Keegan Rosenberry, the soccer player, would never trade seven unforgettable Leagues Cup matches in a short 24 days for a little more rest.
Six days off may feel like a blissful eternity for the 30-year-old once the competition is behind him. After getting just three or four days between games for the past month, there are 90 more minutes, and perhaps a celebration left before a return to MLS normalcy.
The Leagues Cup match vs. the Philadelphia Union on Sunday will be about more than just a third-place finish for the Rapids captain and right back. It’ll also be a homecoming of sorts as Rosenberry returns to Philadelphia, where the team that drafted him third overall in 2016 plays just two hours from his hometown.
There are no hard feelings over the trade that brought him to the Rapids in 2019. That’s not where the significance lies for Rosenberry.
Rather, he’s enjoyed the little things: nostalgic sights, reuniting with family members and even chatting with the same bus driver from the airport to the hotel who he used to ride with as a Union player. Sunday, before and after the Rapids’ biggest game of the year, he will enjoy shaking the hands of people he hasn’t seen in a while.
Rosenberry is much more eager to relish a third-place finish in Leagues Cup and the spot it would earn the Rapids in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Especially given the path the 46th-seeded Rapids took to get to the final day of competition: Three dramatic wins against Liga MX squads, two penalty shootouts and a blowout loss at LAFC.
“You can’t really fabricate those late, dramatic wins, penalties and late goals. Those make fans out of people who maybe weren’t here before and our fan base deserves it,” Rosenberry said. “It’s really fun to see the product we’re putting on the field inspire them and give them energy, and it’s reciprocated, and that’s what it’s about.
“We’ve talked about not getting too high or too low and that’s important.”
Rapids coach Chris Armas has certainly had his share of fun during the tournament and has pinned much of his team’s success on goalkeeper Zack Steffen finding a gear worthy of U.S. Men’s National Team (re)consideration.
Steffen, with 23 saves and numerous big shootout moments in the knockout stages of Leagues Cup, has arguably been the best keeper in the tournament. If that’s the case, Union goalkeeper Andre Blake is a good shout for second-best with 17 saves of his own and a show-stealing performance in a shootout against Mazatlán in the quarterfinals.
A shootout on Sunday would be a must-watch given both keepers’ run of form and the cinematic finish to the Rapids’ shootout against Club América.
“(Blake) is a top goalkeeper for club and country and I congratulate him on another year of top performances,” Armas said. “But listen, if it goes to a shootout, you have two top goalkeepers and then the margins get thin again. You have to step up and do the job, and you hope your goalkeeper can, against the odds, make a save or two. Zack’s been tremendous, he’s been a real difference-maker and he’s added so much to the team in terms of quality.
“If it goes to a shootout, we’ll take our chances and may the team that deserves to move on go. But we have a lot of confidence in Zack in those moments.”
No such instances were required in the semifinal against LAFC when the Rapids were thrashed 4-0 at BMO Stadium to continue their winning — and scoring, for that matter — drought at the venue.
For Rosenberry, the short turnaround between games can be somewhat of a curse to the body, but a blessing to the mind.
“These games come quickly. There’s not really much time to take anything more than what we need tactically from the results we’ve had besides a couple of things to learn from or a couple of moments we can do better,” Rosenberry said. “(The feeling of a 4-0 loss to LAFC) lasts about a day or two, we review it and we’re quickly onto the preparation for the next opponent.
“The team’s been great about responding all year, even to start this competition (with a 4-0 loss to Portland). We came home and made amends for that, and it continues to be a testament to the group’s character, mentality and ability to respond in tough times. We’ll try to do that again tomorrow.”
The match in Philadelphia will kick off Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
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