Every once in a while, history feels boring.
A scoreless draw between the Colorado Rapids and Los Angeles FC was just that. For the first time in club history, the Rapids did not lose at BMO Stadium on Wednesday night, finally nabbing a point in the team’s 10th-ever trip to face the Black and Gold.
Further, for arguably the first time in those 10 meetings, the Rapids were the aggressor from kickoff. LAFC, known for its pounce on the counterattack — particularly in this era at BMO with Denis Bouanga and South Korean legend Son Heung-Min — couldn’t get anything going for the majority of the game.
After the game, Son gave flowers to Rapids coach Matt Wells, the two old friends from their time at Tottenham
Wells said Son told him Colorado was the best team he’s played so far this season.
“I think it was another very high-level technical performance from us tonight,” Wells said. “Played with personality, played with courage just like we did against Miami (on Saturday). … We had a good process with the ball, we arrived a lot in the final third, but we probably lacked a bit of attacking sharpness and conviction.”
On the rare occasion LAFC got the ball, especially in the first half, it squandered the chance and bobbled it into obscurity. By halftime, it generated no shots and only had 23% possession to go with 0.00 expected goals.
Those numbers didn’t exactly flip on their head in the second half. The xG battle was even at 0.2 a piece in the end, but Colorado dominated possession (71.2% total) and threatened for a winner in the late stages.
Despite the result, in game 9 of the Wells project, the Rapids were as cohesive and effective in the game plan — minus the final scoring product — as they’ve been all year.
“I think we’re showing that we’re definitely a different team to what we’ve been in the past. Now it’s about layering on that final-third conviction — I don’t want us to lose our place as top goal-scorers in MLS, which I know we have now done,” Wells said. “We need to make sure we marry the control, the possession, the dominance with being devastating in the final third.”
Getting a result against a team at a stadium that has historically been Goliath requires a certain level of bravery at the individual level. Wednesday night, it came from a few unlikely sources.
In the 16th minute, winger Dante Sealy did his best Georgi Minoungou impression with a nifty one-on-one move down to the byline inside the box. Two stepovers and a quick one-two between his own two feet gave him enough space to set it up on his weaker right foot. He fired a cross, which deflected off an LAFC defender’s face and required quick reflexes from keeper Hugo Lloris to deny a fluke goal.
Six minutes later, Josh Atencio drove hard with the ball from midfield to the LAFC penalty box to set up the Rapids’ best chance of the night. Hardly a dribbler, Atencio’s action led the ball to Rafael Navarro’s feet. He danced with it, set it up on his weaker left foot and forced another swell save from Lloris at the far post.
Center back Rob Holding was the other source of courage, leaving his post in the back to also join the attack on a couple of occasions. Nothing came of his wandering, but it was an interesting, clearly intentional wrinkle.
“When we played through their press, we took the game by the scruff of the neck. Josh did that well and did it straight to the end of the game,” Holding said. “…Dante was great — stayed out wide, gave us width and then was dangerous coming in on his left foot. I liked the fact he didn’t dribble into dead ends today. I know some games I’ve gotten on him about that.”
Colorado, Holding especially, was proficient in stopping the LAFC counterattack before it happened by jumping into passing lanes right after giving the ball away. If they got through, the infamous offseason conditioning was on display, capped by a Jackson Travis dead sprint to stop a threatening chance late in the first half.
The Rapids will need that to come in handy over the next few weeks. After this Saturday’s match at Western-Conference-leading Vancouver, next week will be their third straight with multiple games. Then a four-game sprint before the World Cup break.
“It’s definitely paying its dues now, just how much we did in preseason,” Holding said. “It’s how we’ve trained since preseason as well. We do high meters, high distance, high speed running and everyone’s ready to step in when needed.”
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