Merry Christmas Colorado!

The team playing a guy named Klaus (h/t to Lino for that joke) decided to gift some goals to the Rapids and Djordje was more than happy to accept.  3 glaring defensive mistakes, 3 goals.  Make no mistake I'm not discounting what the team did yesterday by calling them gifts.  We've seen Colorado struggle in the past to take gifts when given them.  Last night this team kept its foot on the pedal and forced St. Louis into tough defensive positions where they cracked.  That said, I have seen harder hat-tricks scored. :D

Not only did Mihailovic get a hat-trip, it was the so-called "natural" hat-trick, scored with his right foot, his left foot, and his head.  Kei Kamara did that for the Rapids in 2019, the only other one in Colorado's history.  The three goals puts him at 8 for the season and on a path along with Navarro to hit double-digit goals this season.  Two players with 10+ goals only happened a handful of times in team history, most recently with Kamara and Rubio in 2019 (and before that it was C+C Goal Factory in 2010).  Bassett has a outside shot to get there as well, and having 3 double-digit scorers hasn't happened since the early 2000's (both times involving Mark Chung).

It wasn't all great last night though.  The defense pitched a shutout for the second time in 4 days but St. Louis helped with some poor shooting.  Unlike Austin on Saturday they were able to get into dangerous positions but they could not convert.  None was more dangerous than the PK they got, but managed to put off the crossbar.  Once again Lalas took a ball off an outstretched arm but unlike Saturday this one was called.  In both cases he was "unlucky" to have the ball hit his arm like that but he's responsible for where his arms are.  Most handball calls are "unlucky" like that.  He has to be smarter about keeping his arms tucked in.

With the win the Rapids sit on 28 points, one more than they had in all of 2023.  They're currently 5th in the West and have a 6 point buffer on the teams chasing for a playoff spot.  They'll go for a 9 point week back at home on Saturday night against Montreal.

BTW I wrote most of this while watching Moise Bombito and Canada play Argentina in the start of the Copa America.  Bombito had an up and down game, did some good things but was also partially responsible for both Argentina goals.   He also tried to take Messi's ankle out (not intentionally).

Man of the Match:  Djordje Mihailovic, obviously.