COMMERCE CITY — The net bulged twice Saturday night, but the scoreboard after 90 minutes still read zeroes.
The Colorado Rapids looked dangerous at times throughout the home opener at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park against Western Conference foe Sporting Kansas City, but neither team was able to find a winner as it finished honors even at 0-0.
Midfielder Cole Bassett thought that while the team played well at times, the Rapids need to finish.
“We do need to do a little bit more, me and (Darren Yapi) were just talking about it moving forward. It’s a lot better performance coming off of last week, but, we need to be ruthless,” Bassett said following the match. “We’ve got to do better in the attacking third because the defense did their job.”
For Rapids head coach Robin Fraser, it was a much-improved defensive effort at the back and he echoed similar sentiments to Bassett, where it felt like three points were there for the taking.
“It felt like a disappointment that we couldn’t win at home,” Fraser said. “There were still a bunch of positives to take.”
The Rapids got off to a promising start through 18-year-old Darren Yapi, who was played in on goal in the opening two minutes, but SKC goalkeeper John Pulskamp made a brilliant save to keep it even.
In the 13th minute Yapi thought he scored his first-career goal as a Burgundy Boy when he crashed the box on a rebound with Sam Nicholson in the box, but after Video Assistant Referee (VAR) stepped in, it was clear Yapi was at least a few steps offside.
In the 27th minute, VAR had to intervene once again, as on attempt from Cole Bassett, Yapi had a diving header but it deflected off of SKC defender Graham Zusi and the ball appeared to cross the whole of the line. On instant replay, however, VAR deemed it was inconclusive and it was waived off.
Sporting Kansas City had a few decent corner kick attempts that were threatening, but both went wide. It went into halftime at 0-0.
In the second half, both teams searched for a winner.
First, it was Kansas City that started the brighter of the two teams until the hour mark, as it had a corner kick in the opening few minutes. Keegan Rosenberry had to step in to block a shot from Daniel Salloi after he gave the ball away on a mishit pass. It was the feature of the night.
“One of the things we talked about before the game was winning the duals in both boxes, defending in our box and with real bravery and making sure we don’t give people time,” Fraser said. “It’s very encouraging and we did spend a lot of time dealing with crosses in the box.”
Just after the hour mark, William Yarbrough made a pair of saves, first on Erik Thommy and then on Willy Agoda from point-blank range, but he was offside. Minutes later, Connor Ronan played a ball over the top to Cole Bassett, but Pulskamp read the shot well.
Yarbrough was required again in the 71st minute after Kévin Cabral, who made his first appearance at DSGP, was issued a yellow card and Kansas City had a dangerous free kick. Yarbrough denied two more shots in spectacular fashion to get the crowd to its feet, as he finished with 11 on the night.
“Will looked as sharp as he possibly could be,” Fraser said about the No. 1 goalkeeper.
Colorado continued to press for a winner, and in extra time, Andreas Maxsø had a header off of a late set piece attempt from Connor Ronan, but it narrowly looped over the crossbar and over for a goal kick.
Official attendance was 14,954. Colorado will hit the road to face San Jose Earthquakes next Saturday.
League notifies Rapids of offensive chant
Late on, the game was marred by a clearly-heard homophobic chant in Spanish. It was heard on goal kicks late in the second half. Additionally, it was heard on the Apple TV broadcast.
Major League Soccer made the Rapids aware that the chant had come through on the broadcast.
Later, a club spokesperson made the following statement:
“The League has made us aware that it (was heard) on the broadcast. As a club, we obviously strongly condemn that sort of language. It has no place at our stadium, in the game, in the sport at all. We’ll be looking more into it.”
