Game Recap: Colorado Rapids leave MLS is Back Tournament with one point after a 2-2 draw against MNUFC

The Colorado Rapids are out of the MLS is Back Tournament after losing their first two games and tying Minnesota United FC in their third.

MNUFC tested William Yarbrough early, as the Loons took advantage of a disorganized Colorado side. Both teams earned a couple of set pieces and had some good looks, but it wasn’t until the 19th minute that a goal made it to the back of the net.

It was a beauty of a play: Nicolas Benezet brought the ball up and Diego Rubio floated out wide, drawing the defenders out with him. Kei Kamara ran up the opposite side all alone and scored his 128th career goal and the club’s 1000th MLS goal.

From there, things were going well and the Rapids looked good. There were a handful of players that started to stand out as having a pretty great game: Rubio, Benezet, and Younes Namli, to name a few.

In the 36th minute, Hassani Dotson tried to dribble between Keegan Rosenberry and Collen Warner and went down, earning a free kick wide and just outside the 18. Jan Gregus sent a ball into the box and Ethan Finlay toe-poked it past Yarbrough to tie the game at 1-1.

Less than 10 minutes later, Finlay scored again on cross—as he was falling to the ground—and put MNUFC up 2-1 going into halftime.

There were no subs from either side at the half, but in the 55th minute, Jonathan Lewis and Nicolas Mezquida came in for Benezet and Warner. Not even in the game for five minutes, Mezquida takes a free kick and Lewis gets on the end of a rebound to blast a half-volley into the back of the net. It marked the winger’s third goal in less than 45 minutes of play for the 2020 season.

Braian Galvan made his MLS debut in the first minute of stoppage time.

The scoreline stuck and Colorado will leave the tournament with a single point. Rapids Head Coach Robin Fraser used four of the possible five subs tonight and while they didn’t get all three points, it was a considerably better and more or less consistent effort than we have seen in previous games. You could argue that Minnesota got fairly lucky on their goals and Diego Rubio should’ve added at least one more for the Burgundy Boys.