Struggling team becomes worthy of run at playoffs

COMMERCE CITY» During Thursday night’s wild Rapids game, New England coach Bruce Arena muttered to the camera at halftime, “Does anyone know what’s going on here?”

While Arena’s words summed up the chaos of a first half that saw 220-plus minutes of weather delays, they also applied to the upand-down nature of Colorado’s season.

After firing head coach Anthony Hudson and an 11-game winless stretch to start the year — tied for the longest in MLS history — the Rapids ripped off a sevenmatch unbeaten streak in league that ended with Friday’s 2-1 loss to New England.

What caused a run that saw Colorado go 5-0-2 over seven weeks, starting with a 1-0 upset of the L.A. Galaxy on May 19?

May it have been Conor Casey being appointed interim head coach at the start of May? He inherited a winless club and has pushed them to a 5-3-2 record in his first 10 games as a head coach at any level.

Maybe the additions of center back Lalas Abubakar and winger Jonathan Lewis — both right before the streak started — sparked the club? Though Lewis has spent much of the past few weeks away with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the Gold Cup, Abubakar has been a rock.

Or maybe general manager Padraig Smith was right when, upon firing Hudson, he declared the Rapids better than their production?

The definitive answer might not be apparent.

The important takeaways from Colorado’s streak are that the team is, indeed, playoff competitive and capable of providing entertaining moments.

Their season may have been highlighted two weekends ago in another delay-ridden affair in which the Rapids upset first-place LAFC 1-0 — a booked to the road win over the Galaxy that started it all.

Each game displayed fundamental defense, cohesion and the ability to execute when an opportunity presented itself.

A 3-2 win over USMNT striker Gyasi Zardes and the Columbus Crew with an 89th minute goal by Nicolás Mezquida will go down as one of the top moments of the season. As will the three Tim Howard shutouts that once again displayed his legend during his final season.

Once more the Rapids are back at the bottom of the table, but also within striking distance of the playoffs at eight points out of the final spot.

Many of the Rapids’ problems from the past few games — lack of open-play goals, little possession time and unorganized attacks — were more apparent because of the final result against New England. The defense conceded two goals for only the second time in the past eight games and the offense only scored on a corner kick.

It’s too early to say if the form they took in June was the peak of their season. At the very least the Rapids showed they have a young core in place to compete. Their plan to spend this offseason will be made easier by what they retain.