The Rapids (13-9-5, fourth in Western Conference) looked down and out in their return to MLS play. FC Dallas’ super subs sank them, but Rapids forward Rafael Navarro brought them back to the surface. Darren Yapi, a super sub in his own right as of late, chipped in a winner in second-half stoppage time.

Actually, Navarro drew Colorado equal twice. Once to equalize in the 11th minute on a rebound which Dallas goalkeeper Maarten Paes spilled and gifted Navarro. Then again in the 76th minute when Djordje Mihailovic’s penalty was saved, and Cole Bassett got the rebound and found Navarro for a tap-in.

His first brace since April was good enough to run away from Toyota Stadium with all three points in a 3-2 win. With 13 goals on the year, he’s inching closer to the Rapids franchise record for goals in a single season (16) with seven matches remaining.

Yapi, in the 90+3rd minute, took a nice ball from Mihailovic and tapped it right over Paes to win the game for his third goal in all competitions this year. With the assist, Mihailovic became the second Rapids player in club history to record 10 goals and 10 assists in a season.

Dallas got out of the gates quickly with a goal in the 6th minute. Sam Junqua took a long shot from outside of the box, which Rapids keeper Zack Steffen couldn’t corral. The spill went directly to Logan Farrington, who couldn’t miss from that close.

The second Dallas goal was in the 66th minute, not long after Dallas stars Jesus Ferreira and Petar Musa subbed into the game. Ferreira started a counterattack with a nice ball to Junqua down the left sideline. He set Musa up perfectly to finish a header and take the lead before the Rapids cast their magic in Frisco.

Not long before that goal, Steffen came up with a huge save on a free header by Nkosi Tafari from point blank range. He jumped, extended all of his limbs to make himself as big as possible, and got a leg to it.

With 44 points and seven matches to go, the Rapids are much closer to their first playoff berth since 2021. They’ll have a much-needed two week break before hosting Portland Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

The Colorado Rapids are inching toward their first MLS Playoffs berth since 2021 after a run to third place in Leagues Cup.

With eight games left in the regular season, the Rapids are fourth in the Western Conference — good enough for home-field advantage in the first round. But the position is by no means comfortable.

Vancouver, in sixth place, is only three points behind Colorado in the standings with two games in hand. Seattle has steadily crept up the table and is now just one point behind the Rapids.

The Leagues Cup run was as exhilarating as it was exhausting, with the Rapids securing a CONCACAF Champions Cup berth. For coach Chris Armas, there is no satisfaction yet.

“Complacency can kill any organization,” Armas said. “We’re well aware of that. That’s real, but that’s not us. We deliberately don’t get too high or low. We love the winning and we enjoy it, but we look hard, win or lose, at how to get better, and we also look at the good that’s going on.

“This is not a group that naturally behaves that way, but it’s real. When you have some success, it could creep in, but we’re right back to work.”

For players like midfielder Cole Bassett, the mindset is the same. Third place in Leagues Cup was nice, but the Rapids didn’t add a new trophy to the case.

Tuesday’s training was the team’s first since returning from Leagues Cup, and it was lively and competitive. As the playoff race tightens, there is a belief the intensity at training is where it needs to be. Now it’s just a matter of keeping it up through another month and a half.

“We all said after (the third-place game at Philadelphia) that we’re not done yet. We didn’t want to finish in third, we wanted to win,” Bassett said. “But now we know it’s tight in the league and teams are caught up in games with us, and before, we felt like we had a little bit of a gap and now we don’t.”

Of the eight remaining games, five are against teams sitting between seventh and 11th place within the conference standings. The other three are against conference leader LA Galaxy, fifth-place Seattle and playoff longshot Sporting Kansas City.

First up is a match at FC Dallas at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Dallas, coming off a wild 4-3 win over D.C. United a week ago, is in 10th place in the west, only a point behind Austin in the final wild-card spot.

While the Rapids won’t face many top clubs to finish the regular season, the jostle for playoff position, particularly for teams like Dallas, presents a unique challenge. It’s one Armas thinks his team is ready to meet.

