Negative No. 2 – Consistency
Let’s start talking about our home performances. The Rapids finished with a sub-.500 record at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park (5-7-5). The inability to establish a presence on home turf doesn’t bode well for any team.
Wins were always isolated on either side of the schedule by draws or losses. The Rapids went from blanking the eventual Western Conference champion FC Dallas to losing consecutive efforts to fellow bottom-dwellers in the West, the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake.
But those inconsistent efforts didn’t occur only in Commerce City. Perhaps the epitome of the Rapids erratic ways is best illustrated by their last two matches. In their penultimate game, the Rapids handed playoff-bound Sporting Kansas City only their second home loss of the year with a 2-0 win that some players called the team’s best performance of the year. That euphoria gave way to a feeling of “here-we-go-again” four days later when the Portland Timbers skewered the Rapids 4-1 to close the season.
The same can be said of the Rapids 1-1 draw against D.C. United in mid-September. In a game that Mastroeni called “unforgivable” the Rapids gave up a goal in the 87th minute to force the draw.
Colorado’s offense regularly went long stretches without scoring and the club often seemed content to play for single points from a draw. Sadly, too often the defense was not stout enough to hold the line and wins turned into draws and draws turned into losses.
