Colorado Rapids secure first home win of 2023 in MLS play as Drew Moor is inducted into Gallery of Honor

COMMERCE CITY — It was a gritty, come-from-behind performance by the Colorado Rapids to secure its first home win of MLS play in 2023. The team played just like the man they honored: Longtime defender Drew Moor.

Moor became the seventh Rapids’ inductee into the team’s Gallery of Honor, and Braian Galván scored his first goal since August 2021 as a second half game-winner as the Burgundy Boys secured a 2-1 win over FC Dallas.

Colorado (3-10-8, 17 points) was winless in its last nine matches entering Saturday and the team got its first win in just over two months.

“For me, it felt like a really important moment for us as a team, because I’ve talked about confidence so much. It’s really, really great for them to put forth an effort like that, get over the hump and get the results,” Rapids head coach Robin Fraser said. “Because we’ve seen them play well throughout the year and not (be) quite as precise in both boxes as we need to be. It’s a fitting reward for them to push and play as hard as they did tonight, and to get the win.”

Colorado remained on the front foot for most of the first half, but FC Dallas took the lead. On an intended shot by Sam Junqua, Rapids’ center back Lalas Abubakar tried to flick it away but he re-directed the shot into the net.

Still, Colorado applied pressure and often. Andrew Gutman got in on the action in his first start in Burgundy since arriving from Atlanta United on Wednesday for $400,000 in GAM. Forward Calvin Harris and Gutman had numerous combinations of play and solid crosses into the box, but weren’t able to find the breakthrough early on.

It paid off in the 35th minute as Andreas Maxsø buried a header at the back post off of a corner kick served in from Connor Ronan, which leveled the score at 1-1 for the team’s first goal since May 31. It was the Dane’s first goal for Colorado since arriving in January. The emotion which came from Maxsø was reciprocated by the crowd, as he came close to scoring numerous times this season, but delivered when it mattered.

The teams went into the half tied, and that’s when the man of the hour, Moor came out to the field. He was honored by the club after an 18-year career in which he amassed 33,000 minutes played, over 435 total appearances in MLS and a decade in the Burgundy and Blue.

“… It’s why I’m so excited that my name will live forever on these walls forever, with those mountains behind it and my club in front of it and those names next to it, I’m so proud that my name will always be up there,” Moor addressed the crowd.

In the second half, the Rapids maintained pressure on FC Dallas. Gutman thought he scored his first goal for the club in the 55th minute, but was deemed to have committed a handball on another strong corner kick delivery.

Colorado would take the lead in the 62nd minute as a Video Assistant Referee decision was reversed and a handball in the box was given. Galván, the 22-year-old Argentinian, stepped up and converted from the spot on a “panenka” chip, for his first goal in nearly two years, as his last came Aug. 14, 2021.

Fraser then made numerous defensive changes to help see out the game and when the full-time whistle sounded, the lid lifted off of DSGP. It was the first home win in MLS play since Oct. 1, 2022. The team at last got to walk over to Centennial 38 and helped sing its signature “Country Roads” with the supporters.

“You come in to each week and you train hard, put everything into it for a match and it doesn’t come off, then you have to restart,” Harris said. “When you’ve got multiple losses, consecutively, it’s tough to come in each day and try and break that run. Today as well, the way we did it showed a lot about the team and it shows that we can do it.”

He added that Moor addressed the team following the win. The message: “Well done and carry on.”

Now, the team will find itself in a unique situation: Condensing a 90-minute match into just 45, as the team will play against Portland at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the second half of a game initially postponed by weather.

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