“We’ve seen it all year. (Thirty-three) games and we have not had one easy game,” Armas said. “We just came out of a month where every game feels tougher than the last. Every Mexican team was tricky, big-time teams and rosters like Club América, LAFC, Philly, there’s nothing easy there and there’s nothing easy left for us.

“This is what it’s going to be and we’ve actually had a lot of reps — seven months — of this (stuff). But it’s good, we honestly love it. It’s pushing these guys as young men and as young footballers, it’s pushing the coaches to manage the locker room, manage anxiety, manage the fear and manage guys not playing as much. It’s not easy, but this is an iron-sharpens-iron type of thing.”

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Zack Steffen, who has re-emerged as one of MLS’s top goalkeepers during the Rapids’ wild Leagues Cup run, came up big again in Colorado’s third penalty shootout of the tournament. This time, it was in a pivotal third-place game with a spot in the CONCACAF Champions Cup on the line.

A Rapids collapse at the end of the first half was avenged by Chris Armas adjustments and, fittingly, a vintage Steffen performance in a 3-1 penalty shootout victory at Subaru Park on Sunday.

After playing the Philadelphia Union to a 2-all tie in regulation, Steffen channeled one last bit of PK magic to secure the Champions Cup spot.

The veteran keeper saved the first two Union penalties by Daniel Gazdag and Tai Baribo, who scored both Union goals while watching Djordje Mihailovic and Cole Bassett drill theirs. Philadelphia never recovered.

“Mid-season, (Steffen) took a lot of heat. There are a lot of critics out there who are very quiet now,” Armas said. “Mid-season, when a couple of goals don’t go his way, a lot of other stuff is ignored. How important he is to our team, I’ve seen it since day one. So to see him certainly get some recognition, possibly a national team call-up, on a stage with a lot of eyes, he shows how good he is.”

Winger Calvin Harris opened the scoring for the Rapids in the 38th minute on a nice counterattack from the Rapids. Bassett, who played out wide, found Mihailovic in the middle of the field. Mihailovic then took advantage of two Union defenders miscommunicating to find forward Rafael Navarro. In a 2-on-1 situation, Navarro set Harris up perfectly for a calm finish to beat Union keeper Andre Blake through the legs.

The lead came against the run of play and was only possible because of the Rapids’ formidable counterattack, which for the past two games has not been all that convincing. But the lead didn’t last long.

In the 41st minute, Kai Wagner was on the end of a cross and headed it back across goal to a wide-open Baribo, who had plenty of time and space to head it past Steffen from basically point-blank range.

Baribo, who missed Wednesday’s semifinal against Columbus, found a second goal just three minutes later. A shot from Philadelphia was deflected, which initially wrong-footed Steffen and landed right in front of Baribo, who buried it with little resistance. In all competitions, Baribo has scored 13 goals in 13 games.

For most of the first half, the Union was the better team and the Rapids seemed to have smashed and grabbed a lead at the end before giving up Philadelphia’s two goals before halftime.

Philadelphia took control and “overloaded” the wide areas to try to stretch the Rapids’ defense, which worked for most of the first half. For Armas, the blueprint for second-half adjustments was simple: Drop the wingers to help fullbacks, then go all out in transition.

“We tried to drop our winger to take away those wide areas and at the same time provoke a different press, be more aggressive and commit more numbers in a high press to try to change the rhythm and I think it worked,” Armas said. “I think it did change the rhythm and I think we had a good start to the second half and we gained some momentum.”

The Rapids tied the score at 2-all early in the second half thanks to an Oliver Larraz volley from the edge of the box off of a recycled corner in the 49th minute. He’s been trying that sort of shot every other game or so for a couple of months, even trying one in the first half against Philadelphia, and it finally worked out.

For the Rapids, according to Armas, the emotions in the locker room were not as euphoric as after beating Liga MX champions Club América eight days ago.

