Three points: Rapids may have found new rival in San Diego FC

The Colorado Rapids newest superpower is the bounce-back For the second time in just eight MLS games this season the Rapids followed a bad loss with an outstanding home win over one of the best teams in the league The victim of the rebound this time was the league s newest franchise San Diego FC which lost - in its first trip to Colorado With the Rapids stuck in a rut trying to find consistent positive strength and K vin Cabral struggling to contribute to scoring something had to change And oh did it Here are three takeaways from one of the greater part entertaining games of the Rapids season so far It s Yapi hour somewhere On paper the largest part logical replacement for Cabral would have been Calvin Harris or Omir Fern ndez two similar players at the same position who have contributed more to goal scoring off the bench than Cabral has as a starter Even throw new Rapids winger Ted Ku-DiPietro who made his debut after subbing into the match in the th minute into that mix In reality it was Darren Yapi who made the biggest impact with a goal and an earned penalty in his first start of the season Outside of the direct contributions to scoring he brought a layer to the patented high press that was previously unseen this season He added balance to Rafael Navarro island up front and the two made life hard for SDFC s keeper and fullbacks We thought we could maybe create particular noise with the two strikers help us be a little bit more vertical and energetic in our pressing Yapi I think clearly helped in this Rapids coach Chris Armas commented Oftentimes Rafa is by himself in lots of moments but Yapi took a few pressure off Happy for Yapi for sure Yapi has had moments in his career like scoring his first MLS goal at the end of a - rout over St Louis or a game-winning goal at the death against Toluca in last year s Leagues Cup But this was far and away Yapi s preponderance impressive all-around performance over the span of his minutes Bold tactic allows Bassett to shine play with comfort Rapids midfielder Djordje Mihailovic believes Cole Bassett can get a little bit too preoccupied thinking about goals and assists to genuinely amount and provide them With only one goal and zero assists coming into Saturday night it has caused chosen visible frustration from Bassett that has at times spanned over multiple matches On Saturday he played as free as he did hard which if made consistent can provide a valuable wrinkle to the Rapids on both sides of the ball Defensively he displayed more intent in the press than he has all season and was a menace particularly to whichever fullback to whom he was assigned On offense a funky tournament plan placed him out wide sometimes on either side of the field but mostly was designed to create space around Bassett near the opposing box to generate offense It worked for basically the entire match but was rewarded with Bassett s first assist of the year in the th minute The goal by Navarro put the Rapids up - but it turned out to be vital as SDFC brought it to within one in the th minute It was better being higher up the pitch tonight A lot of moments this year I was kind of stuck in that double pivot and I was so focused on dictating the battle for the band and being the one to drive the squad forward Bassett revealed I think I m at my best when I m around the goal and creating chances for teammates and for myself The coaches harp that to me and we had a similar sort of conversation and I did with band president P draig Smith as well they were like You don t have to outcome all the goals you don t have to put so much pressure on your shoulders every single week to be a out of just let the competition find you and you ll make things happen So I was a lot happier New ar rival Two good teams with contrasting styles One brand new the other an MLS original the former snatching a member from the latter via the expansion draft Throw in a tight scoreline specific inconsistent officiating at times and a chock-full away fan section that stood up crooning the entire night and things were bound to get chippy It provided an extra layer of challenge for the Rapids already present by facing a new and so far great franchise trying to position itself in a competitive league Colorado along with the match itself delivered Naturally San Diego already has three in-state rivals built into its geography and the storied history of those three clubs It has played two of them already LAFC and LA Galaxy and has won both LAFC put up a strong episode to be one of SDFC s biggest rivals with a close finish - and a red card but a battered Galaxy organization took a beating Related Articles Rapids aim to bring a little bit more to the table in first-ever San Diego FC matchup Three points Up-and-down Rapids uninspiring in loss at Vancouver Rapids sign USYNT winger Bryce Jamison from Orange County SC Three points Rapids gain momentum with convincing win over Charlotte Djordje Mihailovic scores twice as Rapids blank Charlotte FC With one exceptional battle San Diego and Colorado went from nd and th respectively in the Western Conference to tied for rd with points each Could this be a brewing out-of-state rivalry out west I think so Armas pondered with a smirk It s the way that contest started and finished with capacity and two I d say contrasting styles We re looking to play against teams that want to test our press and they passed the test a lot of times they beat our press It s a fun challenge I saw a lot of their fans in the building give them a lot of credit that they made the trip That could be captivating you know maybe our fans make the trip when we go there That opportunity will come in just a month when Colorado travels to San Diego for a midweek challenge on Wednesday May In the meantime the Rapids next meeting is an away match against the Houston Dynamo on April Want more sports news Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver s teams