Talk about going from pleasure to pain.
The Colorado Rapids had a much-needed – possibly season-saving – victory in their hands Saturday night against the San Jose Earthquakes at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park after an 84th-minute goal by Gabriel Torres put them ahead 1-0. But in a flash, they left the field disappointed yet again after allowing an Atiba Harris equalizer at the death in a 1-1 draw. Only this time it might have cost them a shot at the MLS Cup Playoffs with a winless streak that is now at a franchise-record-tying 10 games.
"Probably one of the most difficult results that I’ve experienced," Mastroeni told the media after the game. "We’re sitting right there. ... For all the great things we did, that ended up costing us the win."
The three points slipped through their fingers when San Jose’s newly-signed Designated Player Matias Perez Garcia – making his first start in six games following knee surgery – brought down a free kick and delivered a nifty side-footed pass to Atiba Harris, who slammed home to deliver a serious blow to the Rapids' postseason hopes.
Colorado remain in seventh place in the Western Conference with 32 points from 30 games, leaving them eight out of the fifth and final playoff spot with four games left to play.
"They laid it all out,” Mastroeni said. “If not for a good finish in injury time, we would have come away with a performance where the piano would be off our back and we'd be really excited about the training this next week. Now the reality is, it's a cruel game at times, and has been for us for a while."
Cruel indeed, considering the Rapids nearly turned in a performance that would have undoubtedly been deemed successful. After a sluggish start, Colorado rocked to their front foot in the second half and had numerous scoring chances through Deshorn Brown, Torres and second-half substitute Vicente Sanchez. They finally found pay dirt when Chris Klute found Torres on a perfectly timed cross for a first-time finish.
- Get the latest Rapids news at ColoradoRapids.com
And for the nearly 10 minutes prior to the Harris goal, they appeared poised to salt away the victory with goalkeeper Joe Nasco playing well in his fourth start of the season.
"We need to take our points at home, and we needed this win tonight," Nasco said. "But I think we can definitely build on the tie. ... I don't think they really had, besides in the first half they had a couple chances, but once we settled into the game I don't think they had much going in the second half and I think we controlled a lot of the tempo. We can definitely build on that, for sure."
Colorado haven’t come away with full points since a 3-0 victory over Chivas USA on July 25, a win that put them in third place in the West. And with eight losses in their current skid, the Rapids season hangs by a thread.
"At this point it’s about staying positive and keep working and keep challenging yourself, challenging your teammate and working together as a group, staying together and continue on what we started in the beginning of the year," Mastroeni said. "Tonight was a very solid performance, I think there was a lot of great moments out there. We played well, got in and created a lot of great opportunities and capitalized on a really nice goal. They have a lot of be proud of in that locker room."
