Colorado overcame a two-goal deficit in the opening quarter hour to draw with Sporting KC.
After being scored on twice by Sporting Kansas City in the first 14 minutes, the Colorado Rapids were on the verge of falling apart."Anytime there are big changes -- new coach, new to our coaching staff, new formation, new schemes, and a lot of new signings -- anytime you make changes like that there is going to be an adjustment period," Drew Moor said. "But defense, at the end of the day, is keeping the other team off the score sheet. When you fall behind 2-0 in the first 13 minutes, you are putting yourself in a big hole."
Teal Bunbury scored both goals in Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
"It’s tough to keep your head up," midfielder Wells Thompson said. "It's disheartening at home with fans who you want to win and play hard for. We had to realize that we have a lot of time left, and have to continue to fight and not fall apart, and yell at each other."
Head coach Oscar Pareja is earning a positive track record of halftime speeches, enabling his team twice this season to come back from a 2-0 score to either win or tie it up.
"I thought he did a good job motivating us," Thompson continued. "He believed in us, and we were ready to go. I thought we finished the first half on a positive note. He continued to pour belief in us, and spur us on, and we believed we can win ourselves."
Tyrone halved the deficit just minutes after the restart.
"He was very positive," Moor said of the halftime speech that sparked the turnaround. "He said, 'Don't change what you are doing; we are going to get back in this game'."
That’s exactly what the Colorado Rapids did. By the 61st minute, the hosting team had tied it up through Kosuke Kimura.
"You never know when you are going to get your next chance," Kosuke Kimura said, "and today coach told me, ‘Kosuke, can you do it?’ and I said, ’Yeah, I know I can do it.’ He told us all, ‘Keep going for the first goal, not the second, not the third, but the first goal, one at a time.’ You never know when you get a chance, but make sure that when you get it you make it count."
Additional reporting contributed by Tim Gardner
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