The Colorado Rapids lost their second-straight match, this time on the road, falling to the San Jose Earthquakes, 3-1. The Quakes took a 2-0 lead into halftime on an own goal by Lalas Abubakar (2’) and another from Vako (34’). Shea Salinas added a third goal for the hosts in the 83rd minute, but Diego Rubio scored for Colorado five minutes later to avoid the shutout.
Here are three takeaways from Colorado’s 3-1 loss to San Jose:
Coffee Talk
Saturday’s match was arguably one of the worst outings for Rapids defender Keegan Rosenberry while wearing Burgundy. Rosenberry was caught narrow on the Quake’s second goal, unable to deal with an Allen Iverson-type crossover by Vako and was simply outpaced and out-dribbled by Shea Salinas on San Jose’s third goal.
To his credit, Rosenberry raised his hand and took his fair share of responsibility postgame.
“Credit to them, they were good individual efforts,” Rosenberry said of the goals by Vako and Salinas. “I certainly held my hand up on both, I think I can do better just staying on my feet and not overcommitting on shot fakes and what not. I think that any of us would say that before we give credit to an attack like that. I felt like we limited them to only a certain number of good chances and they took them on the day.”
Conor Casey has never been one to throw players under the bus in his public comments, but was unhappy with the Rapids’ defensive performance.
“Well we gave up three goals, so not good,” said Casey. “Plain and simple. Can’t get scored on away 2-0 and expect to still be able to get something out against a team like this.”
Ill-fated Irwin
It’s been hard times for the former Rapids No. 1 choice goalkeeper as Clint Irwin’s last win as a starting goalkeeper came back in March of 2018, a 3-1 win over RSL as a member of TFC.
Saturday marked Irwin’s second start since his return to Colorado this season, his first coming in a 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union. With Tim Howard out with a strained right calf, Irwin earned another shot at the starting job in Colorado, if only briefly.
On Saturday against San Jose, Irwin faced 17 shots (4 on target), making two saves. He arguably did more work in just a half of play last week against NYCFC, making five saves against six on-target efforts. But Irwin was largely in no man’s land against a constant barrage of San Jose counterattacks.
“He was good,” Casey said of Irwin’s performance. “I thought he was solid. Made some saves for us. He was good in distribution. You get scored on three goals, obviously you’re not going to be pleased, but I thought it was good.”
The loss doesn’t fall on Irwin, who was scored with an own goal, and two possible goal of the week candidates, but instead, continued bad luck for the 30-year-old.
Has momentum run out?
As the Rapids earned their first win under interim head coach Conor Casey and continued to rack up points, it looked as though the team might have miraculously pulled itself from the doldrums and gained a fighting chance at one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference.
But momentum has slowed once again with Colorado having earned just two points during a current four-game winless streak. The two-goal deficit (nearly three, if not for Rubio’s late goal) marked the worst loss so far of the Casey era.
With a solid body of work to now go off of, it now begs the question as to whether or not the Rapids have finally been figured out league-wide. San Jose head coach Matias Almeyda seemed to have good insight and a plan going into this match.
“We knew were facing a difficult opponent,” said Almeyda. “We found out that the match could be played how it was. By fortune and a great game, we were able to take the advantage through combinations and control. From there, the match became different. By controlling the match, being alert on counter attacks, they [Colorado Rapids] can do damage in their aerial play, but we had that under control.”
Once again firmly at the bottom of the West, it will take another strong, if not unprecedented, run of form to rekindle even a sniff of the postseason for Colorado.