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MINNEAPOLIS — Two goals from the Colorado Rapids, two Minnesota United FC goals correctly overturned by video review, plus an added-time fracas further defined the dreariness of an overcast afternoon for an announced crowd of 19,733 in Minnesota.

“It was arguably one of our worst performances of the season,” MNUFC head coach Adrian Heath said after the Loons (11-18-3, 36 points) lost 2-0 to the Rapids (7-19-6, 27 points). “I thought the first goal was going to be crucial. It turned out that they got it, and we weren’t good enough on the day to do anything about it.”

The game started slowly, and it looked like goals might be in short supply in the early-going. A seventh-minute sequence defining the first half:

The Rapids worked the ball to Yannick Boli inside the Loons’ 18-yard box, where the Frenchman shot point-blank into keeper Matt Lampson. Rapids midfielder Jack Price half-volleyed the rebound in the direction of teammate Cole Bassett, but it was headed out to the penalty spot by Loons defender Brent Kallman.

That short clearance led to a second effort from Boli, which was cleared off the goal line by Minnesota’s Eric Miller, who was traded by Colorado in May. The subsequent rebound fell to Price before his shot was cleared off the line by defender Marc Burch.

Finally, Bassett brought the futility to a crescendo by shooting wide and bringing about a goal kick.

The Beautiful Game! #MINvCOL pic.twitter.com/zqi9HOmmgN

— Jeff Rueter (@jeffrueter) October 13, 2018

It took 55 minutes for the ball to find the back of the net, and it appeared the Loons had broken the deadlock.

Kallman looped the ball forward to Ángelo Rodríguez, who played the ball out wide for Ibarra, who played the ball over the Rapids’ back line to Quintero, who beat Tim Howard one-on-one. However, after a lengthy VAR delay, it was confirmed that Rodríguez came back from an offside position to receive Kallman’s pass, so the goal was overturned.

Five minutes later, Marlon Hairston placed a whipped cross on the head of a streaking Boli, and the powered effort left Lampson frozen where he stood.

The Rapids’ goal had a sharp impact on the mood around TCF Bank Stadium. A sarcastic chant of “Three Year Plan” began in section 139 shortly afterward — a tongue-in-cheek celebration of MNUFC’s progress over its first two seasons in MLS.

Then, in added time, it appeared the Loons leveled. Quintero made use of a clever touch in the penalty area to settle a bouncing ball for second-half substitute Ibson before the Brazilian side-footed the ball into the Rapids’ goal. But after a second lengthy VAR delay, Rodríguez again was deemed offside during the build-up, leading to a second overturned goal.

Moments after play resumed, a headed backpass from Michael Boxall was intercepted by Niki Jackson before it could reach Lampson. The former lifed the ball over the latter to double Colorado’s lead.

Celebrating his team’s clinching goal, defender Tommy Smith crossed the touchline near Minnesota’s bench to taunt the home crowd. A dust-up resulted that saw both unused substitute Harrison Heath and MNUFC goalkeeper coach John Pascarella ejected for shoving Colorado players.

The confrontation involved multiple Loons and Rapids, with Jackson and Price returning to confront the Minnesota bench after officials initially separated the two teams.

For his part instigating the conflict, Smith was also issued a red card.

“There wasn’t much of a flow of the game. That was probably one of the reasons that we had the incident at the end of the game that we did,” Heath said. “Knowing the rules of the game is different than knowing the game. I just felt the referee today didn’t help the situation with the continually blowing up and people going down, blowing when it’s not a head injury. That frustrated everybody, and I think that led to a lot of the unnecessary ending to the game.”

Lampson had similar thoughts on VAR’s effect on the flow of the game, but wouldn’t directly comment on specific decisions out of concern for being fined by the league.

“I mean, it is heartbreaking, especially goals like that — high, emotional goals that tie the game twice. That is brutal. Credit to us that we fought back each time, but it just was not enough,” Lampson said. “We were not good enough today, and we did not deserve to win. This is one of our worst home performances of the year.”

Heath commented after the game that he was unsure if being eliminated from postseason contention diminished his team’s motivation. Conversely, opposing manager Anthony Hudson was pleased with what he called a “very, very, very strong performance” from his playoff-eliminated side.

“The result is massive because of the obvious,” noted Hudson. “I said it on Tuesday to the media after training, that I have been blown away by how the players in our position are still working and are so focused, and concentrated, and open to how we want to keep improving.

“No one has thrown the towel in, no one is thinking about the end of the season. That, for me, is really important. I think also we got a little bit of luck. I don’t think we had that luck in the past, and it went our way tonight for the first time for us this season. I’m just proud of the fact that we’re in our position and the players are fully committed and are working incredibly hard for each other. Today was a real team performance. In this late stage of the season, this is important.”

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