Calvin Harris’s third goal in five games proved the ball a truth-teller.
The English winger has been on an absolute tear since earning his first start of the season for the Colorado Rapids just a couple weeks ago, finally providing a scoring threat from the flanks, which has famously eluded the Rapids this season.
He was the first to score in what became a 3-0 win for the Rapids over the Vancouver Whitecaps, who fell to third in the Western Conference. The Rapids, however, jumped from 10th to seventh, though they’ve played more games than any team in the West.
Harris found himself in acres of space in the 12th minute after a toe-poke pass by midfielder Djordje Mihailovic toward the right side of the box. Harris took it on first time and beat Vancouver keeper Yohei Takaoka to the bottom right corner on the shot. Just a minute prior, appeals for a Whitecaps own goal were hushed after the ball took a goalbound bounce off of Whitecaps defender Mathias Laborda, but he recovered to somehow clear it off the goal line.
Harris had a potential incredible goal saved off the line later in the second half when he attempted a scissor kick.
Rapids forward Rafael Navarro doubled the lead in the 30th minute with an outstretched foot at point blank range off a delicious low cross from Mihailovic. Navarro missed a penalty right before halftime with a chance to score a brace. He’s now scored eight goals this season, three of them coming in the last four games.
Mihailovic recorded his third assist of the game — a season high for the marksman — in the 59th minute with a corner kick to center back Andreas Maxsø, who used an awkward bounce on the header to bag his first goal of the season.
It brought Mihailovic’s season total of goal contributions to 14. In a little more than a season and a half in Colorado, he has amassed 39 for the Rapids in the regular season, passing Mark Chung (38) for the most in a player’s first two seasons in burgundy in club history.
After a string of disappointing games that included a blown 3-0 lead at New England, a July 4 home loss to a horrible Sporting Kansas City team and a road thrashing at LAFC, the Rapids seem to be on an uptick and potentially have finally found their most effective lineup and formation, at least for this stage of the season.
Zack Steffen made his return to action after an oblique injury in mid-May took him off the field before a knee injury at U.S. Men’s National Team camp required surgery. He made a trio of impressive saves in the second half that kept a clean sheet — his fourth of the season in 12 appearances.