“We’ve been on the road for 10 days, the pathway to get here through four Mexican teams, LAFC and obviously this one, this is a tough test for these guys,” Armas said. “Physically, mentally, emotionally, it’s a lot. So the mood was almost like relief and joy with exhausted faces. It’s hard to explain but they’re happy.”

The next six days of rest, a well-deserved period longer than any the Rapids have not had in a month, will be pivotal as Colorado prepares for its final eight games before the MLS Playoffs. First up is an away game at FC Dallas on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Six days off may feel like a blissful eternity for the 30-year-old once the competition is behind him. After getting just three or four days between games for the past month, there are 90 more minutes, and perhaps a celebration left before a return to MLS normalcy.

The Leagues Cup match vs. the Philadelphia Union on Sunday will be about more than just a third-place finish for the Rapids captain and right back. It’ll also be a homecoming of sorts as Rosenberry returns to Philadelphia, where the team that drafted him third overall in 2016 plays just two hours from his hometown.

There are no hard feelings over the trade that brought him to the Rapids in 2019. That’s not where the significance lies for Rosenberry.

Rather, he’s enjoyed the little things: nostalgic sights, reuniting with family members and even chatting with the same bus driver from the airport to the hotel who he used to ride with as a Union player. Sunday, before and after the Rapids’ biggest game of the year, he will enjoy shaking the hands of people he hasn’t seen in a while.

Rosenberry is much more eager to relish a third-place finish in Leagues Cup and the spot it would earn the Rapids in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Especially given the path the 46th-seeded Rapids took to get to the final day of competition: Three dramatic wins against Liga MX squads, two penalty shootouts and a blowout loss at LAFC.

“You can’t really fabricate those late, dramatic wins, penalties and late goals. Those make fans out of people who maybe weren’t here before and our fan base deserves it,” Rosenberry said. “It’s really fun to see the product we’re putting on the field inspire them and give them energy, and it’s reciprocated, and that’s what it’s about.

“We’ve talked about not getting too high or too low and that’s important.”

Rapids coach Chris Armas has certainly had his share of fun during the tournament and has pinned much of his team’s success on goalkeeper Zack Steffen finding a gear worthy of U.S. Men’s National Team (re)consideration.

Steffen, with 23 saves and numerous big shootout moments in the knockout stages of Leagues Cup, has arguably been the best keeper in the tournament. If that’s the case, Union goalkeeper Andre Blake is a good shout for second-best with 17 saves of his own and a show-stealing performance in a shootout against Mazatlán in the quarterfinals.

A shootout on Sunday would be a must-watch given both keepers’ run of form and the cinematic finish to the Rapids’ shootout against Club América.

“(Blake) is a top goalkeeper for club and country and I congratulate him on another year of top performances,” Armas said. “But listen, if it goes to a shootout, you have two top goalkeepers and then the margins get thin again. You have to step up and do the job, and you hope your goalkeeper can, against the odds, make a save or two. Zack’s been tremendous, he’s been a real difference-maker and he’s added so much to the team in terms of quality.

“If it goes to a shootout, we’ll take our chances and may the team that deserves to move on go. But we have a lot of confidence in Zack in those moments.”

No such instances were required in the semifinal against LAFC when the Rapids were thrashed 4-0 at BMO Stadium to continue their winning — and scoring, for that matter — drought at the venue.

For Rosenberry, the short turnaround between games can be somewhat of a curse to the body, but a blessing to the mind.

“These games come quickly. There’s not really much time to take anything more than what we need tactically from the results we’ve had besides a couple of things to learn from or a couple of moments we can do better,” Rosenberry said. “(The feeling of a 4-0 loss to LAFC) lasts about a day or two, we review it and we’re quickly onto the preparation for the next opponent.

“The team’s been great about responding all year, even to start this competition (with a 4-0 loss to Portland). We came home and made amends for that, and it continues to be a testament to the group’s character, mentality and ability to respond in tough times. We’ll try to do that again tomorrow.”

The match in Philadelphia will kick off Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

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One of Kei Kamara’s many former teams, the Rapids fell victim to the 39-year-old’s right-footed finishing touch in the 45th minute en route to losing the Leagues Cup semifinal to LAFC, 4-0.

Rapids coach Chris Armas isn’t focused on the numbers on the scoreboard. Despite the loss at LAFC, tons of confidence has been injected into his team on the way to a third-place match in Leagues Cup. The key now is to keep those feelings and spirits high, which Armas isn’t worried much about.

“The belief is there, man. We have a strong foundation,” Armas said. “When we have belief, that doesn’t go away overnight. We bend, but we don’t break; tonight we met a good opponent. (The belief) is built on real things: a strong foundation of principles, character and the DNA of these human beings.

“We celebrate the wins, but we don’t really get too high. We also don’t get too low. I love my team.”

Kamara’s effort from the middle of the box before halftime wouldn’t come before the Rapids killer himself, Mateusz Bogusz, curled in a wonderful strike in the 42nd minute from distance past the fingertips of a red-hot Zack Steffen. The last time the teams met at BMO Stadium, Bogusz erupted for a hat trick in a 3-0 win over the Rapids.

A scoreless match before Bogusz’s effort with halftime looming, the Rapids battled with every ounce of magic they had left. But the well ran dry.

Colorado was stricken with a bit of luck in the 14th minute when a goal by LAFC star forward Denis Bouanga, scored after being given an inch-perfect ball in behind, was called offside by the thinnest of margins.

After that chance, the Rapids rattled off four shots (one on goal) during the half, both of which are decent figures for how they’ve attacked the further they advanced into the tournament.

Bouanga found his way onto the scoresheet in the 59th minute, dribbling coast to coast after a foiled Rapids corner and finding the bottom right corner. In the 75th minute, just 12 minutes into LAFC midfielder Lewis O’Brien’s second appearance in black and gold, he made it 4-0 from outside the box.

The Rapids, subbing midfielder Djordje Mihailovic and forward Rafael Navarro out before the 70th minute, acknowledged the bell and waved the white flag. In Mihailovic’s case, some of the reasoning behind his substitution in the 62nd minute was the fact the game was out of hand. Another reason, Armas acknowledged, was that the midfielder had flu-like symptoms for the entire day leading up to the game.

“(Mihailovic) is a warrior and he said, ‘I’m playing tonight,” and I give him a lot of credit,” Armas said. “He’s so well-respected on our team and it was nothing that was going to keep him out of the game. So, him for sure, we had to protect other guys and we have to think ahead a little bit.”

LAFC finished with 24 shots (10 on goal). And though four goals conceded isn’t a great figure by any means, Steffen came up with another six saves, including a few highlight-reel moments.

After the Columbus Crew beat the Philadelphia Union in the other semifinal, a 2023 MLS Cup championship rematch is in store for the Leagues Cup final.

The Rapids will travel to Philadelphia for the third-place match on Sunday, but more than just bragging rights are up for grabs. A win against the 2022 MLS Cup runner-up will secure a spot for the Rapids in the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the first time since 2022.

“I sit up here really proud of my team and how they got here. The margins are so thin in our sport, in our league and in this competition,” Armas said. “We were able to find ways to move on each time.

“This competition started with 47 teams, and for the 46th ranked team to be in the final four standing and now playing for a (Champions Cup) spot again, I sit up here proud of my boys.”

In just three years, the now-former Colorado Rapids center-back went from playing for a community college to playing a big role on a contending MLS team, representing Canada at Copa América and now moving on to a top-five European league in France’s Ligue 1.

While the world may see the Rapids as a small stepping stone in Bombito’s meteoric rise to stardom, he sees Colorado as his launchpad.

“It’s a bit of a bittersweet moment, really, because I’ve created friendships, I’ve allowed myself to grow at this club, and this club has allowed me to grow as well,” Bombito said. “It’s hard to say goodbye because I’ve made friends here and there are people I want to stay in contact with even though I’m leaving.”

The permanent transfer for Bombito was formally announced Tuesday by the Rapids and by his new team, OGC Nice. In return for the star defender, the Rapids received $7.7 million with up to $3 million in incentives and a 20% sell-on clause should the Canadian move onto a new club.

It’s a feat almost unimaginable to most just a short two years ago. Entering the 2023 MLS SuperDraft, Rapids president Pádraig Smith saw the blueprint and took a chance on Bombito.

“I’ve joked around a lot with him over the past two weeks about how he was the best interview I’ve ever done at a combine. He was just incredible,” Smith said. “It gave us a lot of comfort when we thought about drafting him — we knew we were getting a good kid who was going to work hard and soak up as much information as he could to strive to be the best player he could be.”

He turned out to be all that and more for Smith, coach Chris Armas & Co.

His speed and size were always present — European clubs like Olympique Lyon and Red Bull Salzburg were interested because of those traits — but Armas was patient with his development, calling for him to become a “master of the basics” before letting his speed take over.

While he admitted he’s not quite a master yet, the work he puts in has never been about his own gain; everything he does is for the good of the team.

Tracking back from box to box on a pair of Inter Miami counterattacks in April caught the world’s attention when he was clocked as the fastest player in the MLS. But it wasn’t about the attention. Every jaw-dropping sprint or timely tackle was about stopping a chance, preventing a goal and helping his team win.

Bombito’s favorite moment in Colorado, he said, was not when he scored his first MLS goal on his birthday against LAFC with his mom in attendance. That was his second-favorite.

The first? Lifting the Rocky Mountain Cup in July.

“(The RMC) was a moment that brought all the Colorado Rapids fans and the whole organization together,” Bombito said. “It’s something we were looking for for many years, so for me to be able to be a part of that moment is something I’ll cherish.”

The transfer came with only a few days left in the MLS secondary transfer window. No subsequent moves were made by the time the window closed. The Rapids wanted to keep Bombito for the rest of this season while the iron was still striking hot for Armas’ underdogs. But the offer from Nice ended up being too good to turn down.

While Armas certainly would have liked to keep Bombito, he and the club have stuck to the philosophy that sent Bombito to Copa América and midfielder Djordje Mihailovic to the Olympics: “The players’ dreams are our dreams.” That takes some of the sting out of losing your best defender ahead of a potential Leagues Cup and MLS Cup run.

It’s bittersweet for Bombito, too — he’s achieving a childhood goal, but leaving a club and its fans he has come to love. One of the defining moments for Bombito as a member of the Rapids was the support he received after he was the target of racist harassment during Canada’s fourth-place finish at Copa América.

“(The fans) have brought so much support not just toward me, but toward the whole team,” he said. “When I saw (tifos and other shows of support) at the game against Montréal, I had a tear coming in and my eyes were warm. That just goes to show how close I am with the fan base here and how supportive they are.

“If I can ever come back to share that experience again with them, I’ll gladly do it.”

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The Rapids have spent the Leagues Cup wondering how much magic was stored in their reserves. Saturday night against Club América in the quarterfinal, every last drop was required.

Tense at every touch of the ball and turn of the feet, the Rapids somehow held on against Liga MX giants Club América — arguably the best team on the continent. Colorado held them scoreless, then beat them in penalties, 9-8, to move onto a semifinal date with LAFC.

Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen once again came up huge for the Rapids in penalties. After forward Rafael Navarro missed his team’s third penalty, Steffen had to come up with an enormous save on the last of five penalties to send the shootout to sudden death.

All four of each team’s next shooters stepped up and scored, including one by América that bounced off the post, ricocheted off of a diving Steffen’s head, then right back in the net. Last up were the goalies: América’s Luis Malagon and big-game Steffen. Steffen sent Malagon the wrong way; Malagon painted the grass outside the left post.

Ball game.

That late in the order, Rapids coach Chris Armas said the next penalty-taker would be decided by who wanted it more. Defender Lalas Abubakar was halfway done with the long walk from midfield to the spot for the Rapids’ 10th penalty of the night. Steffen, who admitted to having to overcome mental and confidence struggles this year, waved Abubakar off.

He wanted it more.

“At one point, there were a lot of critics out there about Zack Steffen, but what I’ve gotten to see on the inside of our locker room and on the pitch is a professional, top talent,” Armas said. “He’s a real man on the pitch and he’s a leader, leads by example. He’s everything we want the Colorado Rapids to be about: quality, aggressive, humble.

“Another day in the office for Zack Steffen.”

In regulation, the match felt much like last Tuesday’s jaw-clenching win over Deportivo Toluca, sans the ball hitting the back of the net.

The best first-half chance for the Rapids was in the 44th minute when midfielder Cole Bassett made a nice move at the top of the box to free up space for a finesse shot to the bottom right corner which went just wide.

In the second half, the Rapids’ best chance came from winger Calvin Harris after midfielder Djordje Mihailovic glanced a header to a streaking Harris down the middle. Harris took a long-distance shot which Malagon had to save. That went down as the Rapids’ lone shot on goal all night.

América, like Toluca, shot 21 times (four on goal). The possession wasn’t as one-sided as it was four days ago, but América still led in that category, 58% to 42%.

The Rapids were forced into uncomfortable possession for long stretches of the game as América sat in a compact defense, not allowing for any easy build-up play or transition moments.

Defensively, the Rapids suffered. Bent, but didn’t break. Lots of talk around the club over the past week has been about being able to come out on top of games in which they suffer.

For Armas, that mentality has been forged from day one. As the stakes get bigger and the suffering gets worse, the feeling of advancing gets stronger.

“I think it’s rare that you get to be a part of groups that are really team first, all about the team, who run for each other, suffer together,” Armas said. “They win together, they lose together, they are together. I try to remind them that it’s rare and you’ve got to keep fighting for it and appreciate it (in real-time). It’s pure joy that only football and sport can do for you.”

With the win, the Rapids have now beaten four Liga MX teams in a row and have knocked out the last Mexican team left in the tournament. Before this tournament, the Rapids had never beaten one in sanctioned play.

They’ll stay in Los Angeles to face LAFC next Wednesday after it beat the Seattle Sounders, 3-0, earlier on Saturday.

Perhaps even bigger for the Rapids: advance to the Leagues Cup final or win the third-place game, and they’ll punch their ticket to the CONCACAF Champions Cup for the first time since 2022.

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 wins that required execution 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. Colorado needed its only two shots on target to find the back of the net to overcome Toluca’s massive shot advantage (21 total, six on goal).

What Toluca did well against the Rapids, América is even better at. 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 gets lost in the stats and figures. 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.

“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.”

With the entirety of the tournament played in the U.S. and Canada, the four highest seeds from Liga MX were allowed to choose hub locations to play matches as the home team should they be the higher seed. América, having the No. 1 seed overall, chose California as its hub and will host the No. 46 Rapids in 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 gave it the feeling of a home game 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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Darren Yapi scored in the final minute of regulation to send Colorado to a 2-1 win over Liga MX side Deportivo Toluca late Tuesday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

But this was a game the Rapids very easily could have lost.

The Diablos rattled off 21 shots (six on goal) to the Rapids’ four (two on goal). Toluca dominated the possession to the tune of 64% to 36%. And if the Rapids scoring on their only shots on goal wasn’t improbable enough, Yapi had to tap in the winner in the 90+6th minute.

“Just touch it,” Yapi said he thought when he saw the ball lingering around the goal line in front of him. “My eyes lit up.”

His second goal in the pros couldn’t have come at a better time. As a team, the Rapids have now scored two goals late in stoppage time during Leagues Cup to win or send a match to penalties.

For Rapids coach Chris Armas, nothing has been better during this run than to see how his team reacts to adversity and tough situations, particularly against quality Mexican teams like Toluca.

“These games have tested us in big, big ways,” Armas said. “I’ve gotten to see that team, they’re a joy to work with. When you’re a coach and you can design and cultivate a team, what do you want that team to look like in the end? You want the grit, the mental toughness and the way they stick together. That’s the DNA of this group.”

