Wednesday night’s 1-0 road defeat to the Seattle Sounders was the first loss away from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the Colorado Rapids this season, making it a hard result to swallow. But the Rapids had some extenuating circumstances.
A stomach bug reared its ugly head in pregame for rookie centerback Axel Sjoberg, prompting a last minute scratch in favor of second-year player Jared Watts. That change wound up impacting the result as a failed clearance from Watts in the 16th minute landed to the feet of Seattle's Marco Pappa, who tucked it upper 90 past goalkeeper Clint Irwin for the Sounders' lone goal.
“That’s not an excuse,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni said of the late lineup change. “I think everyone understands their roles and responsibilities at every position, whether it’s a scratch before the game or a sub at halftime. Collectively, in the first half, we were a bit naïve and a bit overwhelmed.”
Another notable lineup change for Colorado came in the form of the first-ever start for Rapids Designated Player Kevin Doyle, who operated in a deeper lying playmaking role behind striker Luis Solignac.
“When you’re away from home you want to help out in the midfield as much as possible,” Doyle explained. “Away from home, against a good Seattle team, you’re playing slightly different than if you were the home team. It’s slightly more defensive when you’re away from home. Our game plan was to keep it as tight as possible.”
Doyle and Solignac both got decent looks on goal, but the Rapids’ attack largely struggled against a Seattle side which held onto over 76 percent of the first half possession, outshooting Colorado 6-1.
Down a goal at the half, the Rapids' priorities changed. Aided by the halftime substitution of Juan Ramirez, Colorado bounced back to produce nine shots on goal out of the team’s 10 total attempts for the game.
“I think it was a game of two halves. The mentality was almost too respectful in the first half. The second half was much brighter, the thought to go forward was more aggressive,” Mastroeni said. “The guys were much more positive with their passing. They created some good exchanges higher up the field. Guys took it upon themselves to take responsibility for every pass and attack the game the right way.”
Colorado were able to make an attacking push in the final moments of an additional four minutes of stoppage time, but the visitors failed to find the equalizer.
“It's nice, obviously, to start, but we want to win the game or draw the game and we didn’t. So we don’t enjoy it when that’s the case,” Doyle said. “We got a good win [against Vancouver] and it would’ve been nice to get something [at Seattle]. We’re trying to get that train away, but it was not to be. We’ll turn around and go again Saturday [vs. Portland at 9 pm ET on MLS LIVE] to try to get that win at home.”
“My expectations are high,” Mastroeni added. “We may be a small-market team, but we are a big-market mentality. We want to win every game.”
Marco Cummings covers the Colorado Rapids for MLSsoccer.com.
