ORLANDO, Fla. – For 70 minutes on Saturday, the Colorado Rapids looked a whole lot like the defensively stingy 2016 squad that finished second in the Supporters’ Shield race and advanced to the Western Conference Championship.
Then Orlando City’s Carlos Rivas came up with a “world-class strike,” and all the momentum was undone.
That was the frustration for head coach Pablo Mastroeni after his team’s 2-0 defeat at Orlando over the weekend, Colorado’s fourth straight loss in an agonizing April.
The Rapids appeared back to their defensive best for long stretches in Orlando, with their compact 4-2-3-1 lineup restricting the Lions – and their perfect home record – to just one notable strike on goal in the first hour.
The double substitution of Rivas and Kaká in the 60th minute changed all that, however, as the Colombian speedster fired home an unstoppable rocket of a shot in the 70th minute and the big-name Brazilian added a 91st minute tap-in.
“Them coming in really changes the game,” Mastroeni insisted. “The crowd got behind them and brought more energy to the group, and anytime you get beat on a world-class strike like that, you have to tip your hat.
“Unfortunately it comes at a difficult time for us as we’re still trying to find our form, but I thought our guys put out a fantastic effort and left everything on the field. When you can look back at a game and say, did they achieve the things we wanted and the answer is yes, and you still lose, well, that’s football.”
While Mastroeni was happy enough with the defensive side of the equation, he admitted the offensive effort remains a concern after the Rapids mustered just three total shots and nothing that seriously troubled Orlando ‘keeper Joe Bendik.
“We get into a lot of good areas and then it seems to fizzle out,” he observed. “We’re not brave enough in that last third engaging people, taking people on, looking for combinations. It’s going to be difficult.
“Scoring is risking losing the ball, making a hard run and not getting the ball. It’s a lot of selfless acts that have to take place in order to score. These are some of the things we will focus on. I think we need to be more direct, be more brave, and risk losing the ball in a tough spot to actually make a play and threaten the goal.”
There was also one other element missing from the 2017 team that was often present last year.
“We just need a bit of fortune,” Mastroeni said. “It sounds crazy and it’s kind of hard to say that, but it really is.
“Last year in pivotal times we had a bit of fortune that changed momentum and the belief system and gave the guys some pep in their step. That’s all we’re looking for is that moment, and we have to be catalysts in discovering that moment, it’s not just going to happen. We have to be a bit more brave and so we’ll get back to work and see how we go.”
