Matt Wells couldn’t have predicted a wilder first half in his coaching debut for the Colorado Rapids.
On the docket from in the opening half of Sunday night’s season opener against the Seattle Sounders: an overturned red card, four yellow cards, a Seattle goal, an overturned Seattle goal and 16 minutes of stoppage time as a result. The second half at Lumen Field didn’t feature as many stoppages, but Seattle scored again on the way to a 2-0 win over Colorado.
Despite the bizarre first half, Wells said his halftime talk didn’t include any of that noise. Instead, for a team that Wells said looked “unrecognizable” from the weeks of training since he took over as head coach, he told the Rapids to take a look in the mirror.
“I didn’t recognize it at all. Not seeing elements of that even in our training. The full half-time was spent debriefing that, analyzing that and trying to give the lads some solutions for how we could improve in the second half,” Wells said. “The second half was marginally better in terms of at least it was a poor imitation of ourselves, but at least I recognized it.”
The first-half speed bumps ground the game’s flow to a halt. Naturally, that favored Seattle, its cohesion and experience playing its system. For Wells’ team, doing the right and wrong things systemically looked similar in that neither feels familiar yet. By full-time, play stabilized and the vision for this team looked a little clearer.
Still, an inaugural two-goal loss against what is shaping up to be a Western Conference power could have been worse for a young coach and a particularly young starting lineup.
That included two center backs in Lucas Herrington and Noah Cobb, who are not yet even 21 years old, rather than veterans Rob Holding and Ian Murphy. Jackson Travis, 22, started at left back with veteran Sam Vines waived on Saturday and new signing Miguel Navarro had only been in the country less than a week.
Both center backs held their own, but Cobb was at the center of attention 30 minutes into the match after a hard challenge initially earned him a straight red card. After the second long VAR review of the night, it was reduced to a yellow. In the second half, Herrington recovered well to guard Jesus Ferreira, but unluckily deflected a shot straight to Paul Rothrock for Seattle’s second goal.
Rothrock, who subbed in just the eighth minute after Jordan Morris went down with an injury, assisted the Sounders’ opening goal in the 15th minute after a hustle play to keep the ball in play and a cross to Albert Rusnák.
Offensively, the Rapids produced just seven shots (three on target), most of which came in the second half. Second-year draft pick forward Alex Harris provided a spark after subbing on in the 68th minute and produced one of the best chances of the game: a short-distance shot on a rebound that Andrew Thomas saved. He also led a handful of fast breaks that left Seattle uncomfortable at times.
Though Harris now has only five appearances for 63 total minutes in his MLS career, Wells pointed him out as a standout on Sunday night.
“It wasn’t until Alex Harris came into the game that I saw a player playing with the correct level of intensity, enthusiasm and energy,” Wells said. “He should definitely start the next game as long as he trains well this week. I’ve just told him in the dressing room that the shirt is his.”
That’s Wells keeping his word from preseason that no starting spot is safe. Herrington and Cobb trained well, he said, so they started. That’s a refreshing methodology that has had a recent history of lopsided internal competition for playing time.
For now, Wells and his team feel anger, he said. As long as it’s channeled correctly, Wells noted it’s a “positive emotion.” They’ve got just six days to adjust before the Rapids’ home opener against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, a game in which former Homegrown star midfielder Cole Bassett will return home for the first time.
“I’d much rather those guys be angry because anger leads to feedback. Anger leads to solutions and anger leads us to moving forward,” Wells said. “We have to make sure that the biggest victims of our poor performance tonight is Portland.”
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