When Diego Rubio was handed his marching orders on Saturday, with 63 minutes gone, the Colorado Rapids were 1-0 up courtesy of a crackerjack goal from the Chilean striker.
But the Rapids still had 27 minutes to play (34 with stoppage time added), against a Portland Timbers team which had been very much second best up to that point, yet presumably saw a slight crack in the door and an opening back into the contest.
As it happened, the Rapids continued to surge forward and ought to have added to their number before Mark-Anthony Kaye did bury one in stoppage time to add some shine to the scoreline.
This was not the first time the Rapids were the better side when playing a man down. They actually trailed at Minnesota last October before Danny Wilson saw red, and went on to score three unanswered through Cole Bassett, Michael Barrios, and Lucas Esteves for a 3-1 win.
And so, with those two games in mind, when the opposition had a man advantage but were still no match for Robin Fraser’s side, I thought to look through the record books to see how often the Rapids have won games when having players sent off. (I did not include games in which both sides had a player sent off).
In 825 regular season games, the Rapids have suffered 103 dismissals. The first one in club history doesn’t count in this instance, as it was actually head coach Bob Houghton - so not a player.
That incident was May 16, 1996 at Giants Stadium, by the way, against the Metrostars. Houghton was sent off after 18 minutes for abusive language and the Rapids lost 3-0. All three Metrostars goals came from Giovanni Savarese, who today is the head coach of Portland Timbers. It was the second-ever hat-trick in MLS history, coming just one day after the first was registered by Steve Rammel of D.C. United.
Anyway, back to the task in hand.
The first player to be sent off in club history was Jean Harbor, in a 3-1 home loss to San Jose Clash on September 8, 1996.
And then, with the second player dismissal, we come to the first occasion on which the Rapids were short-handed and yet emerged triumphant. This happened at the Metrostars on June 13, 1997. Savarese scored for the home side, either side of goals from Sean Henderson and Peter Vermes. And then Matt Kmosko was sent off for a second bookable offense, before Ross Paule added a third for the Rapids.
The next incident came at Soldier Field, Chicago on May 3, 2000. Jason Bent was sent off after 51 minutes with the Rapids 1-0 up, through the late Junior Agogo. Jorge Dely Valdes made it 2-0 on 71 minutes, before the Fire struck with 12 minutes remaining. The Rapids held on for a 2-1 win.
Other short-handed victories:
March 30, 2002
1-0 win vs. San Jose Earthquakes: Mark Chung scored after four minutes. Carlos Valderrama sent off in the 90th minute. This one may not have the value of the others due to the timing of the red card, but I included all the same.
June 26, 2002
1-0 at the Metrostars: Pablo Mastroeni was the player dismissed, after 32 minutes. Chris Carrieri netted the winner two minutes from time, beating Tim Howard.
September 6, 2003
2-1 vs. Dallas Burn: Mark Chung was sent off in the 90th minute with the scoreline already settled.
May 14, 2005
2-1 vs. Chivas USA: Hunter Freeman walked in the 73rd minute with the match level at 1-1. Jeff Cunningham popped up five minutes later with what turned out to be the winning goal.
July 4, 2005
2-1 vs. Kansas City Wizards: Chris Klein gave KC an early lead. Peguero Jean Philippe was sent off five minutes before the interval, yet second half goals from Alain Nkong and Terry Cooke turned this one around.
August 11, 2007
1-0 vs. Houston Dynamo: Dwayne De Rosario’s own goal helped the Rapids win this one, despite later having Ugo Ihemelu sent off with 13 minutes left to play.
October 7, 2007
1-0 vs. Toronto FC: the Rapids finished this one with nine men. Mehdi Ballouchy went first, dismissed in the 36th minute. Jovan Kirovski scored from the spot two minutes before halftime, before Pablo Mastroeni picked up a second yellow in the 88th minute.
October 14, 2007
2-1 at Chivas USA: a week after their Toronto heroics, a 10-man Rapids won at Chivas USA. All three goals came after Brandon Prideaux had been sent off, with Omar Cummings bagging the winner at the death.
June 5, 2010
1-0 vs. Columbus Crew: Pablo Mastroeni was sent off once again, receiving his red card in the 76th minute with the game goalless. Drew Moor popped up with his first goal for the club, with five minutes left on the clock.
October 1, 2011
1-0 vs. FC Dallas: Miguel Comminges was sent off 16 minutes before the end, with the Rapids already leading through a Drew Moor effort after 26 minutes.
March 18, 2012
2-1 at Philadelphia Union: the man sent off for the Rapids was midfielder Jeff Larentowicz, two minutes after Jaime Castrillon had given the visitors the lead. The Rapids extended their lead despite being a man down, when Tony Cascio scored the game winner. Philadelphia applied pressure with what turned out to be a consolation, albeit with 23 minutes still to play.
May 26, 2012
3-2 vs. Montreal Impact: the game was even at 2-2 when Tyrone Marshall picked up a second yellow card on 61 minutes. Jaime Castrillon settled the contest with his fourth of the season seven minutes from the end.
March 22, 2014
2-0 vs. Portland Timbers: Jose Mari waited until the team were already 2-0 up and until the 90th minute before collecting a second booking.
October 21, 2015
2-0 at Sporting KC: Dillon Powers and Marcelo Sarvas scored second half goals, either side of Sam Cronin being sent off as the Rapids won in Kansas for the first time since 2002.
