What’s Leagues Cup without a little Rapids magic?
The Colorado Rapids picked up in the U.S.-vs.-Mexico tournament right where they left off after a remarkable 2024 run to third place, with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Santos Laguna on Thursday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.
The identity of last year’s run was mirrored in the final minute Thursday, when Armas tried to defuse — then fueled the fire of — multiple scuffles before turning to the crowd and pumping it up. In essence, the club has embraced the chaos of a mostly chaotic tournament and somehow come out on top.
For some reason, the Rapids thrive in the disarray, no matter the turbulence of the regular season. Against Mexican teams, they’ve become one with it. The win marked the fifth-straight win over a Liga MX opponent, dating back to last year’s tournament. Four of them were at home, where fans of the Liga MX teams turn out en masse, often chanting louder and reacting to plays more passionately than Rapids fans in attendance.
“We love it. It’s real. I did an interview in Spanish and the word I used was, ‘Picante,’” Rapids midfielder Cole Bassett said. “It’s a different spice to (games) than normal. It feels like something’s on the line every single time. Those are the games you love playing as a player and that’s what this group loves.”
It’s particularly true for forward Rafael Navarro, who played even more contentious games in Brazil before moving to the Rapids. Jokingly, he said games there end similarly all the time — with numerous tussles, a swing to the face and subsequent red card to Santos goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo — but the way Santos played beforehand was familiar to him stylistically and physically.
He scored both the Rapids’ goals after going down one, marking his third and fourth in two Leagues Cups. He equalized for the Rapids on a brilliant counterattack of their own. Right back Reggie Cannon played a ball through to Calvin Harris on the right wing. Harris beat his defender and played a simple square pass to Navarro for a simple finish.
The game winner was on a wonderful free kick by Djordje Mihailovic for which Navarro only had to stick a foot out to tuck away from six yards out.
Santos was rewarded with a beauty of a goal for coming out of the break on the front foot. In stark contrast to its first half, Santos got multiple opportunities, then a counterattack ended with something between a scissor kick and a bicycle kick by Jordan Carrillo in the 53rd minute. Seconds before, a shot went off the post, which caused enough confusion and chaos for Carrillo to wait for the ball unmarked around the penalty spot.
The comeback was the exact sort of response to adversity and change in game pace the Rapids have lacked in recent games. Bassett — who had a goal called back for offside in the first half — mentioned after their last match at Philadelphia that the Rapids “stop playing” after going up a goal, or at the very least after playing positive ball for long stretches.
That said, given Colorado’s dominance in the first half and conceding early in the second, that could have repeated easily. But according to Armas, Leagues Cup energy and success is no accident for his team.
“Our guys believe that last year wasn’t a fluke, and that we found ways to win. I give Santos a lot of credit because they came out in the second half and made it very difficult for us,” Armas said. “We love these tournaments. You can see what makes the tournament so special, (we have) so much respect for the Mexican teams and the coaches, the tactics. It’s such a challenge for us. It pushes us and we have a lot of work to do. We love that we found a way to come back late again, kind of like last year.”
The Rapids will return to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Sunday to face Club Tijuana at 7:30 p.m. Tijuana opened with a 5-2 loss to L.A. Galaxy, continuing an early-tournament trend of MLS domination over its Liga MX counterparts. With two group stage games to go, only four MLS teams will advance, meaning it’ll be tough for the Rapids to reach the knockout rounds.