The Colorado Rapids’ newest superpower is the bounce-back.
For the second time in just eight MLS games this season, the Rapids followed a bad loss with an outstanding home win over one of the best teams in the league. The victim of the rebound this time was the league’s newest franchise, San Diego FC, which lost 3-2 in its first trip to Colorado.
With the Rapids stuck in a rut trying to find consistent positive energy, and Kévin Cabral struggling to contribute to scoring, something had to change. And oh, did it.
Here are three takeaways from one of the most entertaining games of the Rapids’ season so far:
It’s Yapi hour somewhere
On paper, the most logical replacement for Cabral would have been Calvin Harris or Omir Fernández — two similar players at the same position who have contributed more to goal scoring off the bench than Cabral has as a starter. Even throw new Rapids winger Ted Ku-DiPietro, who made his debut after subbing into the match in the 84th minute, into that mix.
In reality, it was Darren Yapi who made the biggest impact, with a goal and an earned penalty in his first start of the season. Outside of the direct contributions to scoring, he brought a layer to the patented high press that was previously unseen this season. He added balance to Rafael Navarro island up front, and the two made life difficult for SDFC’s keeper and fullbacks.
“We thought we could maybe create some noise with the two strikers, help us be a little bit more vertical and energetic in our pressing. Yapi, I think, clearly helped in this,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “Oftentimes, Rafa is by himself in lots of moments, but Yapi took some pressure off. … Happy for Yapi for sure.”
Yapi has had moments in his career, like scoring his first MLS goal at the end of a 4-1 rout over St. Louis or a game-winning goal at the death against Toluca in last year’s Leagues Cup. But this was far and away Yapi’s most impressive all-around performance over the span of his 66 minutes.
Bold tactic allows Bassett to shine, play with comfort
Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic believes Cole Bassett can get a little bit too preoccupied thinking about goals and assists to actually score and provide them. With only one goal and zero assists coming into Saturday night, it has caused some visible frustration from Bassett that has at times spanned over multiple matches.
On Saturday, he played as free as he did hard, which if made consistent, can provide a valuable wrinkle to the Rapids on both sides of the ball. Defensively, he showed more intent in the press than he has all season and was a menace, particularly to whichever fullback to whom he was assigned.
On offense, a funky game plan placed him out wide, sometimes on either side of the field, but mostly was designed to create space around Bassett near the opposing box to generate offense.
It worked for basically the entire match, but was rewarded with Bassett’s first assist of the year in the 60th minute. The goal by Navarro put the Rapids up 3-1, but it turned out to be vital as SDFC brought it to within one in the 89th minute.
“It was better being higher up the pitch tonight. A lot of moments this year, I was kind of stuck in that double pivot, and I was so focused on dictating the game for the team and being the one to drive the team forward,” Bassett said. “I think I’m at my best when I’m around the goal and creating chances for teammates and for myself.
“The coaches harp that to me and we had a similar sort of conversation, and I did with (team president) Pádraig (Smith) as well, they were like, ‘You don’t have to score all the goals, you don’t have to put so much pressure on your shoulders every single week to be a 10 out of 10, just let the game find you and you’ll make things happen.’ So I was a lot happier.”
New (ar)rival?
Two good teams with contrasting styles. One brand new, the other an MLS original — the former snatching a player from the latter via the expansion draft.
Throw in a tight scoreline, some inconsistent officiating at times and a chock-full away fan section that stood up singing the entire night, and things were bound to get chippy.
It provided an extra layer of challenge for the Rapids already present by facing a new — and so far great — franchise trying to position itself in a competitive league. Colorado, along with the match itself, delivered.
Naturally, San Diego already has three in-state “rivals” built into its geography and the storied history of those three clubs. It has played two of them already — LAFC and LA Galaxy — and has won both. LAFC put up a strong case to be one of SDFC’s biggest rivals with a close finish (3-2) and a red card, but a battered Galaxy team took a beating.
With one exceptional game, San Diego and Colorado went from 2nd and 7th, respectively, in the Western Conference to tied for 3rd with 14 points each. Could this be a brewing out-of-state rivalry out west?
“I think so,” Armas pondered with a smirk. “It’s the way that game started and finished with energy and two, I’d say, contrasting styles. … We’re looking to play against teams that want to test our press, and they (passed) the test a lot of times, they beat our press. It’s a fun challenge.
“I saw a lot of their fans in the building, give them a lot of credit that they made the trip. That could be interesting, you know, maybe our fans make the trip when we go there.”
That opportunity will come in just a month, when Colorado travels to San Diego for a midweek game on Wednesday, May 14. In the meantime, the Rapids’ next game is an away match against the Houston Dynamo on April 19.
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