COMMERCE CITY, Colo. ā In dramatic fashion, the Colorado Rapids saw their home undefeated streak not just evaporate, but transform into the teamās first home loss of 2017, falling 2-1 to rivals Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
āWe did enough tonight to win the game, we just werenāt clinical enough tonight in front of goal and we conceded two terrible goals,ā Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said postgame.
On the back of Kevin Doyleās 29th minute goal, the Rapids carried a 1-0 lead into the gameās final moments. Then a handball from Jared Watts led to a Yura Movsisyan equalizer for RSL, which the Cobalt and Claret followed up with Brooks Lennonās 88th minute game winner.
āItās an emotional game. We left it for too late,ā Mastroeni continued. āI think itās everything. You canāt put a finger on it. Nothing happens in isolation. Thereās 22 human beings with three referees that are throwing emotions into this little ball and itās moving around the field. Itās crazy. It is a game of emotion and thatās why two goals were conceded in the last five minutes.ā
With Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard suspended for three matches following an altercation with a fan last week in Kansas City, Zac MacMath was called on to make his second start for the Rapids this season. Prior to the goals from RSL, the 25-year-old found himself relatively untested. But Mastroeni maintained a positive outlook regarding MacMathās performance.
āI thought it was pretty good,ā said Mastroeni. āHe didnāt have much to do, to be honest with you until the latter part of the game. His distribution was pretty good and he created some good attacking options for us. Again, it was a night of two silly decisions on our part and some poor defending in our area which sealed our fate.ā
Despite the late announcement of Howardās suspension on Friday, it didnāt throw a curveball in Salt Lakeās preparations for the rivalry match.
āNo, it didnāt [change preparation],ā explained Movsisyan. ā...Honestly it didnāt change anything. Tim is a great goalkeeper but at the end of the day, heās a goalkeeper so thereās not much he does on the field. For us, it was more about ourselves.ā
With the loss, Colorado saw its winless streak extended to four-straight. Mastroeni gave a blunt assessment of the current state of affairs at Dickās Sporting Goods Park.
āI feel like dog poop,ā he said. āI feel terrible.ā