One thing I’ve come to learn from watching too much soccer for the past six years is that the game often comes down to the little things.  In a 90-minute match, everything can be calm and controlled and well-organized for 99.8 percent of the time.  And then one player makes a bad touch, another player is out of position, and suddenly you’ve conceded the go-ahead goal.  A few minutes later, you look up at the scoreboard to find that you’ve lost, 1-0. 

Against Orlando City SC, a club that has struggled of late and generally considered to be below-average by MLS standards, the Rapids looked poised for their first win of the 2019 season.  As the game went on, Colorado controlled both possession and the game tempo for long stretches; they put Orlando on their heels defensively, and they produced six shots on target, equalling the best mark they have reached this season.  This was a result of the team putting together a bevy of lovely little offensive sequences, and the results were good, as both Nicolas Mezquida and Cole Bassett recorded their first goals of 2019. 

But, oy, the mistakes.  There were missed assignments, defensive holes in the middle of the field, minor errors and failures to aggressively chase the so-called ‘second ball’ — the ball that pings away from a first touch or block while players reassess who has it and where to be.  Put them all together, and Saturday night it all added up to Colorado conceding four goals on the road in Florida.  That came after last week’s debacle against Houston Dynamo, when Alberth Elis and crew torched the Rapids for four goals. 

With the 4-3 defeat to Orlando, Colorado conceded 4 goals in consecutive matches, having given up 4 goals to Houston the week before. 

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Before that, #Rapids96 had not conceded 4 goals in back-to-back games since Aug 17 & 20, 2014.  They lost 4-2 to #DCU and 4-3 to #LAGalaxy. —  Mark Asher Goodman (@soccer_rabbi) April 9, 2019

Colorado and Orlando were evenly matched, and the game was exciting throughout.  The burgundy boys took their first lead of the season early and went on top again in the second half, only to give it all away before the final whistle.  The devil was in the details, and he undid Colorado yet again. 

We’ll turn our attention to one broken play that cost Colorado dearly — a play that, had it gone differently, would have at least allowed the Rapids to escape Central Florida with a draw. 

Total Protonic Reversal

When you have a corner kick, you are in an excellent position to score a goal.  Soccer analyst Michael Caley once determined that a team has about a 3.5-percent chance of scoring from a corner kick. 

Because your team is at the farthest point from their own goal, and because your team has possession, and because the ball is dead and you can plan exactly what you want to do, it also stands to reason that the odds of the team-in-possession conceding a goal on a corner kick should be extremely low.  And it’s basically true: Caley found that a team in possession concedes immediately after a corner only 0.4 percent of the time.  If a team concedes at the opposite end of the pitch after having a corner kick, it is a result of bad luck, defensive incompetence, or both. 

And yet, that’s exactly what Colorado did in the 33rd minute when they conceded a go-ahead goal to Orlando. 

The failures on this play were many.  I have broken it down into two ten-second clips, which I describe below. 

#Rapids96 have conceded 16 goals so far this year; 2.67 per game. 

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Of all of the goals, this one frustrates me the most, in the 33rd minute. 

Pt.1 pic.twitter.com/tXNRYO8zT9 — Mark Asher Goodman (@soccer_rabbi) April 9, 2019

The Rapids have five players in the 18-yard box.  Jack Price is on the corner delivering the ball, and there are three players at the edge of the box: Dillon Serna (No.  17), Kellyn Acosta (10) and Keegan Rosenberry (2).  The “deep man” is centerback Deklan Wynne (27).  For starters, it’s an aggressive look.  Teams will often put two players deep, just in case. 

The ball comes in and bounces perfectly to Orlando City wingback Ruan (2), who turns on the afterburners and takes off on a 70-yard run, leaving everyone else in the dust.  For starters, that’s bad.  Forget about the pace of the Rapids players — somebody should be deep enough to keep Ruan at bay without needing to beat him in a footrace.  Tactically, this corner-kick setup was dangerous, and the worst possible thing that could happen in this scenario — a fleet-footed footballer getting the ball on a break-out with a perfect bounce — happens. 

