Finally, the Colorado Rapids can celebrate Yapi hour.
Upon scoring his first goal in Major League Soccer, all Darren Yapi could do was fall onto his back, arms raised towards the sky, and let his teammates pile onto him.
After he received a pass from Jonathan Lewis, he slotted it between St. Louis City SC goalkeeper Ben Lundt’s legs in the 90th minute to cap off a 4-1 win, the Rapids’ fourth straight win at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
Nobody, not even a single coach, was left on the Rapids’ bench — they all piled onto the 19-year old. Rapids coach Chris Armas was one of the first to the Yapi-pile. It took him 1,535 career minutes to net his first.
“The dreams of the players are the dreams of the coaches. We have to keep sight of that,” Armas said. “I remind Darren that he’s young. He’s 19 years old and feels so much pressure to score goals. I told him he’s going to score a lot of goals, but to just continue to work hard, stick to it and they’ll come.
“You can see what it meant to Darren, what it meant to our fans and what it meant to the team to see Darren score.”
Midfielder Cole Bassett, who had a goal and an assist of his own, was named Man of the Match and given the ceremonial oar to show to and celebrate with fans in the C38 fan section. Bassett gave it to Yapi and made it clear who his Man of the Match was.
For the young Homegrown player, the goal was not guaranteed in the buildup. Like so many moments this season and last, Yapi’s first touch was heavy and closed his angle significantly. But somehow, he found a way to sneak it in.
“My eyes just lit up. I took that extra touch and I thought it was done,” Yapi said. “I’m just very happy. We won again and I’m so happy to be on this team.”
The Rapids were as smooth in transition play as they have been all season. The first goal was spurred by interplay between Rafael Navarro and Omir Fernández in their own box, then Navarro and Bassett at midfield, before Bassett took off and found Kévin Cabral for a wide open shot from 12 yards out in the 6th minute.
Cabral returned the favor in the 35th minute when he laid off a ball to Bassett for a one-touch shot across goal from almost the same spot as the first goal.
Lewis scored his first goal since 2022 when Calvin Harris found him on a beautiful ball which he blasted first time on a volley from about five yards away.
The only blemish on the night was allowing a goal in the 12th minute on a free header from St. Louis midfielder John Klein. And while none of them amounted to much, St. Louis racked up seven corner kicks in the first half alone.
Dare call it the Rapids’ most complete game of the season?
“I don’t think so. I think we’ve played better,” Armas said. “I love the fact we scored goals but let’s be honest, the (first-half corner kicks) felt like it was from some unforced errors. Lots of good things happened tonight, but when you talk about a complete performance, start to finish, I think there’s been better.”
With midfielder Djordje Mihailovic out serving a one-game yellow card accumulation suspension, the Rapids moved Bassett into Mihailovic’s role, one which he’s said in the past he’s more comfortable with.
After the match, he noted he had a point to prove after confirming he’d been left off the U.S. Olympic roster. Mihailovic made the cut as an overage player, the Rapids announced Sunday.
No better way to show comfort and desire to prove something than to record a goal and an assist before the halfway point of a match.
“I was talking to a friend today and he said, ‘be better, not bitter,’ and I think that’s a good quote to think about,” Bassett said. “I don’t want to be (mad) at them and hope they do bad. … Maybe it’s my time to be here and, with Djordje gone, help lead the attack.”
The Rapids next three games are against two of the Western Conference’s three best teams and the No. 4 team in the Eastern Conference. The latter is next up for the Rapids, when they’ll take on New York Red Bulls at DSGP Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
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