The Big Picture
Goalkeeper William Yarbrough extended his club-record tally to 33 shutouts as the Colorado Rapids (3-10-10, 19 pts) played out a scoreless draw with Houston Dynamo FC (8-10-5, 29 pts) at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night.
Notable:
- GK William Yarbrough recorded his 101st appearance as a member of the Rapids, surpassing Tim Howard for third-most starts and appearances by a goalkeeper in club history.
- D Keegan Rosenberry recorded his 135th appearance as a member of the Rapids, tying Paul Bravo for ninth-most appearances in club history.
- M Bryan Acosta recorded his 100th MLS appearance.
- M Danny Leyva surpassed 500 minutes as a member of the Rapids (501).
- Tonight’s result extended the Rapids’ unbeaten run against the Dynamo to seven matches (4-0-3).
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ROBIN FRASER
On the match:
“I thought the first half, we were as positive, really, as any game we've been all year. I thought the start of the game was really good. We were able to put together a number of good attacks, got ourselves into threatening positions. I suppose some of the disappointment comes from being on top of teams like that and not rewarding ourselves. And give Houston credit, in the second half, they really grew into the game and made it more difficult for us to play out, made it more difficult for us to put our attacks together, and as a result, they had more of the game, we had less of the game. And the second half to me, it didn't look like the first half. And I, again, really proud of the effort. The guys really worked hard, defended really resolutely when they had to, but the overall feeling is that we feel like we could have gotten more.”
On Rapids defender Andrew Gutman’ impact since arriving:
“How happy am I with the number of looks that we've gotten since he's been here? Very happy. And how threatening do I think we can be with a player like him? Very. And I think it's one thing about what Andrew himself does, but I feel like his aggression to go forward pulls people along with him and brings people along with him. I don't want to say pulls, but everyone kind of gets caught up in these energetic attacking forays. And I feel like what we see now is a lot of really purposeful running forward, and whether it's attributable to how Andrew plays or if he's just part of it, and we are feeling like we can be dangerous, our movement going forward has been quite good, and our ability to get behind has been quite good. We just need to reward ourselves.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER CONNOR RONAN
On the match:
“I think the first half, maybe the best we've played this season just in terms of probably box-to-box, limiting their chances, dominant in the game. I thought we were quite good at when we're having attacks, sustaining them, keeping them pinned in, and again, it's just back to that final product and putting the ball in the net, which has been a bit of an ongoing thing this season. And it's frustrating, and then even in the second half, you know, they're come out a little bit more and it evens the game up, but we still have chances to win the game, and yeah, it's disappointing again not to win.”
On what Rapids defender Andrew Gutman brings to the team:
“Yeah, like you say, Andrew's helped us a lot in the build out, even when we're getting pressure quite high, he's quite proactive in terms of turning out and knowing when to play that long one down the line, which has worked a few times, and then also, he knows when to come back inside, and he can find the sixes quite well. We can turn out and switch to the other side. So, I think just finding the fullbacks and being able to get out from that helps us a lot, and it's hard for teams to defend when we're switching the ball all the time, and it kind of forces them to sit back a little bit.”
On kicking off Leagues Cup 2023 next week:
“Yeah, I think it's a competition we need to be optimistic about and go into it [with] a positive mindset, and it would have been nice to get three points tonight and go into that with a win. But I think going into that off the back of good performance—I think it was a good performance—has to give us some confidence, and like I said, I think just when things start to click at the top of the pitch, the performances will start to look a little bit more complete, and we'll start to win more games.”
