Late Navarro goal is disallowed, Rapids draw with Seattle
The Colorado Rapids (4-4-2) drew with the Seattle Sounders (3-4-3) 1-1 Saturday night after late-game drama. Colorado captain Djordje Mihailovic scored for the third game in a row, but the Rapids couldn't pull out the victory.
Colorado was without starting goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who was serving a one match ban after receiving a red card at the end of last week’s draw in Houston. Backup keeper Adam Beaudry was also out with an injury, so third-string goalie Nicholas Defreitas-Hansen started in between the sticks for the Rapids.
Following two early missed opportunities by the Rapids, midfielder Cole Bassett pickpocketed Seattle’s midfield and had the ball one-on-one with the keeper. Bassett’s shot beat Seattle’s Stefan Frei but hit the left post and dribbled out of play.
In the last minute of the second half, Sounders’ defender Kalani Kossa-Rienzi ran up the right side of the box and passed the ball back to a wide-open Danny Musovski who tapped the ball past Defreitas Hanse to give Seattle the lead right before half-time.
10 minutes into the second half the Burgundy Boys were awarded a free-kick a yard above the box. Mihailovic blasted the ball under Seattle’s player wall into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
“I took a chance that they don’t jump, that could have been really bad, passing right to the wall, “Mihailovic said after the game. “Just the decision in the moment.”
Five minutes later the Rapids once again beat the Sounders on a corner-kick when Rafael Navarro headered the ball into the top left corner. Navarro’s header was denied by a diving Frei.
With a tie game in the 86th minute, Navarro converted a header into a goal, but the score was disallowed after a phantom foul was called on the striker. Since the whistle was blown before the goal the foul could not be reviewed by the Video Assistant Referee.
In the dying moments of the match a Connor Ronan cross found the head of substitute Kevin Cabral who redirected it into the top corner of the goal. But once again the header was saved by a diving Frei.
“We probably did enough to get the win tonight,” Rapids head coach Chris Armas said. “ We score a goal, the whistles blown, I'm not sure that's a foul.”
The Rapids will travel to Audi Field to take on D.C. United (2-3-5) Saturday at 5:30 p.m. MT. The game can be streamed on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV.