For the first time in 2016 the Colorado Rapids have now suffered back-to-back league losses, after falling 2-0 at New England Revolution on Saturday night.
Juan Agudelo opened the scoring on 12 minutes, squeezing a close-range shot in off the far post. The upright would deny the Revs’ Lee Nguyen twice before the first half was out, including once from the penalty spot, before defender Chris Tierney was left wide open just moments after the re-start to add the second.
Colorado were not without their chances. Dillon Powers had three great looks. He slid one effort inches wide, while Brad Knighton was on his game for the other two and saved superbly on both occasions.
This defeat leaves the Rapids on 43 points from now 26 games. They are without a win in four outings, and head to runaway conference leaders FC Dallas next Saturday (7:00 p.m. MDT).
Head coach Pablo Mastroeni was without five of his key men, all out on international duty. Goalkeeper Tim Howard and midfielder Jermaine Jones were called for USMNT duty last week. Jones returned to Denver on Tuesday to rehab a knee injury while Howard will start this upcoming Tuesday against Trinidad and Tobago homing to progress to the final round of World Cup qualifying, the hexagonal.
Opposite Howard in that match will be defender Mekeil Williams, who faced another teammate on Friday. The Soca Warriors played to a draw with Marco Pappa and Guatemala, 2-2.
Also on assignment for his international team was Shkëlzen Gashi, whose Albanian side had a scoreless draw on Wednesday. They face Macedonia on Monday in their World Cup qualifier.
