Sunday night’s 2-1 loss to Real Salt Lake was a bittersweet result for the Colorado Rapids.
On one hand, the club fell for the 13th time on the year, running their record to 8-10-13 – worst in the Western Conference. They were also officially eliminated from the playoffs with the loss.
On the other hand, the one-goal margin of defeat allowed them to claim the Rocky Mountain Cup for the second time in three years and just the fourth time in the Cup’s 11 year history. It was claimed by the narrowest of margins – one goal in aggregate.
Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni made no bones about his disappointment in how the result was achieved.
“I’m happy we won the Cup,” he said postgame. “How we won it is disappointing. I’m happy for the fans, I’m happy for the guys that worked extremely hard, but the way we did it leaves a void, especially after the way we started the game. We held on for a result that got the cup back, but I like to speak about the performance and it wasn’t complete.”
Incomplete efforts have been the story on the year for Mastroeni’s club, especially on the defensive side of the pitch. Sunday was no different.
As Mastroeni observed, “The game was lost in about a twenty-minute span in the first half.
“I think we were really slow to assess the fact that they were on top of the game. We didn’t do a good job defensively as a group to get behind the ball…”
The head coach would not publicly criticize any of his players directly, but did make special mention of one player whose effort resounded in a positive manner.
“Lucas Pittinari absolutely left his life on the line for this result tonight. Into the 95th minute, he was diving in front of a goalie coming out with two fists. This guy reflects the mindset and mentality of hard work and those are the type of characters that we need to continue to fill this locker room with.”
Colorado has just three more games remaining on the year before those locker room changes may begin to take shape.
