The Rapids have suffered against three good Liga MX teams in a row during Leagues Cup. Somehow, they’ve prevailed in all three.
Teams like Club León, FC Juárez and Deportivo Toluca are good, but child’s play compared to the reigning Liga MX champions Club América. The Rapids needed some special moments to even make the knockouts and to play their way to the quarterfinals of Leagues Cup, but a win against América on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif., will likely require much more.
But as always, the Rapids love the challenge.
“We try to make sure we’re physically and emotionally prepared and ready to throw everything at the opponent,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “We always step on that field knowing we’ll have to be at our best and this one’s no different. We’re excited for the challenge. It’s always that mindset; it’s a challenge for us. So yeah, here we go again.”
Both teams are coming off of wins that required excellence late. América, down 2-1 to St. Louis City down the stretch, tied it at 2-all in the 79th minute, used a penalty in the 86th minute to go ahead, and added another in the 90+8th minute for good measure.
The Rapids, after conceding in the 83rd minute to make it a 1-all game, scored in the very last minute of added time to steal a quarterfinal bid. Somehow, the Rapids just needed their only two shots on target to sneak in, despite Toluca racking up 21 shots (six on goal) and dominating possession and chance-creation.
In terms of what Toluca did well against the Rapids, América is only better at them. Against St. Louis, América had 10 shots on frame, and four goals would suggest more proficiency in finishing those chances, something Toluca struggled to do against the Rapids.
For midfielder Cole Bassett, the feel of these games get lost in the stats and figures related to performance. Both he and Armas have said before that the numbers don’t weigh as heavily in the game plan for knockout games against Liga MX teams in a tournament where games happen every few days.
In other words, you may think you know what an opponent will do, but you never do until you step on the field. With minimal rest and preparation time, the focus becomes recovery and the will to endure pain.
“We don’t want to focus completely on (América). We’ve got quality here,” Bassett said. “We don’t want every game to be like Toluca, but it’s good to know for us that we can suffer in those ways and still win and take our chances.
“I think that’s the biggest key for us: If you take your chances against these teams, you’ll be well off. Watching the St. Louis game back from the other day, I think (St. Louis) did have a fair amount of chances, so hopefully we can create in a similar way, but finish off a couple more.”
As the entirety of the tournament is played in the U.S. and Canada, the four highest seeds from Liga MX got to choose hub locations to play matches as the home team should they be the higher seed in a given matchup. América, having the No. 1 seed overall, chose California as its hub and will host the No. 46 Rapids at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, Calif. — LA Galaxy’s home stadium.
América hosted St. Louis there last Tuesday in front of a sea of yellow. Balloons, streamers and banners in the América supporters’ section really nailed the feeling of a home game away from home for the Mexican giants. Saturday should be no different when the match kicks off at 8 p.m.
“As a player especially, you want to test yourself against the best in the world, and this team is the best in Mexico, so I think it’ll be a test for us, especially in an atmosphere where it’s not at their home, but I think they’re going to definitely be the home team there in terms of fans and who’s at the stadium,” Bassett said. “These are the types of games you love: knockout style, go in there with a chance to win and hopefully move onto the semifinals.”
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