The Colorado Rapids’ season opener against St. Louis CITY seemed a bit of a game of opposites.
For a team that loves defending against possession and attacking in transition, Colorado was stymied in the latter and forced into holding the ball longer than it’s accustomed. By contrast, St. Louis found success in the break and nearly scored on a handful of its 16 shots.
But St. Louis was met with as stingy a defense as the Rapids could have put on the field. And that’s with three defensive mainstays — Andreas Maxsø, Sam Vines and Jackson Travis — out with injury. That crew, man of the match-winner Zack Steffen included, rose to the occasion. The offense did not.
Here are three takeaways from a scoreless draw at Energizer Park on Saturday night:
Atencio debut may cause selection headache for Armas
Rapids coach Chris Armas loves his central midfielders, but that room is just about full.
The club’s newest acquisition at the position, Josh Atencio, made the starting lineup and his Rapids debut in one of the two defensive midfielder spots. Upon his signing, the defensive metrics alone, along with a proven ability to facilitate attacks, made him a perfect fit for the No. 6 job.
After just a week of training in Colorado, Atencio said the club already feels like a “home away from home” with the way he fits in. Armas may feel the same way with the additional options Atencio provides in and out of possession.
But it forced Cole Bassett, who excelled as a six last year, out wide while Oliver Larraz played next to Atencio. Having too much good at one position isn’t a bad problem, but Bassett struggled to find a rhythm in an unfamiliar spot.
“I still like when (Bassett) is in these spaces where he’s driving with the ball and he finds himself in and around the box,” Armas said. “A big thing Cole brings up there: you can see structurally how smart he is, intelligent, willing to do the defensive pressing moments.”
Those things are true, but Bassett thrives with options to either side and a goal in front of him. Not so much out wide … at least in a one-game sample size against St. Louis.
Steffen gets ahead of the post-shot xG curve
Happy, Zack Steffen critics?
The Rapids posted their first clean sheet in April last season — game eight of the campaign. With an improved back line in front of him, Steffen did it in his first MLS game of 2025.
Critics bashed Steffen’s advanced metrics, particularly post-shot xG (expected goals), early in 2024. Before a remarkable Leagues Cup run, he gave up as many as nine total goals below what’s expected after shots were taken.
He’s proving again and again that the stat was more a reflection of struggling to return to form from injury than it was of his actual full-health, full-confidence ability.
He received a bit of luck on a 17th-minute beauty of a stop with the forearm at point-blank range. But his diving effort to stop a glancing header in the second half from squeezing into the bottom corner was far from fortunate.
Add those two saves to a pair of world-class stops with the U.S. Men’s National Team a month ago, and fans should find it much harder to knock Steffen.
He finished with five total stops on the night, a mark that took him six games to eclipse last year.
“He’s class. I’ve always respected Zack. He’s just a different goalie,” said Atencio, who just came from a team with another great keeper in Stefan Frei. “He’s so good with his feet, he can ping a ball into the pocket and he can put it wherever he wants. He bailed us out a couple times tonight.”
Back line better at putting out fires
If a currently injured Andreas Maxsø, who reportedly garnered interest this winter from clubs in the Middle East, moves on from the Rapids, maybe it wouldn’t be as detrimental to the team as one would have thought a month ago.
After just two games in a Rapids jersey, the center back pairing of Chidozie Awaziem and Ian Murphy has officially arrived.
St. Louis was relentless on offense and should have scored on multiple occasions beyond the two saves from Steffen. Awaziem stole the show with numerous attack-busting plays while Murphy was quietly solid and well-positioned, slowing down movements even before they came to fruition.
“It’s a big credit to the group because we have to suffer without the ball here and there,” Armas said. “We had to put out a lot of fires. Any time (you play) a team like that, that’s pretty good at forcing coincidences, it’s tricky. They value crosses from lots of spaces, so a lot of actions we had to defend.
“We’ve worked hard at that, being uncomfortable and defending our box with little principles and little behaviors we think showed up on the night.”
The last time the Rapids looked this good defensively, Moïse Bombito still wore burgundy. So far, with Reggie Cannon healthy and bringing the bite to the back line, this defense looks even better.
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