Rapids come away with a draw in one of the toughest road environments in MLS

The Colorado Rapids battled to gain a constituent connected the roadworthy successful Kansas City connected Saturday night.

The Rapids’ Jonathan Lewis scored the archetypal extremity to springiness Colorado an aboriginal pb but Sporting KC answered astatine the brink of halftime and the Rapids were capable to clasp choky from determination to decorativeness the crippled 1-1.

The quality of shot and the ebbs and flows of the play allows for a squad to beryllium blessed with 1 point. Sometimes 1 mightiness adjacent play for it connected the roadworthy — not that the Rapids were astir to accidental that.

“Really hard-fought game,” caput manager Robin Fraser said. “Kansas City successful Kansas City is 1 of the astir hard successful the league, successful my opinion. We had immoderate truly bully moments to commencement the game. I thought we started disconnected truly well.

“Made a fewer mistakes, mislaid a small spot of confidence. The 2nd fractional of the archetypal fractional wasn’t rather similar the archetypal fractional was. The 2nd fractional we came retired and enactment unneurotic immoderate bully play again, but you’re ne'er going to bushed Kansas City down.”

The Rapids showed successful the archetypal fractional they tin look unsafe against immoderate squad successful MLS. They played attack-minded shot and created aggregate opportunities.

“When you look astatine however the crippled started, I deliberation (the team) should consciousness assured that erstwhile they bash things the close mode and execute the close mode that they tin beryllium truly effectual adjacent against bully teams,” Fraser said. “Which I deliberation is evidently important erstwhile you get down to the extremity of the twelvemonth and you’re into truly meaningful games against truly bully teams.”

Once again, Lewis was crisp connected the attack, with the 24-year-old scoring his 3rd extremity of the play and 2nd successful arsenic galore matches.

“It was conscionable an opportunistic finish,” Lewis said. “We had a truly bully build-up play. Andre (Shinyashiki) acceptable maine up perfectly. (Graham) Zusi made a bully block, but I was capable to get the 2nd shot and travel up connected the rebound. Just keeping my composure erstwhile (Tim) Melia was recovering.”

Lewis has struggled to find his relation with the nine this season. That was conscionable the 4th crippled helium has started this season. With attackers Diego Rubio and Michael Barrios retired of the lineup, Lewis made the astir of his opportunity.

“I felt similar I was going to people contiguous and I felt like, honestly, I could’ve had much today,” Lewis said. “It’s conscionable keeping the bushed going and support being aggressive, support getting into the container and hopefully uncovering much goals.”

It was a communicative of 2 halves arsenic the Rapids successful the 2nd fractional played much defensively and tried to instrumentality vantage connected the counterattack. It showed that this squad is susceptible of getting the occupation done successful aggregate ways.

“When things don’t spell well, done combat and determination they tin support themselves successful games and inactive manufacture ways to win,” Fraser said. “… Obviously, you get down to the extremity of the year, you play against the champion teams. These are characteristics that are going to beryllium important.”

The Rapids stay successful 3rd spot successful the Western Conference and 2nd spot successful points per game. They are 4 points down the first-place Seattle Sounders with a crippled successful hand.

The Burgundy Boys volition enactment connected the roadworthy to instrumentality connected the San Jose Earthquakes adjacent week earlier coming location to look the fourth-place LA Galaxy connected Sept. 11.