The Colorado Rapids are staring at a 14’er-sized gap between them and the summit of the MLS standings.<\/p>\n
Colorado is firmly at the base of the table, now in last place.<\/p>\n
The Rapids lost 3-0 to Minnesota United Wednesday night at Allianz Field in St. Paul as it gave up all three goals inside the opening 45 minutes.<\/p>\n
After results elsewhere, Colorado now has the worst record in Major League Soccer (3-12-10, 19 points) as it is seriously in contention for a “mock-me” style trophy. Not the playoffs, but rather, “The Wooden Spoon”, awarded to the supporters whose teams finish at the bottom of the table.<\/p>\n
Here are two takeaways from the loss.<\/p>\n
Following the game, the always stoic Rapids head coach Robin Fraser gave a rare insight into the true reality of the locker room and did not hold back. It’s very bleak.<\/p>\n
“We play with a certain identity and I think given the situation we’re in right now, I don’t see the same identity,” Fraser said. “It’s a mixture of desperation, being despondent. There’s a lot of different emotions going on when you go through a year like this.<\/p>\n
“But when we see positives, we want to grab them and certainly the (second half) tonight was a positive and we need to continue to work to get back to playing the identity that we’ve had for a couple of years now.”<\/p>\n
Newcomer Andrew Gutman, who was a bright spot Wednesday with a few driving runs at the Loons’ defense, admitted he hadn’t seen anyone give up by any means, but knows the standard also has to be much higher.<\/p>\n
“The mindset has to be that you’re going into every game as a top professional, and if you don’t, you’re going to get exposed in this league and you’re going to be out of a job,” Gutman said.<\/p>\n
Whether a coaching change is in the near future or not, it has been stunning to watch how the identity of the teams that made 2020 a playoff year, and 2021 a historic one, has collapsed in spectacular fashion in a manner of one summer. Colorado is winless in 16 of its last 17 games.<\/p>\n
Of course the next game is a Rocky Mountain Cup trip to Real Salt Lake. Given the woes of 2023, could it be any other way?<\/p>\n
Fraser emphasized to his team in the locker room how monumental Saturday will be as it could be the final nail in the coffin for this team, or it could provide an unlikely spark for the final stretch. Colorado was without six players Wednesday, including Diego Rubio and Keegan Rosenberry, and could be key if the Rapids can storm back to take the RMC.<\/p>\n
Fraser reflected back to September 2020, when his team entered the derby game trailing 4-1 on aggregate, only to win 5-0 on the road. He said there’s a big mountain to climb, but he has to see his team rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n
“To be quite frank, I was amazed at how important that was and since then, I’ve certainly gotten on board for that as it’s a big, big thing for us and big thing for the club and supporters. Probably, prior to that game I was about ‘we need to win games, we need to get to the playoffs, we need to execute and get better.’ But when I saw the reaction to winning the Rocky Mountain Cup, it’s been of the utmost importance ever since.”<\/p>\n