Rapids Start With A Win, But Is It Enough?

Ok, I think I've finally warmed up enough to write this.  Colorado didn't set its record last night, with official temperature recorded at kickoff as 6 degrees (the record is 3 against both Portland in 2018 and Comunicaciones).  A record that was apparently broken tonight with the report being the temperature was 2 degrees for kickoff between SKC and Miami.  Regardless it was cold.  For the first time at one of the Rapids Snow Clasicos/Frozen Taps games I had to tap out and go into Eighteen36 for 20 minutes.

The biggest surprise in the lineup was seeing both Awaziem and Murphy starting.  Turns out Maxso has a lower body injury.  Vines, as expected, was also held out and Ronan picked up a knock in training on Monday.  So it was a very young bench, even without Atencio who didn't dress for this one.

The first half was ugly soccer and both teams looked like they just wanted to get through the 90 minutes and decide the series in LA.  Unlike my prediction LAFC was actually willing to concede possession and let the Rapids push the play.  That didn't work for either team really though.  I think there were 3 shots on goal the whole half, none were really close to being dangerous.

Luckily the second half was worth watching.  Colorado used their possession advantage to draw a PK with a nice through ball to Cabral that he got tripped up on.  The center ref (who I found out later also had the poor fortune to draw the epically cold World Cup Qualifier in Minneapolis) somehow thought it was a dive and gave Kevin a card, but the AR called him over and sorted it out.  Djordje beat Lloris from the spot and the Rapids had the lead I expected.

Shortly after they they had a chance to double it and somehow could get the ball into an open net.  A combination of the cold causing the ball to bounce oddly and early season rustiness caused them to miss the opportunity as Navarro took the ball off of Fernandez's foot and hit a weak shot that Lloris scrambled back to cover.  Lloris would eventually be beat though from a gorgeous free kick thanks again to Mihailovic.  It could be the goal of the tournament, even in 70 degree weather that wasn't going to be stopped.

At 2-0 the vibes were feeling pretty good but sadly it couldn't last.  Long got behind the defense on a corner and redirected the ball far post past Steffen for the away goal.  Unfortunately after that Reggie Cannon went down with what seemed like a fairly serious injury based on his screaming reaction on the field.  He did manage to walk back to the locker room though and post-match Armas said it wasn't serious so hopefully he's not out long-term.

The other event of note in the second half is that Sam Bassett subbed on, giving us our first look at the Bassett & Bassett midfield.  Its of course hard to judge anything about the play given the conditions last night but it was fun to see.

Going into LA next week with a (as predicted ;) ) 2-1 lead is a better place to be than a draw or a loss, but the away goal does hurt.  A 1-0 loss means LAFC goes through and its not like we score a whole lot there.  Getting just 1 though tips the balance back to Colorado so we need to be hunting that goal and not just settling in to defend the lead.

Man of the Match:  Djordje Mihailovic.  Obviously.