The visiting Colorado Rapids will surely be disappointed to lose a late lead at their Rocky Mountain Cup rival – not to mention the sloppy defensive work that led to Alvaro Saborio’s equalizer.
But make no mistake, this was a very good result for the Rapids, who earned their first point this year in a 1-1 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium.
A club already missing vital starters Pablo Mastroeni, Edson Buddle, Martin Rivero and Jaime Castrillon lost its starting goalkeeper. That’s close to half the Oscar Pareja’s starters. Add in high quality center back Drew Moor, and that’s pretty much the heart of the side.
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So gaining a draw in Utah against their chief rival is a wonderful result.
Again, Pareja (pictured) will rue his defense’s inability to clear a ball before it eventually pinged around and found its way to Saborio on the equalizer. And Atiba Harris had a wonderful chance to grab a late game-winner for the Rapids. Still ... Colorado will feel a lot better about this one than RSL.
Rookie Clinton Irwin did well in his replacement duty in Colorado goal, by the way, not a bit afraid to get off his line to claim a ball. His positioning on a couple of sequences looked a little too aggressive, but that’s a small adjustment. Overall, the rookie did great in his debut MLS appearance.
The highlights from Rio Tinto:
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