ReportWire

Tag: chris armas

  • Rapids’ season ends on last-minute equalizer by LAFC

    Holding a lead with less than five minutes to go, the Colorado Rapids had the playoffs in their hands late Saturday night.

    A few minutes later, their season was over — done in by an awkward bounce and rebound that allowed red-hot LAFC to equalize in the 90th minute and dash the Rapids’ hopes of qualifying for the wild card round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

    With Real Salt Lake choking away a lead of its own against St. Louis, Colorado would have sealed the No. 9 seed in the west had it held on at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

    Instead, the 2-all draw kept the Rapids (11-15-8) out of the postseason for the third time in four years and sent them into an offseason filled with uncertainty.

    “(It’s) pretty much just the highest highs and the lowest lows,” said forward Darren Yapi, whose 87th-minute header put the Rapids ahead, 2-1. “Scoring that goal, I felt like we were through (to the playoffs) and that we were good, and then, you know, they responded. I can’t even process it right now.”

    LAFC substitute Andrew Moran tied the game up in the 90th minute after a shot ricocheted off the post straight to his boot. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring with a rocket in the first half, then Paxten Aaronson opened his Rapids account to equalize in the 62nd minute.

    No team has found a solution to Son and Denis Bouanga’s reign of terror since the South Korean icon’s arrival for a league-record transfer fee 10 games ago. But to the Rapids’ credit, both were relatively neutralized aside from Son’s stunner. They’ve done that to plenty of striking powers, especially at DSGP, but it didn’t protect them from the final few minutes, when the mood of the team swung as much as it possibly could have.

    That’s been a theme of the 2025 Rapids. Coach Chris Armas and numerous players preached their rule of thumb that mentally, they don’t get too high or too low. According to Cole Bassett, that gets difficult when it seems like peaks and valleys are all that exist.

    “It hits a little bit more once the season is over and you know you’re probably not playing a game for three months. That’s tough for all of us to process, and we didn’t want to go out this way,” Bassett said. “I think throughout the season, you definitely need to stay even-keeled, but there’s definitely things we can work on from what (Armas) has said throughout the year, because maybe we did get too high or too low in moments and that cost us games.”

    Another core principle of this season has been uncertainty and turbulence, which is now carrying through to the offseason.

    Just this summer, Chidozie Awaziem requested a transfer to France for personal reasons, then the club’s talisman, Djordje Mihailovic, demanded a trade to Toronto near the end of the window. Replacements came in for both, but their efficacy in those roles is still to be determined with just a few games under their belt.

    Braidon Nourse

    Source link

  • Rapids to face rival Real Salt Lake with playoff hopes, trophy front and center

    Confidence isn’t exactly surging in Commerce City.

    Entering the final two-game stretch of the MLS regular season, the Colorado Rapids are looking over their shoulder as they hit the straightaway of a marathon that began back in February.

    Closing in behind them is Real Salt Lake, which hosts the Rapids at 7:30 p.m. Saturday for the Rocky Mountain Cup finale in Sandy, Utah. Two weeks later, the Rapids close the season at home against the league’s current best attacking duo in Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min, who have scored LAFC’s last 18 goals in the eight games since Son joined the club.

    RSL, currently just three points back from the Rapids in 11th place in the Western Conference, has two things going for it: Momentum with a 3-1 win over sixth-place Austin last Saturday, and a knack for burying the Rapids at America First Field. Not to mention Colorado’s dismal road form as of late.

    A positive: The Rapids have beaten RSL this year already. That was back in May, when Djordje Mihailovic struck in the 70th minute for the game’s only tally. They had also been on a bad run of form away from home leading up to that match, going 0-3-1 in their previous four games.

    A little extra motivation: The Rapids could walk away with their second straight Rocky Mountain Cup with a win, draw or one-goal loss. The trophy, however inconsequential in the big picture, is taken seriously by the club.

    “It’s a two-for-one. I mean, it’s got all the reasons to win the game. The Rocky Mountain Cup is for our fans, so for us it’s one of the most important things,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “Every time there’s a trophy on the line, we want to be playing for that and put ourselves in that spot. You win that game, it puts you three points closer to the playoffs, gets us the Rocky Mountain Cup. It’s 100 out of 100 important to make the playoffs; same time, lifting that trophy would be huge for our fans.”

    The Rapids looked good post-Leagues Cup after Mihailovic forced his way out of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in August, nabbing three points on the road against a top-3 Western Conference team in Minnesota United. Since then, they’ve collected seven points in six games, a stretch that could have yielded at least 10 points, and arguably more.

    That said, the Rapids do still have an ounce of control left in regard to securing an MLS playoff spot, mostly thanks to the West’s middle of the pack cannibalizing itself week after week. Mathematically, Colorado gets in with two wins.

    But when asked if the Rapids are up for that sort of mental challenge, goalkeeper Zack Steffen didn’t offer much certainty.

    “I have no idea. We’ll see come Saturday,” Steffen said after training on Tuesday. “All we can do is push every day in training, and when the game comes, give it our best.”

