Rapids Crash Out of Playoffs

There was a moment of stunned silence. For a few heartbeats, it seemed like nobody was breathing, much less saying a word. Barely a minute ago, the stadium had erupted, thinking that it might just be enough to get them to the playoffs. Now, heads were in hands. The Rapids went into the final day of the season with a chance to make it to the playoffs in a wild card spot, albeit needing the help of a few other teams (namely Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas) to get them through. And then, there was the most important requirement. The Rapids absolutely, without a doubt, needed a win in their final game against LAFC. 

They say the most brutal thing in sports is hope, and that was certainly true in the dying moments of the game, when two Colorado boys, Yapi and Larraz, combined to score what seemed to be the game winning goal. There was a magic to the moment, two homegrown talents seemingly dragging the Rapids into the playoffs behind them by the skin of their teeth, tooth and nail, fighting until the bitter end. And what a bitter end it was, when Andrew Moran snuck one in, moments before the final whistle. The Rapids had gone into this game knowing they would be the underdogs. Knowing this one wouldn’t be pretty, knowing they would have to leave their hearts out on the field for even the slightest chance of making the playoffs. It still stung fiercely when the ball went in, first off the post, Zac Stefan diving to save it, and then buried a second later. You could hear a pin drop in the stadium. 

To absolutely no one’s surprise, Son Heung-Min was first on the scoresheet, burying his shot in the roof. The stadium wasn’t even particularly upset about that one; with the legion of Korean fans who came to see their idol play erupting in the stands, even the die-hard Rapids fans admired the brilliance of such a star. Still, there was a frenetic edge to the atmosphere after that. The challenge had been laid down, and it was time to see if the Rapids could rise to the occasion.

They had a stroke of luck right before half time, when newcomer Paxton Aaronson surprised Hugo Lloris, the LAFC goalkeeper, attempting to clear out of the box. The ball deflected off Aaronson, and went into the goal, roared on by the fans who had leapt to their feet. The kindling had been lit, the hope ignited. As the teams filed away for halftime, the stadium was buzzing with adrenaline and excitement.

There was a hard fought second half, but the momentum was in the Rapids favor. They hammered the ball again and again towards the LAFC box, batted away each time by an experienced Lloris, or a dividing defender. The fans were on the edge of their seats, hands white-knuckled against the gray plastic, when Oliver Larraz, recently subbed in for Ted Du-KiPietro, picked up the ball on the edge of the eighteen. Larraz picked his head up, took a deep breath, and connected his foot with the ball. It arced perfectly in the air, holding with it the hopes of almost 18,000 hearts in the stands, landing right in front of Darren Yapi, who bullied it home. 

Less than two minutes later, the Rapids were picking the ball out of their own net. There was nowhere back from there. The fans stayed until the end, clapping their players even as they admitted the end to their season. There were rough patches this season, but bright spots as well. There will be another go next season, with a fresh team and a better understanding of themselves. Results like the one against LAFC are clear signs of improvement, and those will only be capitalized on for next season. There will be heavy hearts but lifted heads in the days to come.