COMMERCE CITY — In the debut of their “New Day” jerseys, the Colorado Rapids committed the same old mistakes in another losing effort.
The Rapids (2-7-6, 12 points) lost a fifth consecutive game across all competitions Saturday as it fell 1-0 to FC Cincinnati at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park with a goal coming from none other than two-time Rapids striker Dominique Badji. The Rapids remained the last team in MLS without a win at home.
Colorado hosted its Mental Health Awareness Night and wore the notable jerseys as part of its mission to support mental health efforts state-wide throughout the season.
Rapids head coach Robin Fraser knows his team is in a “fragile” spot, and emphasized that they will need to lean on each other and not allow the locker room to fracture.
“This is a very difficult situation, difficult run we’re in,” Fraser said in his postgame remarks. “We’re in a tough spot psychologically, but the only way we know how to get out of this is to work, to grind. Points here, points there bring confidence and we know that’s the utmost importance at the moment.”
The Rapids were missing 10 players who were either injured, suspended due to yellow-card accumulation or on international duty. It made for a scattered starting lineup which roughly amounted to a fluid 3-5-2 formation. Calvin Harris, who began his career with FC Cincinnati, got his first start as a Burgundy Boy. Kévin Cabral was receiving passes closer to a central midfielder in more of a distributor role not dissimilar from Diego Rubio’s, rather than a central forward.
In the 34th minute, Badji, the other player going up against his old team, had his revenge. After Obinna Nwobodo found himself with acres of space on a counterattack, he found Badji who cut inside on the left-hand side and perfectly placed his shot far post to beat William Yarbrough and make it 1-0.
Fraser made a few changes at half to bring a shock to the system, as Yosuke Hanya, on his fourth and final short-term loan from Rapids 2, came on for Harris. Generation Adidas draft pick Moïse Bombito replaced Lalas Abubakar.
Immediately, the two brought a noticeable spark to the offense. In the 60th minute, Hanya drove to the end line and floated in a cross to the back post but Colorado didn’t have a runner on the end of it. He later drew a yellow card and looked lively when he switched over to the right-side wing.
Bombito had the best chance of the second half in the 70th minute as he had a solo run and cut inside. He curled his shot for the far post but FC Cincinnati’s Roman Celentano made a good save.
The Rapids brought on one last change as Cole Bassett saw his first game action since April 15, and only his second appearance in the last two months as he’s dealt with an ongoing hamstring issue. But the Rapids remained scoreless in his 15 minutes to walk away with another loss.
Defender Andreas Maxsø, who recalled getting relegated while playing in Turkey, has seen how seasons can turn for the worse in the blink of an eye.
“The most important thing is to not point fingers at each other … We have to stick together as a group and at some point, it’s gonna turn,” Maxsø said. “I know also, for sure with this group the way we train we are working really hard and you could also see today that we did a good job. And right now, there’s a lot of games and sometimes these periods happen, but you can see it’s coming. We need to change it (around), and fast.”
Colorado will hit the road to start another two-game week with a trip to Columbus on Wednesday, before returning home to face San Jose next Saturday.
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