Negative No. 1 – The final third
Mastroeni called the season finale 4-1 loss to the Portland Timbers the “same old swan song,” stating that his team wasn’t “good enough in the final third and not hungry enough.”
How many times have we heard Mastroeni say something to this effect?
Whether it’s cashing in on good scoring opportunities or effectively clearing the ball in the defensive third, the Rapids struggled. Plain and simple.
Often times the box score speaks for itself. The Rapids scored a league-worst 33 goals, five behind the next lowest total by rival Real Salt Lake (38). It’s usually hard to score if you don’t shoot, and the Rapids didn’t do much of that this season either. Their combined 127 shots on goal was third-fewest in the league.
The Rapids also committed the most fouls in the league with 506, compared to the league average of 440. More often than not, these fouls gave way to free kicks that didn’t help the Rapids’ plight, like the one seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaPuJvudFcE
