Rapids take third place in Leagues Cup, earn CONCACAF Champions Cup berth behind Zack Steffen’s shootout brilliance

The doubters are in shambles.

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.