Colorado Rapids reduced to nine men in 2-0 loss to Orlando City as team feels “snake bitten” by red-card decisions

The Colorado Rapids have so much fuel and tenacity when they step onto the field that, at times, can spill over and can stand in the way of getting results.

Saturday night against Orlando City was one such instance as the Rapids had two players, Braian Galván and Lalas Abubakar, who were shown red cards and were reduced to nine men as Colorado lost 2-0, its seventh loss in its last eight games.

It was the second successive week in which the Rapids were reduced a man and the fourth time this season, half of which came Saturday. In 2022 Colorado had six players sent off which was tied for most in MLS and the team was second in yellow-cards earned (94). While the makeup of the team has changed, the ability to scrap for every challenge, tooth-and-nail, is part of the club’s DNA.

After the game, Rapids head coach Robin Fraser was asked if discipline has come at the cost of compromising their style of play, he adamantly rejected the idea that discipline was an issue at all. Fraser said the group feels “snake bitten” but more than anything wants consistency from the officials making game-changing decisions in the blink of an eye.

“I disagree that’s it’s a discipline issue completely,” Fraser said after the game. “Moïse Bombito’s second yellow card last week was a discipline issue? I certainly don’t think so. Lalas gets a second yellow for tugging on a player and in the dying moments of the game a player does the exact same thing to Danny Leyva and he doesn’t get a yellow card. How is that our disciplinary issue?”

He expounded further with a later question.

“The team feels absolutely hard done every single time they play by the officials. They feel like every single time they go out calls are being made against them, it’s a very difficult situation to be in for any players, much less given the situation we’re in. And the delight that the referee seemed to take to hand out red cards.”

Colorado (2-9-7, 13 points) started off well as it handled Orlando City’s relentless early pressure and created a few half-chances of its own on set-piece deliveries but couldn’t convert.

In the 24th minute, Kévin Cabral beat Orlando’s Antônio Carlos when Cabral had three other defenders around him and appeared to be breaking away and could’ve been considered a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. After initially showing a yellow card, referee Rosendo Mendoza consulted his crew and opted to keep it at just a yellow.

Mendoza didn’t hesitate to show Galván his marching orders, the second such instance in the last 28 days, as he landed a high boot into the ribs of Wilder Cartagena in the 34th minute going after a 50-50 ball. The teams went in scoreless at halftime.