington had before his move to Hull City.
While Wells did not comment on the potential transfer, Navarro is expected to make the move sooner rather than later. This was most likely the Brazilian’s last home game with Colorado. What a way to go out, with a trophy in hand.
What Wells was more than happy to comment on was the potential new players to be announced in the next few weeks.
“If one more came in, I’d be disappointed,” he said. “Should be two. It needs to be in the front half of the pitch.”
Potential new Rapids striker Sayed Abu Farkhi was reported to be in attendance at this match via the MLS broadcast. He is expected to be announced sooner rather than later. Wells also alluded to another signing in the attack, most likely the winger that reports say the Rapids are pursuing. There should be some waves soon for the Rapids in this transfer window.
It may be a wildly different Rapids team, but the Rapids will travel East to take on the Columbus Crew in Columbus on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
