COMMERCE CITY, Colo. ā Alan Gordon has been a late-game hero for the Colorado Rapids, but he wouldnāt be able to do it without a lot of help from teammate Mohammed Saeid.
Saeidās cross found Gordon in the Rapidsā 2-1 win over the Portland Timbers on Saturday night, showing the signs to the positive that the attacking pair is starting to develop on-field chemistry.
āMe and Saeid, weāre like twins,ā Gordon cracked to reporters following the win. āVery odd, adopted twins. We jell really nice together. Weāve been playing well together the last week or so. Weāve got a great connection and for him to serve that ball in was fantastic.ā
Nearly three months into his Rapids tenure since joining Colorado via trade, Saeid is finally beginning to settle into his role as the engine to Coloradoās attack. Itās earned high praise from Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni.
āHeās done a really great job at connecting passes and helping us catch our breath with the ball,ā Mastroeni explained. āIn the right moment, heās able to play forward and change his pace, start the attack from deep positions, but really get higher up the field. He set Gordo up on that second goal and heās been a really instrumental player for our group. Heās just an all-around fantastic footballer.ā
Inserting Saeid centrally was a key adjustment to Coloradoās win, according to Mastroeni. After making the change in the second half, Colorado turned the tide of possession in its favor, and generated three of its five shots on target, including the two goals.
āPutting [Saeid] in the middle of the field gave us some more calm on the ball,ā explained Mastroeni. āPutting Mo in the middle and bringing Serna on I think was critical to our ability to possess and our shape behind the ball.ā
Saeid capped off a successful second half effort in which he completed more than 30 passes with the helper on Gordonās game winner. The goal shocked the Timbers, but for his part, Saeid wasnāt surprised.
āNot really,ā he said. āYouāve just got to put it in the right area.ā
But with a calm and soft-spoken demeanor, Saeid is never one to take all the credit following a win. His teammates are OK with that.
āHe did most of the work, Iāll take credit,ā Gordon joked. āWeāll keep going.ā