If not for Rafael Navarro’s first goal in eight games in the last minute of second-half stoppage time, the Colorado Rapids’ exit from Leagues Cup would have rested on a lengthy, controversial reversal of an offside call. Instead, the Rapids won in penalties, 4-3, after a 1-all tie in regulation.
At first glance, Club León’s Iván Moreno was called offside in the buildup of a play on a breakaway. Rapids keeper Zack Steffen saved Moreno’s 1-on-1 shot, but the ball bounced off the post and onto Edgar Guerra’s feet for an easy tap-in in the 79th minute.
A lengthy VAR review took place when the linesman’s flag went up. The crowd of 13,644 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park groaned in disagreement when the offside was overturned. The noise grew much louder when the replay was shown on the video board.
In order for an offsides call to be overturned, the error in judgment must be clear and obvious. Midfielder Cole Bassett stuck around referee Julio Luna during the nearly five-minute VAR review, but couldn’t get an explanation out of him for the duration.
“(Luna) did not say much, to be honest. Looking back, I don’t think it was (clear and obvious),” Bassett said. “But they made that decision, we had to respond to it afterwards and we all looked at each other and said ‘10 minutes’ and we went up from there.”
Then Navarro struck in the 90+7th minute when Bassett found Keegan Rosenberry, who flicked the ball onto a wide open Navarro for a tap-in header. The goal was Navarro’s first in eight matches across all competitions and the first since he signed a permanent deal to the Rapids.
Then after missing his previous three penalty attempts this season, he buried his try in the penalty shootout after regulation ended scoreless.
“It was a very tense moment and you have to be very calm in those moments,” Navarro said through Rapids language specialist Andre Hilf. “Everybody has supported me, so getting there, to be able to take the PK and working towards that has been special.”
Leagues Cup rules force penalty kicks if the score is tied after regulation. And with a spot in the round of 32 on the line, Djordje Mihailovic came up big with the Rapids’ first goal of the shootout in his first match back from the Olympics in Paris. Bassett, Navarro and Moïse Bombito all made their attempts while Andreas Maxsø missed his.
Steffen came up with the shootout’s first save on Leon’s third attempt and won it with another save on León’s final attempt. With six saves in regulation, Steffen was easily the Rapids’ best player of the night.
Rapids coach Chris Armas praised the keeper for the way he stepped up in the moment. For Steffen, an all-around night of that nature was much needed.
“It’s been an up-and-down year for myself, so it feels good,” Steffen said. “It gives me confidence to just keep going.”
The Rapids will play against FC Juarez in the round of 32 on Friday after being stunned by Portland by a score of 4-0 last Thursday. In the tournament’s second iteration, this will be the Rapids’ first time in the knockout stages.
For Armas, the preparation for the match will be more about his own squad’s recovery than it will be about scouting Juarez. The one thing he’d change about the way his team played against León will certainly require the extra rest.
“The thing I’m asking for is tempo to start with, tempo to play with on the front foot and to be very proactive in all phases,” Armas said. “We’ll look to see if there are tendencies or any similarities with Juarez and León, but it’s mostly going to be about us recovering, figuring out our lineup and how we want to get a tactical plan ready.”
Originally Published: August 5, 2024 at 9:40 p.m.
