Rapids Break Road Woes

I'm going to be honest up front, I only had one eye on the Austin - Colorado game last night as most of my focus was on Patriots - Seahawks.  But I did watch it and did see a Rapids side who looked better on the road than they have since May, but still couldn't finish.

The first half was largely the Rapids controlling play and creating chances.  They scored first when a cross was centered to Yapi unmarked in the middle of the box.  He should have one-timed it but instead he tried to chest it down and by the time he took his second touch the Austin defense had clamped down on him.  However their clearance went right to Aaronson who did one-time it and a worm-burner of a shot went off the left post and in for the early lead.  Side note, seeing the Austin defender raise his hand for offside when he was standing between Yapi and the goal was fairly funny.  Maziz and Phillip also had shots on target int he half but generally they were at the keeper.

The second half tilted back to Austin.  They had the majority of play and opportunities in this half but Aaronson had a great look at goal with a curving shot that a laid out Stuver just managed to palm around the post.  Right after that the home team came down the field and managed to pull the Rapids defense out of position leaving Torres unmarked at the top of the box for a cross.  He put a looping header over Hansen to level the score.  Colorado overloaded their right side of the defense with both Cannon and Holding marking the same player (maybe Cannon was supposed to push out even wider to the wing?) and Navarro not moving over to the open space in the center.  After the goal both teams seemed to accept the draw in the last 10 minutes.

Once again our lack of attacking depth was a problem.  Minoungou and Harris were our only options on the bench and that's just not enough for this team.  Wells said there's some chance Farkhi and/or Whittaker could have their visas in time for Saturday's game and we really need them.  Hopefully that means the odds of having them in time for the USOC game next week is high.

Speaking of, Reggie Cannon got a yellow card last night when means he's suspended for Saturday's game due to yellow card accumulation.  That should make him well-rested for the semi-final.  Atencio had to come on for an injured Maziz in the first half.  Youssef walked out under his own power but was shaking his head like he knew something was wrong.  Not great.  Meanwhile Atencio picked up his 9th yellow card of the season, tied for 2nd in the league but Josh has played 500 minutes less than Segovia (9) and Durkin (10);.  Time to dial it back.

Also, Rafa had 2 goals in his first start for St. Louis last night, which is one more goal than the Rapids have scored since they traded him...

Man of the Match: Paxton Aaronson.  Apparently Matt Wells challenged him after the Columbus game to step up and be more involved and he responded last night with the best to chances the Rapids had.