The Dick Continues To Be A House Of Horrors For LAFC

We should have seen that coming.  LAFC always struggles in Colorado and yet the 3-2 win still feels like a surprise.  Mainly the 3 goals for a team that only had 5 all season coming in!  The Rapids still struggled for long-stretched of the game, but the 20-25 minutes they were on they were really on.  This was the debut we really needed from Mihailović, Navarro got an assist, and even Cabral showed some drive during this game.  While there's work still to do a win like this can be the jump-start a team needs to get going.  The key is not to waste it over the next 3 weeks.

Random Thoughts:

• In their expansion year LAFC came here and beat us 3-0 in 2018. Since then they've been outscored 11-4 over 5 games with 4 losses and a scoreless draw.  They really don't like Colorado.
• This was the Rapids first comeback from being in a losing position when going up a man to win since the CCL match against Comunicaciones at the beginning of 2022.
• Speaking of coming from behind, we're seeing a very positive change in the team this season.  They don't give up after going down.  Even in Portland, down 4-0 after half, they were still fighting.  In this one they were down 1-0 and 2-1 and came back both times.  They now have earned 7 points after being down this season.  That equals their total for all of last season.
• Neither of LA's goals were particularly good defense.  They were both hit really well but on the first Cabral just let his man go by while he turned away.  On the second the LAFC attacker dribbled through two defenders and curved it around a third before a fourth could get there.  They should have both been stopped before the shot even was taken.
• Great work from Moise Bombito in this one.  Before Mihailović hit the game winner I was trying to decide if his good defensive work and a goal was better than Mihailović's goal and assist for man of the match.  He's also quickly becoming a fan favorite with his interaction with C38.
• I wonder if his defensive blunder is what made Cabral so engaged for the rest of the match.  He had some solid defensive work, including a long cross-field run to chase down a LAFC player, tackle the ball away, and start the counter-attack.  That all happened right after Bombito's goal a 5 minute period where for the first time we really saw the "play in transition" and pressing mentality we've been told to look for from this team.
• Navarro continues to do the little things well, and set up the final goal.  But we need more than that to justify buying him.
• Kimani Stewart-Baynes had great vision and unselfishness on that Navarro cross.  Many (most?) strikers would have thought goal first given the time he had, but he saw how unmarked Mihailović was and knew that laying it off was the better move.
• Before that the rest of the first-half was pretty blech.  Much like we've seen during the rest of the season.  Then that continued into the first half of the second half.  It wasn't really until shortly before the second LAFC goal that it felt like the Rapids we're starting to command the game.  Which is why that goal felt like another gut punch and points lost.
• After that goal though it was all Rapids, especially when LAFC went down a man.  Again, credit to the team for not giving up and pushing their advantage.
• Next up is a tough test against the Inter Messi's, even if I suspect Messi won't be playing.  Once we get past the longest road trip we have its an easier road trip to San Jose and a home game against Dallas, two games we should expect to take points out of.

Man of the Match: Djordje Mihailović.  Two goals and an assist?  That's an easy call.  I don't expect 3 goal involvements every week, but it was a needed break out for him.