    Braidon Nourse

    Source link

  • Pádraig Smith on Rafael Navarro signing with Rapids through 2027: “This kid’s the full package”

    Pádraig Smith on Rafael Navarro signing with Rapids through 2027: “This kid’s the full package”

    The way the Colorado Rapids celebrated last Saturday after Rafael Navarro scored his 11th goal of the season said it all.

    The one-touch laser to the far post in second-half stoppage time of a 4-1 win over CF Montréal garnered wide smiles — even wider than the one usually on Navarro’s face — and a group hug.

    In the back of their minds, his teammates and coach Chris Armas knew a permanent signing was on the horizon. Wednesday, pen was put to paper, and Navarro will remain in burgundy through 2027 with an option for 2028.

    “That (celebration) spoke volumes to how he’s liked in the locker room,” Rapids president Pádraig Smith told The Denver Post.

    Navarro has 11 goals in 20 games this season, good for sixth in the MLS this year. His loan period was set to conclude at the end of the month. Now, the 24-year old Brazilian will stay in Commerce City for years to come.

    “I’m very happy to be here,” Navarro told media members after Friday’s training through his translator and Rapids language specialist Andre Hilf. “All three of (Hilf, Armas and Smith) were fundamental for me and for my performance. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be in this situation and wouldn’t be performing the way I’m performing.”

    Like much of the team last season, Navarro got into dangerous spots but only had one goal to show for it through 10 games. But what the organization saw was a goal-dangerous forward who was willing and able to defend, no matter the lows the team saw in its results.

    With a revamped team around him and a coach in Armas who centers game plans around players like Navarro, goal-dangerous turned into goal-scoring in 2024. At one point, he scored in five straight games, one game shy of the franchise record.

    “With Armas’ arrival, the style of play changed a lot and helped me very much,” Navarro said. “The coaching staff has been very supportive of me and has a lot of trust in me. They’ve told me what to do, what’s expected of me, playing inside and outside the box, so that has helped me a lot. I’m very grateful for it.”

    At his position, Navarro is one of the best defenders in the league this year, too.

    According to FBref, he is among the top 20% in a number of defensive metrics. It’s always been a part of Navarro’s game, but it has flourished in the MLS.

    “Back in Brazil, (Palmeiras coach) Abel Ferreira also practiced this style of play, so it helped when I came here and played this style,” Navarro said. “If I’m not scoring goals, I can help the team in other ways, whether it’s defending or anything else, I have to help the team. That’s the way it has to be.”

    For Smith, the decision to pursue a permanent deal wasn’t made the night Navarro scored his 11th, though. It wasn’t when he scored in five games straight.

    Thoughts of keeping him came much earlier. As the deadline came closer, it was only a matter of when, not if, the signing would take place.

    Braidon Nourse

    Source link

  • Rapids working on “taking care of both boxes,” see weaknesses in Austin defense

    Rapids working on “taking care of both boxes,” see weaknesses in Austin defense

    The Colorado Rapids attacked their off-week by not attacking anything.

    Winger Omir Fernández went home to New York to see his family. Coach Chris Armas, when he wasn’t watching soccer, spent time with his dog.

    Returning to training this week after a week away, both of their tanks are full. With the rejuvenated energy, the week of training leading up to Saturday’s home match against Austin FC will be dedicated to righting the wrongs that led to a four-game winless streak heading into the international break.

    The main focus: Shoring up play in the penalty box on both ends of the field. Those moments led to some disappointing results at the end of May and into June, but Armas says it’s just part of the process of improving as a team.

    “We are becoming the team we want to become. We make young mistakes, but we are a young team,” Armas said. “When I look at it, taking care of both boxes (is important). We think we’re pretty stingy in many ways defensively. Can we get a little more urgent around our own box, stepping into plays and putting out little fires? And then (offensively), can we get a little more ruthless, make an extra pass to score more goals?

    “We’re going to get there. We have a good group.”

    Those sorts of issues have become a killer for the Rapids, whether it’s a matter of execution or just misfortune. Take the most recent game against Vancouver, when the difference between a win and a loss was a curling shot from Fernández that hit the post and went out with the game tied in the 85th minute.

    Six minutes later, Vancouver won the game when Keegan Rosenberry and Sam Vines were a split second late to push the offside line up, keeping Damir Kreilach onside for the game-winner.

    For Fernández, some struggles can be traced to earlier moments in possession that can make or break an attack: the first touch, whether on a long ball or key pass. Either way, he said, it’s just another one of the little actions the Rapids have to perfect in order to swing momentum in their favor moving forward.

    “As much as it doesn’t seem like it in a game, it’s our first touch that can kill or create attacks and that’s one of the small things we’re harping on,” Fernández said. “Small details, at the end of the day, cost us or give us goals and if we get better each game, we’re going to concede less and score more.”

    There’s no better opportunity than a home match after a two-week break, which might mean a little bit more given Austin will likely feature two former Rapids in Gyasi Zardes and Diego Rubio.

    Austin sits two spots and one point ahead of the Rapids in the Western Conference at the halfway point of the season. A win at home against another team jockeying for a middle position in the playoff race would be huge, particularly for a struggling Rapids team.

    Braidon Nourse

    Source link