Postgame Notes: Rafael Navarro Continues Dominance in Rapids Road Victory
MLS Colorado Rapids

Postgame Notes: Rafael Navarro Continues Dominance in Rapids Road Victory

Published on May 14, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Colorado Rapids News Release


Minnesota United FC 0, Colorado Rapids 1

MLS Regular Season | Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Allianz Field | Saint Paul, MN

Notable Notes:

F Rafael Navarro scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season and the 36th of his MLS career.

The Brazilian has now recorded 12 goal contributions this season, the third-most of any player in MLS.

M Paxten Aaronson delivered his third assist of the season, marking his sixth goal contribution of 2026.

M Connor Ronan delivered his first assist of the season and the 12th of his MLS career.

The match marked Ronan's first start of the 2026 season.

The Rapids posted their third clean sheet of the season.

The shutout marks GK Nico Hansen's first of the season and the fourth of his MLS career.

Goal Summary:

Minute Team Player Assist

26' COL R. Navarro P. Aaronson

C. Ronan

Disciplinary Summary:

Minute Team Player Result

1' MIN M. Duggan YC

21' MIN K. Yeboah YC

49' COL C. Ronan YC

51' COL J. Travis YC

69' COL K. Thompson YC

76' MIN J. Diaz YC

82' MIN T. Chancalay YC

84' MIN W. Trapp YC

85' COL R. Navarro YC

Lineups:

Colorado Rapids: GK Nico Hansen; D Keegan Rosenberry (C), Lucas Herrington, Noah Cobb, Miguel Navarro; M Georgi Minoungou (81' Reggie Cannon), Wayne Frederick, Connor Ronan (65' Dante Sealy), Jackson Travis (64' Kosi Thompson); F Rafael Navarro, Paxten Aaronson (90' Darren Yapi)

Unused substitutes: Adam Beaudry, Alexis Manyoma, Ali Fadal, Alex Harris, Ian Murphy

Minnesota United: GK Drake Callender; D Anthony Markanich (83' Mamdou Dieng), Michael Boxall (C) (48' Nicolas Romero), Morris Duggan, Jefferson Diaz; M Wil Trapp, Owen Gene (63' Nectarios Triantis), Joaquin Pereyra, James Rodriguez (63' Tomas Chancalay), Kyle Duncan (64' Bongokuhle Hlongwane); F Kelvin Yeboah

Unused substitutes: Alex Smir, Devin Padelford, Mauricio Gonzalez, DJ Taylor

Officials:

Referee: Elijio Arreguin; Assistants: Chris Elliott, Tyler Wyrostek; Fourth Official: Calin Radosav; VAR: Alyssa Pennington; AVAR: TJ Zablocki

COLORADO RAPIDS POST GAME QUOTE SHEET

COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH MATT WELLS

On the tactical approach tonight...

"it's not a system we've used before this season, this was a first time, a sort of special mission for the game tonight given the players we had available at our disposal and the amount of guys that we're missing. Then we were in a position where I had to play Connor [Ronan] and Wayne [Frederick] tonight, and neither of them have had a training session. So it's also then, not only have you got a huge amount of players missing, you've got guys on the pitch that haven't trained aren't really -- certainly Connor can't play a full game, and then Wayne's only able to do it because he's such a special physical specimen. It was a case of looking at what guys we had at our disposal, analyzing the opponent, and then putting those two things together, and trying to come up with a game plan here to be successful. I wanted the guys to prove who they are away from home. We've of course, been in a difficult moment in terms of results, but I'm a very composed and analytical person. It's not really been a difficult spell in terms of performances, and I think there's been quite clear mitigating circumstances in terms of a slight drop off with results, given the personnel we've had missing. What I wanted to see tonight was a huge reaction from this period of games. I told them before the game, it's a choice to win here tonight. It's a choice they can make. The tactics are one thing. We'll give you the ideas, the solutions, but only as the people on the pitch and then the guys coming off the bench that can make us win tonight. Really proud of the guys, because I thought it was a although it was a special performance tonight in that respect. It was probably our least fluid performance with the ball. You could see in the second half the desire to get three points. They manifested it in a way where you lose a little bit of courage with the ball, but what we didn't lose was courage with was our pressing, our intensity. We stopped them ever playing the long balls that they wanted to play. We stopped them gaining yards, and as a result, we stopped them winning too many set plays. I thought it was a very good performance."

On the defensive focus tonight...

"It was definitely by design, but the design was a consequence of the players that we had available. I think, as a coach, you, of course, have to have your principles, and the football that I play is inside of me. It comes from the heart, but you also have to be tactically flexible and adaptable to the players that you have available. It just made perfect sense for this game, given that we didn't have three midfielders, we had two midfielders. Both those midfielders are technically injured, but they're going to be on the pitch. So to go out and play our normal shape tonight would have been setting the guys up to fail. It was a case of giving them some stature and presence behind them. It helps that Minnesota play a fairly structured 3-4-3, so it made perfect sense tonight to play with a back five, and it really suited the personnel we had available. Noah [Cobb] is coming into it without having played many minutes, same with Keegan [Rosenberry] getting the start. So again, it makes perfect sense for Keegan and Noah to have an extra guy across the defensive line. I have been thinking for a while, how do we get Jackson [Travis] and Miguel [Navarro] on the pitch at the same time? Because both those guys have the mentality that mirrors me. They're both very adventurous, very positive. They radiate the right energy. So it also made sense from that perspective, to get both of them on the pitch at the same time. I really felt it helped Paxten [Aaronson] tonight. I thought Pax looked really good within that shape. I thought Rafa [Navarro] was an absolute monster in terms of his press, his work ethic, and his hold up play. Then Georgi [Minoungou] and Jax had a bit of rotation on the left hand side in the first half, mixing up who was going to be on the touchline and who was going to be inside in the pocket. As I say, it's not something I think we should get used to seeing going forward. It was much more of a personnel decision, and it suited this opponent."

On the Second Team's performance tonight and what worked for his side in Minnesota...

"In terms of the second team, I said to Erik [Bushey] last week, I think we always have to analyze how bad a moment is it, because in the last month Nathan Tchoumba and Ali Fadal played on the first team. Certainly where I'm from, the job of youth development is to produce players for the first team. So I think he's doing an outstanding job from that perspective. Again, you see Ali was on the on the bench this evening here. He's not able to help the second team because he's here with the first team, which is, I know, of course, I've been a second team head coach myself. There's no consolation, because you want to see good football when you want to win games consistently. Erik is doing an outstanding job with nurturing the young talent we have here. In terms of us, to be honest, as I said, I think it's always a danger to get too driven by outcomes. We did an awful lot right against St Louis. I think if you take the game out of it, and you finish your chances and you change the referee performance, then you probably win that game and the complexion is totally different. So it wasn't a case of 'Oh we had to do something new tonight. We have to rip up the template.' I just said to the team, why I'm most proud this evening is because I saw a team on the pitch that reflected my energy, my passion, my intensity, which is what I demand from the guys, and when they do that, it allows the talent to flourish and it allows us to win games even if tonight our football wasn't fantastic. We showed a totally different face this evening. Look at the average height of the two teams this evening, the team we were able to put onto the pitch versus the height of their team, and they're so dangerous from set plays. But you see every set play, we had three players up on the halfway line. I don't know if that was spotted, but I thought our approach to defend set plays was excellent. It gave them a problem there to then leave players back. But even at the end, when they under loaded the top line, we didn't bring one more player back. We kept the three up on the on the halfway line, all the way to the end of the game. So I thought from many respects, it was the same Rapids we've seen this season. It was brave, it was courageous, it was bold. But I think if anyone noticed a difference tonight, I definitely think there was an increase in the mentality to force a win, to demand a win, to make sure there is nothing happening here that will stop us winning. As I just said to the guys, we've got to bottle that, because on Saturday, when maybe the system changes back and the football reappears, it's not that that's going to win us that game. It's going to be a combination of the football plus making sure this mentality we show this evening has to be a baseline. It has to be a foundation for us going forward."

On the red card issued tonight...

"I don't actually know what the appeals process is, but if we can, I definitely will be encouraging the club to do that. Just watch the incident back, it's a real bizarre decision, because first of all, the player runs at me and pushes me two hands in the chest. Luckily, I'm such a composed individual, there was no response. But then he went through, and I think Elliot [Prost] was grabbing the ball to give the ball back, and a melee started. Very quickly there was a red card brandished. I found it very, very surprising at the time. But obviously that's not really a head coach decision. There'll be a decision of the club whether you can or can't appeal. I don't even know if you can appeal that. But, I do think there certainly are occasions where I think the officials could manage the emotions of the game. I think the last thing we want is the emotions of football to disappear. I do think that's something that - and I thought the fourth official was outstanding tonight, I thought he took into account a couple of times I didn't step out of my technical area, but he understands that it's never at the referee. I never speak to referees in the game. It's an engagement with my team, trying to get information across. His communication with me on the sideline was fantastic. I do think there could be more of that in MLS games. But in terms the incident, I'll leave it to the club, but otherwise, a really, really harsh red card."

On Rafael Navarro's abilities as an elite striker...

"First of all, it's the individual excellence of Rafa [Navarro] to be able to do that. I think it's that combined with the understanding of the team patterns. Because, if you watch the first goal back, it's straight off the training ground, in terms of, you could see a clip of that that we trained yesterday, Noah [Cobb] and Connor [Ronan] in short support. Noah into Connor. Connor around the corner to Paxten [Aaronson]. Paxten, understanding it's five against five, our front five against their back five, So he knows where to turn on the inside, and then Rafa knows to change lanes with Pax. Then you have a situation where, I actually felt from the bench, I was saying 'Georgi, Georgi' for the wide run. I hadn't spotted that Rafa had actually escaped the middle center back and was clean through. So thankfully, it was Paxten turned in the pocket and not Matt Wells, because he certainly made a much better decision. Although I typified both for their performances, I just said to the team like the last thing I want to do is talk about individuals after such a collective team performance. But by the way, Rafa and Pax went to a different level tonight. They've proven they can play within the framework of our football when we have 60 to 75% of the ball and everything is triangles and everything is dominant and everything is trying to score goals. But what they proved tonight is they can be a reference for the team, physically and mentally, and that's much more important than them being able to play the football that we want to play. If they start to combine those two things, then we've got two players that can really carry us on a successful season. So yeah, it was a great goal. But more than that, it was a really special performance from them two guys."

On shifting focus to the Rocky Mountain Cup this weekend...

"Huge game. Huge game for us. I think off the back of the result, you can probably hear the music in the dressing room at the moment, I think it was important to build some momentum tonight. From a results perspective, there is sometimes a difficult challenge as a head coach, to make the guys feel the reality of actually what is happening, and to stay calm despite players, and coaches, but players especially live off the three points is their oxygen. That's what gets them through to the next day and the next training session, the next game. So for us to not have had that, I felt tonight was really important to try and orchestrate a win for the guys, no matter what style we did it in. I think now that win is on the board, it sets us up perfectly. What a huge game on the weekend, a huge game because it's the next game. It's a huge game because of the opponent and it's our rival, so we're passionate about that, and it's a huge game because it's a huge game for our fans. So all of those things combined means it's a huge game. We have a tight turnaround now. We have to make sure that we recover properly. We then obviously have a training session tomorrow here, then then we get to travel, and then we'll prepare the team. We'll have only one day to prepare the team, the tactics, the game plan. I'm really hopeful that we have players coming back for that game, which is great. So we've got a couple of guys that, of course, are here now, Rob [Holding] and Hamzat [Ojediran], their suspension clears so they're available. I'm very, very confident Josh Atencio will be here as of tomorrow, I haven't caught up with the medics, but it really seems that way. So he'll be able to train and then be available to start the game. I think we'll be able to see a return to, of course we'll have some adaptations for the opponent, but we'll be able to see a return completely to the system we usually play. It'll be great to see the guys respond off the back of this, but it's a great challenge for us. We're really looking forward to it. We've got an unbelievable week coming up. As I just said to the guys, what a game against our rivals at the weekend away from home. What a chance to build even more momentum then we have. I don't know if it's for the first time, but certainly in a long time, this club having a knockout game at that stage of the competition, and then we get to finish at home before the break against Dallas. So we've got a massive, massive weekend ahead of us where we can really do something special when all the guys are committed to trying to do that."

