Jekyll and Hyde: The Inconsistent Colorado Rapids

Editorial – Chris Armas’ side have emerged as a good team at home, winning each of their last three matches at DICK’s Sporting Goods Park. However, as far as their away form goes, they’ve been absolutely atrocious.

Since opening the season with a draw at St. Louis, then wins in San Jose and Austin, Colorado have descended into complete mediocrity on the road. After losing to Vancouver and drawing to Houston in April, Colorado would proceed to lose at D.C., San Diego and Portland, before closing out June with a 3-3 draw in New England. They then lost 3-0 at LAFC, their third away match since the start of April where Colorado finished with 10 men, before prevailing with a 3-3 draw at Seattle Sounders and losing 3-1 in Philadelphia.

Colorado would bounce back from their Leagues Cup elimination by winning 3-1 in Minnesota on August 10 to claim their first away victory in 155 days, before following that up with a 3-1 home win against Atlanta. Colorado then proceeded to lose 3-0 and 4-2 at LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City, respectively, two of the worst teams in MLS, who have already been eliminated from the playoffs race. They managed to escape with a 2-1 home win against Houston thanks to an own goal in extra time, before traveling to Texas for Saturday’s match at FC Dallas, where once again, their away woes continued.

The hosts were on the front foot from the start and opened the scoring within a quarter-hour as Shaq Moore fired in a lofted pass for Logan Farrington to chase down and control on his chest, calmly squaring up his man before delivering an inch-perfect cross to the near post where Petar Musa headed home. However, Colorado would equalize immediately as Patrickson Delgado clumsily gave away possession and enabled Rafael Santos to deliver a tempting cross, which was deflected into the path of Calvin Harris, who took aim from outside the box and rolled his shot into the back of the net.

Dallas would restore their lead in the 36th minute; when Colorado batted away Delgado’s corner kick, Kaick recovered it and enabled Delgado another chance. This time, the Ecuadorian made no mistake with an inch-perfect cross for Christian Cappis to nod onto, with the ball skirting out of Zack Steffen’s hands and into the back of the net. Colorado would nearly level the scoring at the hour-mark as Paxten Aaronson twisted and turned into a golden shooting position, only to fire his shot squarely at the goalkeeper, allowing backup Jacob Jackson to punch clear.

They continued their pressure and came within inches of equalizing as Santos delivered an excellent cross into Rafael Navarro, who failed to make contact and allowed it to roll out for a goal kick. Dallas, for their part, should have made it 3-1 as Connor Ronan slipped and lost control of the ball, enabling Musa to burst forward and find himself on a two-man breakaway, only to somehow fail to find the back of the net.

Desperate to shore up the defense, Dallas manager Eric Quill went with a double substitution in the 76th minute, with Pedrinho and Lalas Abubakar replacing Delgado and Kaick. Dallas continued to mount on the pressure, coming within inches of adding another goal, and in the 80th minute, they finally got their just rewards. It came shortly after Darren Yapi found the back of the net for Colorado, only to be ruled offsides; Ramiro would tee up Pedrinho with a superb cross, who fired a low ball that ricocheted off captain Andreas Maxso for an own goal.

It is yet another impressive result for Dallas, who have won four of their last five home matches, drawing the other to LAFC, and who have avoided defeat in each of their last six matches. Dallas occupy the ninth and final playoff spot, sitting two points behind Colorado, one point above Houston, two behind San Jose, and three behind Real Salt Lake (it should be noted that Dallas and Salt Lake have a game in hand on the other sides). Whereas Dallas will travel to Portland this weekend, Colorado will host Minnesota United.

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