Since the Colorado Rapids made the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs just once between 2014-19, a cloud hung over the Western Conference club.
The dark skies have lifted, though, with Colorado snapping a three-year postseason skid after Wednesday’s 1-0 win at the Portland Timbers. Before seeding gets ironed out on Decision Day presented by AT&T – they’ll travel to face the Houston Dynamo on Sunday (6:30 pm ET | TV & streaming info) – head coach Robin Fraser was in a reflective mood, taking note of external expectations.
“I just think about the image of the Rapids for a while and as soon as I got here last year, I immediately had an affinity for the team and the players and the way they conducted themselves,” Fraser, who was hired in August 2019, said. “Certainly I have felt, and we as a club have felt, that this is a group that is a good group and can be a really good team. We feel like we're making strides. We're not where we want to be yet, but we're certainly making strides and I think getting into the playoffs is a bit of validation.”
Highlights: Portland Timbers 0, Colorado Rapids 1
That validation arrived through a Kellyn Acosta goal in the 83rd minute, the midfielder’s second of the year. He’s been with the club since a 2018 trade from FC Dallas and knows the significance of getting this monkey off their back.
“This is a big moment for us as players, for the fans, the organization,” Acosta said. “I mean, we haven't been in the playoffs since I think 2016, so to be back in the fold and back in there it's exciting times. But we still have one more game left to end the season and then go into playoffs. So right now we're just going to keep going, keep building, rest, recover and keep going.”
The broader context of Colorado’s 2020 season is worth highlighting, too. They started with two straight wins, then came the four-month pause on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. Upon returning at the MLS is Back Tournament, Colorado failed to advance from the group stage and proceed to go winless in seven games.
They then turned the corner by winning three of four during a September stretch, only for a COVID-19 outbreak to force another month-long pause. After a slow return, they’ve now won back-to-back games over two of the West’s top teams in Portland and Seattle to clinch a playoff berth that Fraser dubbed “rewarding.”
“I think it speaks to the character of the team,” Fraser said. “Certainly coming off the break that we had and all the conditions that surrounded it, it was always going to be difficult to get ourselves up to speed quickly and really tremendous credit to the team for doing everything they needed to and fighting through some tough games to find their form again. I think it's a group that will continue to fight for each other and it's really a fun team to be a part of.”
Now, the Rapids hope to keep climbing and prove that they’re not just a playoff team but one that can do some damage.
“The stop-go, stop-go is not easy to say the least,” Acosta said. “But a credit to the guys, we just buckle down, work hard in each and every training and I think as the games went on we've been building and growing as a team, and it showed with the last two results."