COLORADO RAPIDS GOALKEEPER NICO HANSEN

On building off of this result...

"When we come to a place like this we know that it's going to be a battle. I think when you're working as hard as we have been and we haven't been getting the results that we wanted, of course it's frustrating, and I think we had to have a good look at ourselves after the past few results. But to get back, away from home, to get a win and to get a clean sheet, it's really good, and we can use that momentum now to go into Saturday."

On Connor Ronan's performance...

"We've missed Connor [Ronan] so much, man. I mean, the quality that he brings and the energy that he brings in the midfield, you know, it's immense, and everyone can feel it. But I mean, not just Connor's performance. I mean, everyone, you can go through the entire team. The shift that everyone put in, from second balls to not losing their man, everyone just fighting for the badge, running all over the pitch, not giving them any space to breathe. I mean, I thought we were excellent, every single person, you know, not just Connor Ronan. Even though he had an amazing game, I thought everyone played fantastic."

On his performance...

"It's just being as aggressive as I can. I know with the way that we play, you know, we play a high line, and it's just me being able to, when they put those balls in behind, be aggressive and be able to sweep up anything in behind. It's as simple as that, really. Just making sure that I'm on the front foot, I'm aggressive, so that when the balls do get played in behind, I'm in a good position where I can affect it."

On his back-to-back starts...

"Yeah, of course. I mean, it helps my confidence out a lot. But if I'm being honest, it doesn't really change too much. Even when I'm not playing, I'm still doing the same things, prepping the same way, training the same way, so that when my opportunity comes, I can take it. So of course, playing the games is fantastic, and especially getting a clean sheet away from home and getting another win, it'll do a lot for the confidence. But, it doesn't mean anything if we don't back it up on Saturday."

On defending set pieces...

"Actually, the opposite. If you notice when we did the set pieces, we left three men high just so that they had to bring a few men back, so there weren't as many bodies in the area. That helped us out and allowed me to have a bit more space to come out and claim a few corners and a few crosses in behind. But we know every time we come to play against Minnesota, at home or away from home, it's going to be a battle. You know they're a big, physical team. They create a lot of chances on their set pieces. So that was a big message throughout the week, just making sure that we were up for it. We were up for the duels, the set pieces, second balls, headers, winning our battles, and we did that today. That's why we came away with a clean sheet, because that's a big part of their game."

On facing James Rodriguez...

"Yeah, I thought we did fantastic. Connor [Ronan] and Wayne [Frederick] in the middle, getting out to those wide areas and making sure that he wasn't cutting in on his left foot. That went for all of their players, getting out to wide areas and blocking crosses, because we know they're so dangerous with that. But, I think we did an excellent job of neutralizing him and [Joaquín] Pereyra as well from getting in on that left foot and causing real danger, because that's what they're really good at."

On Rocky Mountain Cup and U.S. Open Cup Matches...

"I don't really like to look too much into the occasion. I mean, yeah, it's a Cup match. Yeah, it's against our rivals. But you don't want to really do anything too different. Your preparation wants to be the same. You don't want to overthink things, basically. Every game, you come out prepared, you do the right things, and you don't want to look too much into it, if you understand what I'm trying to say. Every game holds the same value, whether it's a Cup game or an MLS game. We always want to win. We always want to get three points, and if it's in the Cup, we always want to advance to the next round. It's nothing different, really."

On his excitement with Noah Cobb's performance...

"Yeah, that was good. Of course, me and Noah [Cobb], we have a great relationship off the pitch as well, so that plays into it. We're really good mates. So to see him get the start today, and then to see the things that he did, I'm really happy for him. And when he goes in and makes plays like that, it gets me even more excited, and the rest of the team feeds off that as well, because he loves to defend. He loves to put his head in areas where it's dangerous, and he's a really good defender. I enjoy playing with him. So yeah, it's always good when he has those moments. And we had one in the second half as well, when I came out for one too. So we feed off of each other, and I feel like the rest of the team feeds off that as well. So it's always a joy."

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