Michael Barrios scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time for the Colorado Rapids to secure a 1-1 draw against St. Louis City on Saturday night in Commerce City, Colo.
Expansion side St. Louis looked primed to win its seventh time in nine MLS matches before Diego Rubio sent a perfect through ball past defenders to Barrios to set-up his right-footed shot past goalkeeper Roman Burki from point-blank range.
Burki had starred all night, finishing with a season-high 12 saves. He made his first 11 before Barrios’ equalizer and added his 12th and most athletic of the night in the fourth minute of stoppage time, when he leapt to his left to catch a would-be go-ahead goal from Rubio.
The Rapids (1-3-5, eight points) extended their unbeaten streak to five matches, with a win and four draws in that time. William Yarbrough made three saves for Colorado, which outshot St. Louis 21-9 and 13-4 in shots on target.
Rasmus Alm broke through in the 57th minute for St. Louis (6-2-1, 19 points), which remained atop the Western Conference standings despite the disappointing draw.
In the seventh minute, Colorado’s Kevin Cabral received a pass over the heads of St. Louis’ defenders, but his ensuing shot went straight at Burki’s legs.
The Rapids had another great look at goal in the 17th when Max Alves da Silva backheeled a pass into the box for Keegan Rosenberry, whose shot glanced off the left post.
Just before halftime, Burki made stops on Cabral and Rubio a minute apart, the latter coming on a pass from Bryan Acosta at the 18-yard line. Burki had seven saves in the first half alone.
St. Louis got close in the 55th minute when Yarbrough blocked Alm’s shot back to him, and Alm passed across the box to an unmarked Jared Stroud. But faced with an open side of the net, Stroud missed just wide left.
The visitors soon got to put that miss out of mind. On the attack again, Stroud’s left-footed cross into the box found Alm, who buried his second goal of the year.
St. Louis forward Joao Klauss, who leads the team with five goals, appeared to be playing through a nagging lower-body injury and subbed out shortly after Alm’s goal.
Jonathan Lewis subbed in for Max in the 70th minute and had two quick looks at goal for Colorado; one was saved and the next missed high.
–Field Level Media
