Western Conference Final (Second Leg):
Colorado Rapids 0-1 Seattle Sounders (Sounders win 3-1 on aggregate)
Uganda Cranes midfielder, Michael Azira played 74 minutes for the Colorado Rapids in his club’s slim 1-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders before 17,695 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, early Monday morning.
Jordan Morris’ 56th minute condemned Colorado Rapids to a 3-1 aggregate loss, denying them the chance to lift the Western Conference Championship and reach the MSL Cup for the first time in history.
Pablo Mastroeni’s men were trailing 2-1 from the first leg and still lost the second leg, their only defeat of the season at Dick Sporting Goods Park all year round.
Morris latched on a through-ball from Nelson Valdez and clipped an angled shot over the advancing Zac MacMath.
The home side fought gallantly and introduced Marlon Hairston for Sébastien Le Toux in the 59th minute.
Ugandan international, Azira paved way for Marco Pappa with less than a quarter of an hour left on the left before Dominique Badji came in for Shkëlzen Gashi inside the final minutes of the game.
Rapids have had a largely successful year and the club believes 2017 is yet another golden year.
The club website has the belief;
But if we have the mantra of the 2016 season they will be back and they will be better.
To all of our fans, thank you for joining us on our journey.
We couldn’t have done it without you and we can’t wait to get back to it in 2017.
Here is to next year. Keep Fighting.
Team Line Ups:
Colorado Rapids: Zac MacMath, Eric Miller, Jared Watts, Axel Sjöberg, Marc Burch; Dillon Powers, Micheal Azira (Marco Pappa 74′), Sébastien Le Toux (Marlon Hairston 59′), Jermaine Jones, Shkëlzen Gashi (Dominique Badji 85′), Kevin Doyle.
Subs not used: John Berner, Bobby Burling, Mekeil Williams, Caleb Calvert.
Seattle Sounders FC: Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Román Torres, Chad Marshall, Joevin Jones; Osvaldo Alonso (Oniel Fisher 74′), Cristian Roldan, Andreas Ivanschitz (Álvaro Fernández 51′), Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris; Nélson Valdez (Zach Scott 88′).
Subs not used: Tyler Miller, Tony Alfaro, Aaron Kovar, Hérculez Gómez.
Yellow Cards:
Seattle Sounders: Roman Torres 14’
Colorado Rapids: Marc Burch 68’