Serna, Acosta and Wynne are left to try and save the day, with Orlando striker Dom Dwyer (14) and midfielder Sebastián Méndez (8) streaking in toward goal. 

Frustrating conceded goal off a corner, Pt.  2. # Rapids96 pic.twitter.com/IKMpded80w — Mark Asher Goodman (@soccer_rabbi) April 9, 2019

Phase 2.  Up until now, the major problems were tactical because the right pieces weren’t in good places to stop a counter-attack.  But from the clip above, we start to see the problems cascading upon themselves.  Serna is too far behind the play to do anything, but Acosta swoops in to cut down on Ruan’s angle.  Deklan Wynne has come right in front of the goal, protecting the most dangerous space.  But when Ruan crosses the ball into the box, Wynne makes awkward and glancing contact with it.  He’s got an opportunity to hit this ball hard and square away from danger, but he muffs it.  Keegan Rosenberry runs in late to cover Mendez at the far post, but the deflection means that he’s unable to make a play. 

The ball squirts to Orlando’s Dom Dwyer, just as Colorado’s Bassett (26) arrives to help.  He runs to behind Dwyer, which isn’t going to be of any help.  Rosenberry is closing down Dwyer, but oddly, Wynne heads over there, too, which will become a problem when Tesho Akindele (13) and Sasha Kljestan (16) arrive in the box, unmarked.  Serna heads to defend the line on Tim Howard’s far post, which isn’t really the best decision either.  Acosta is still getting up.  Benny Feilhaber, Nicolas Mezquida and Jack Price have been beaten downfield by Orlando’s players.  A person wonders whether a blistering run from one of them might have resulted in a cleared ball rather than a goal. 

So the Rapids only have five players back to defend, and only one (Rosenberry) is in a position to do anything.  Dwyer’s shot is stopped by Tim Howard, but he tips it into the path of Akindele, who mops up the rebound and scores the go-ahead goal.  Tim does well with this ball, but perhaps he could have tipped it out further.  Meanwhile, Wynne, Serna, and to a lesser extent Bassett have made an error, and the result is a goal that would ultimately send Colorado down to yet another defeat. 

By comparison, here’s a very-nearly identical play between the USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds and Louisville City FC. 

Here's the USL Pittsburgh Riverhounds covering defensively off of a corner to stymie a counter-attack. 

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Three defenders at midfield, one deep.  The player that recovers the ball really doesn't have any good outlet to go to.  pic.twitter.com/AsuzG11nye — Mark Asher Goodman (@soccer_rabbi) April 9, 2019

The ball comes out to roughly the same place.  But the Riverhounds have their outside-the-box players about 10 yards deeper, and they react faster, racing back to close down any outlet for the dribbler.  He slices an errant pass out of bounds, and nothing happens.  The positioning and tactics were safer, and the players reacted faster, and the Riverhounds did not concede a goal.  If you do it right, that’s what it looks like, 99.6 percent of the time.  The Colorado Rapids did not. 

Maybe it looks like I’m obsessing; that’ I’m dissecting the minutiae.  I do this because the margins in Major League Soccer, a league of great parity, are razor thin.  The difference between winning and losing is so close: it is a moment of poor footing on defense, a ball passed an inch too far, a player deciding in an instant to run to the wrong opponent.  I do it also because this 20-second moment is demonstrative of the broader problems of this team on defense, as they make little mistakes that turn into game-changing goals for the other team.  Mistakes like this are why Colorado has conceded 16 goals in six games, the worst in MLS.  If they can score three goals a game like they did against Orlando, they don’t need to be perfect on defense.  They just need to not be terrible. 

Colorado is close to getting it right, but they need everybody to play a step better and a touch smarter.  Being talented and dangerous in the attack won’t get you very far if your defense lets you down, time and time again.