CHESTER – There is, from the Union perspective, only one thing worse than finishing third in the Leagues Cup. That would be putting in just as much effort on the legs and traveling to Ohio twice to finish fourth.
Before a very sparse crowd at Subaru Park Sunday, the Union found it. Downingtown native Zack Steffen stopped two penalty kicks in the shootout as the Colorado Rapids prevailed in PKs, 3-1, after a game that finished tied at 2 after 90 minutes.
Steffen denied efforts by Daniel Gazdag and Tai Baribo, who had scored twice in regulation, to start the shootout. Connor Ronan and Oliver Mbaizo traded misses, the last clanging the crossbar to give Colorado its third shootout win of the tournament and the third and final CONCACAF Champions Cup berth in 2025.
It leaves the Union, who won this game last year over Monterrey, dented in hoping a Leagues Cup run could vault them into the playoff picture.
“We put ourselves in a hole in the regular season,” manager Jim Curtin said. “But we also know we have a group that can go on a win streak. Three wins in a row in this league, and all of a sudden you’re right back up the table. That’s the reality of it.”
Calvin Harris and Oliver Larraz scored on either side of halftime for Colorado, which was routed 4-0 in its opener of the tournament and needed a PK victory over Leon just to escape its group. One-goal wins over Mexican clubs Juarez and Toluca followed before prevailing in PKs over Club America, with Steffen the hero in goal and taking the decisive PK. Chris Armas’ team throughout showed the toughness that has elevated it to fourth in the West.
Both teams were coming off semifinal humblings – Colorado losing 4-0 to Los Angeles FC, the Union 3-1 in Columbus. Sunday’s somnambulant start fit the occasion. It was broken at the half-hour mark, Baribo setting up an effort from near the penalty spot by Gazdag that Steffen saved, then outletted for a counterattack in which Andre Blake flashed a big left hand to paw away a turning Rafael Navarro effort.
Colorado broke through first in the 38th, a counter through Navarro splitting the center backs and playing in Harris to kiss home a goal.
That awakened something in the Union, in a tournament that has awakened the form of Baribo. Mikael Uhre turned a second ball off a free kick back into the mixer. Kai Wagner, who had delivered the original set piece, crept in near the edge of the six-yard box and volleyed a header across the grain that Baribo pumped into the back of the net in the 41st.
A further three minutes and the Union had the lead. Quinn Sullivan ripped a 30-yard attempt off the post to Steffen’s right. It caromed out to Wagner, whose feed back into the dangerous areas was deflected. Baribo was quickest to the loose ball to poke home his seventh goal of the tournament. It’s his 13th goal in all competitions, all since June 19.
“Obviously I scored seven goals in this tournament so I can say I like this tournament, but the schedule is pretty busy,” Baribo said. “We go into a tough week with a game on Wednesday and a game on Saturday. It’s too bad that we finish in fourth place, but we need to keep our heads up and focus on the league.”
The more difficult moments for Curtin, though, came in a second half where the Union didn’t match the Rapids. On a third consecutive corner kick, Larraz fired home a long-distance effort through traffic to tie it at 2.
“The second half was really poor,” Curtin said. “We didn’t have intensity. We thought maybe the game was already won, and we paid for it.”
Both teams prevailed in two shootouts, but Steffen gave the Rapids the emotional edge, playing in Chester for the first time since his days with Columbus in 2019. It was pressed when he stopped Gazdag to start the shootout. Gazdag, who is 30-for-31 on PKs for the Union, is a perplexing 1-for-5 in shootouts.
Baribo followed and was also denied.
“I think it gives you a lot of confidence playing with Zack,” Larraz said. “You almost know that if you miss one, he’s going to save quite a few, so it’s OK. … Zack’s been incredible, the goalkeeper of the tournament, no doubt.”
The Union go straight back into the MLS grind, against Columbus Wednesday and at New York Red Bulls next Saturday. They sit 10th in the East, one point behind Atlanta for the last playoff spot but seven adrift of Orlando City in seventh to avoid a play-in game. With the recent transfers of Jose Martinez and Damion Lowe, they’ll chase it at less than full strength.
Jack Elliott and Jakob Glesnes started together for the sixth time in seven matches. That appears to be the Union’s only option with Lowe in the final stages of a move to Saudi Arabian club Al-Okhdood. “He wound up getting, I’ll just say, a much better offer from Saudi Arabia,” Curtin said of Lowe, who was out of contract at season’s end. “… He has an opportunity now to set up his family with the contract that he got there, so we didn’t get in the way and block that from happening.”
Curtin focused on the positives of the run to the third-place game, what is now a 5-1-3 run through the last nine games.
“Forty-seven teams entered, and we finished fourth,” Curtin said. “So not good enough, not what we wanted. But have to regroup quickly now and get ready for Columbus.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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