Rapids shut out by Austin FC at home, lose second straight

At a certain point the Rapids obsession with upgrading shots is delaying the inevitable Either way the ball does not go into the net Austin FC proved early that taking the chance when it comes nets positive results They pounced early on the principle and it would have been enough But Rapids forward Rafael Navarro doubled Austin s lead in the second half The Rapids lost - their seventh loss of the year The Rapids fell to ninth in the Western Conference - - just above the playoff line Saturday night marked the halfway point of the -game regular season There s not a whole lot to say other than just real disappointment on the night It s not something we re going to sit and rub our own faces in it s a missed opportunity Rapids coach Chris Armas explained With four of the next five at home there s more to come in terms of opportunity but disappointing There s a locker room full of guys that put a lot into things around here all week There s a good feeling about training and lots of things we re working on To not get the reward for that is disappointing Austin which had not won an MLS meeting since April scored its earliest goal of the season to open the battle s scoring In the sixth minute the ball identified Daniel Pereira at the top of the box after a couple of bounces and his shot bounced off Mikkel Desler and into the bottom left corner while Nico Hansen dove the other direction Desler was credited with the goal In the buildup a pass was played to Osman Bukari on the right wing for a run well beyond Rapids left back Jackson Travis He shot from a tough angle to force a save out of Nico Hansen before it dropped to Pereira The first goal was a development of a bad counterpress and they got the ball behind our defense They ve got quick strikers and the goal was something we need to learn from and work better centerback Chidozie Awaziem mentioned So disappointed because we required to win but it didn t turn out that way We got a lot of shots on target and we created a lot of chances but there s just chosen days like that The Rapids did little to make their own luck at least in a punchy way Their misses and an absurd five blocked shots were slow burns At one point in the second half the ball made its way around the top left to the top right of the box stopping at four Rapids players on the way all of whom could have shot but only one did It was blocked and went wide for a corner Related Articles Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen departs USMNT camp with knee injury Three Points Djordje Mihailovic shows why he deserves USMNT spot for Gold Cup Rapids endure lightning delay beat St Louis City for second straight win Rapids exposed their stride against Real Salt Lake with familiar formation Expect the same against St Louis Rapids Zack Steffen called up to USMNT for June friendlies On an Austin FC corner Brendan Hines-Ike faded away for a header on net but it touched Navarro on the way He was credited with an own goal Offensively he rattled off five shots one on goal in his first start since suffering an ankle injury against the San Jose Earthquakes nearly a month ago The Rapids had a staggering corners Austin had three and scored on one but couldn t convert another theme of what s becoming an underwhelming campaign Over the past five years the Rapids have been one of the best offensive set-piece teams in the league but have been almost a non-factor this year On the attacking end there were a couple of free headers tonight The goals haven t come but the seeds have been planted Armas revealed We ve just got to keep at it the deliveries the runs the timing the avenues to free up in certain spaces to attack We ll look hard at it set pieces are just such a big part of scoring goals and the guys put a lot into the set pieces The Rapids return to Dick s Sporting Goods Park next Saturday June for an Eastern-Conference matchup against an in-form Orlando City Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams