Bankrobber

The Rapids executed a textbook smash and grab Saturday night, scoring the only goal of the game in the 89th minute and heading right out of town with the 3 points.  Up until that point it had been a pretty quiet game, the teams combined for 1 shot on goal in the first half, with 4 in the second half before Colorado scored.  The Rapids had 1 corner, San Jose had 0.  Mainly it was a midfield battle with nobody getting comfortable and it seemed destined for a 0-0 draw before the one moment Colorado needed.

Random Thoughts:

• Due to callups and unexpected injuries to Rubio, Trusty, and Kelly, the Rapids only had 6 players on their bench.  They would use all 5 field players as subs leaving just Clint Irwin as an unused sub.
• The second minute foul bey Abubakar on Ebobisse was bad.  A different ref or VAR and that could have been red.  Lalas was obviously going to put in a physical challenge on a ball he had no chance of playing to send a message.  The problem is when you do that you risk more than just a physical challenge, and that's what happened.  A head to head blow knocked both players out through concussion protocol, particularly bad for Ebobisse who has a history with concussions.
• That said, no, i don't think Lalas was head hunting.  He wouldn't have led with his own head in that case.  He was just going to "send a message" to Ebobisse and timed even that poorly.  I wouldn't be shocked to find out the DisCo has suspended Lalas for a match this week, nor would I disagree with it (I also wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's out next week due to concussion protocol anyway).  Certainly there's no grounds for the multi-game suspension some San Jose fans are calling for.
• That double concussion sub allowed for an unusually high 11 subs in 10 windows combined between the teams.  An example of the new concussion rules MLS is testing for FIFA, under which a team gets an extra sub/sub window to sub out a player with a concussion, and their opponent also gets an extra sub/sub window to even it out.  Since each team had a concussed player, each team got 2 extra subs/sub windows.
• Drew Moor played as many minutes in this game as he's played in the rest of the season combined.  I figured when he came in so early his season streaks of only playing in wins and never giving up a goal when he was on the field were at risk, but they're both still intact!
• Credit to Fraser for his subs.  He was clearly playing for the win and got it.  You don't take off a defensive midfielder (Warner) and replace him with an attacking midfielder (Mezquida) in the 72nd minute if you're happy with a 0-0 draw.
• 3 subs (Lewis, Mezquida, Badji) combined for the winning goal.
• Price's yellow card means he's suspended for Saturday's game against LA.
• Cole Bassett is cursed, he must be.  He hit the post for the 4th(?) game in a row.
• The Bodmer Line is almost 0.  We need 1 more win (or 3 draws) in the last 13 games to get to the playoff line
• With the win the Rapids go to the top of the West on PPG, and are 1 point behind Seattle for the top spot (with a game in hand).  New England still leads the league but we control our own destiny.  Match New England win for win, win our 3 games in hand, and beat them head-to-head in October and we finish ahead of them.

Man of the Match: Dominique Badji.  I mean, this is easy.  Gotta go with the late game-winner.