In the 45th minute, the Rapids got on the board first when midfielder Cole Bassett sent a diagonal longball from midfield to the left side of the six-yard box to Sam Vines. Vines, who otherwise did not have a great first half, laid a perfect pass across goal on his first touch to set up Rafael Navarro for a tap-in.

Then in the 83rd minute, Brazilian forward Paulinho finally tied the match up with a backheel while spinning to get the ball past Zack Steffen, who otherwise had another great Leagues Cup match with five saves.

The Rapids thought they had gone ahead in the 90+1st minute when Connor Ronan put in a ball to Djordje Mihailovic, who spiked a header off the ground and up into the top corner of the goal, but a long VAR review found Ronan was offside in the buildup.

Yapi played super sub just five minutes later. A bad touch off of a Toluca defender left the ball right on the goal line for the Rapids homegrown to slide tackle a winner into the net.

Yapi was subbed on for Navarro in the 86th minute, which seemed questionable at the time given the score was tied and penalties loomed. In the end, it turned out to be a genius move from Armas.

Mihailovic, while shocked the Rapids only had four shots on the night, knew the match would be a grind and that his team would have to make the most of its few chances.

When his apparent winner was called offside, he and the team could have just taken their foot off the gas and gone to penalties. But Toluca was giving up more opportunities after it stopped pressing hard following its game-tying goal. Plus, there was already plenty of suspense for one night.

“We knew it was going to be a test for us, that it was going to be more than just football. It’s not going to be pretty at times,” Mihailovic said. “I was laughing when they called it offside because I felt we were going to get the second one pretty quickly and I love the hustle from Yapi to put in the goal even though it was already going in.

“All around, this game was won by mentality more than anything and physical endurance; I know I was struggling physically. At that stage (late in the game), things just don’t matter and we were able to push through all that adversity we were facing.”

After defending Liga MX champions Club América beat St. Louis CITY 4-2, the Rapids will travel to Dignity Health Sports Park in California to play in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal on Saturday at 8 p.m. against América.

The Colorado Rapids have agreed to transfer star Canadian center back Moïse Bombito for an MLS center back-record $7.7 million to Ligue 1’s OGC Nice in France, league sources told The Denver Post on Tuesday.

The deal, which almost quadruples the Rapids’ outbound transfer fee record of $2.1 million (Sam Vines in 2021), includes add-ons worth up to an additional $3 million if Bombito meets certain appearance and performance numbers.

The league source added there is a “significant” sell-on clause, meaning the Rapids will receive a portion of a transfer fee should Bombito be transferred to another team in the future.

Bombito’s transfer comes just a day before the MLS secondary transfer window closes Wednesday night.

In January, the Rapids broke their inbound transfer fee record when they signed midfielder Djordje Mihailovic from AZ Alkmaar for just more than $3.5 million. They nearly broke that record again in June when they signed forward Rafael Navarro from Palmeiras for $3.5 million.

Now, they’ve made that money back and then some.

The 24-year-old from Montreal has risen in performance and notoriety over the past few years. As recently as 2022, Bombito played at Iowa Western, a junior college, before moving to New Hampshire and eventually being picked third by the Rapids in the 2023 MLS SuperDraft.

He caught the eyes of international squads after a video of him sprinting back to stop an attack during a game at Inter Miami, when he was clocked as MLS’ fastest player this season at more than 23 miles per hour, went viral.

New Canadian national team coach Jesse Marsch selected Bombito for Copa América, where he started every match and scored two penalties in as many shootouts en route to a surprising fourth-place finish in the competition.

Olympique Lyon, another top-flight team in France, reportedly made multiple offers for the center back, all of which were rejected by the Rapids.

The Rapids, slated to play in the Leagues Cup round of 16 on Tuesday night against Deportivo Toluca, are fourth in the MLS Western Conference standings, with Bombito playing a big role in the back line.

Now the team will have to make the most out of missing their star center back. Fan favorite Lalas Abubakar has stepped up multiple times this season, contributing to a 5-3-1 record in his starts in Bombito’s place across all competitions.

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