Colorado continued their run of keeping fans in the seats
until the final whistle Saturday night with a thrilling, at-the-wire,
Gordo-time victory over Portland at home.
In this fourth straight MLS win at home, the Rapids again timed their
comeback perfectly with a pretty chipped goal from Dominique Badji, and the late-game
heroics of Alan Gordon to overcome an early Timber’s goal.
Defender Marlon Hairston also played a role in the win as
the young fullback worked nicely in tandem with midfielder Mohammed Saeid in
providing push forward and service into the Portland penalty area on the
night. “Despite their goal, we were good
on the ball, we created chances of our own and that’s something we’ve been
having to focus on during practice is trying to instill in ourselves to create
more chances,” Hairston told The Voice of C38 exclusively postgame. “Playing with two forwards now we should have
more numbers in the box and we should be getting as much service as we can into
those guys.”
Portland’s Sebastian Blanco proved a bit tough to contain in
the first half as we was able to possess and attack at Colorado defenders,
including his run into the box for a nice upper-corner goal in the 18th
minute. “(Blanco), (Diego) Valeri,
(Darlington) Nagbe, they created numerical overloads on both sides of the field
and sometimes we were 2v1 and 3v2 and that’s what the game is about-creating
those numerical overloads,” explained Hairston.
“In the first half they were able to do that a couple times. Once those guys got tired they weren’t able
to defend as much when we had the ball going forward so it created numerical
overloads for us.”
“Even though they scored the first goal we didn’t let our
heads drop. At halftime we came in and
we sorted a few things out defensively,” Marlon said of the Rapids mentality
coming back out down a goal.
“We still wanted to get out and attack those guys and we
knew the goal was going to come. We just
had to continue to be aggressive going forward.
Second half the energy was ten times what it was in the first half. For me seeing the opponents-it seemed like
the altitude kicked in-they were a bit tired.
We’re fit here. Once those guys
started to get tired our second wind kicked in and we were able to create more
chances because of it.”
It was a perfectly weighted through ball by forward Kevin
Doyle that sprung Badji in the 52nd minute giving his strike partner
a great look to see the keeper off his line and deftly chip over his head for
the equalizer. After that, momentum grew
for Colorado as Saeid and Hairston begun to see their openings and find
teammates up front.
“Bringing Mo into the group has been a great addition for
us,” Marlon admits about the consistent Saeid.
“When he’s playing on my side he always gives me an outlet to play
forward. We combine a lot and I know he
always wants the ball. As much as we can
both get forward, if I’m not crossing the ball he’s crossing the ball, one of
us will get service into the box.”
That they did as Hairston floated a lovely ball for Doyle
later on but the Irishman’s flick-header was barely fingertip saved at the
goal. Just before stoppage time began it
was Saeid who drove a cross towards the back right post where Gordon does what
he has for years and headed home the game-winner in front of a frenzied crowd
on the night.
